Brooklyn Nets: 2017-2018 Coach Grade: Kenny Atkinson

Kenny Atkinson just finished his second year as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Although the Nets have gone a disappointing 48-116 under Atkinson, Brooklyn improved this past season and beat expectations.

Kenny Atkinson became the coach of the Brooklyn Nets two years ago. The goal for Atkinson was to bring back winning and rebuild the team into a playoff contender. He was previously an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, and the Nets hometown rival the New York Knicks.

Throughout Atkinson’s two seasons at the helm, player development has been huge for Brooklyn.

In his first season with the Nets, he wanted to develop the rookies and other young Nets. His goal was to make them into confident NBA players and bring out their potential. Brooklyn’s 2016-2017 roster was not a pretty one. The Nets had a mixture of players without an elite athlete at the helm. Atkinson did a good job working with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson but only led the Nets to a 20-win season.

This past season, Atkinson did a great job with Brooklyn. In his second year with the team, the Nets season was a roller coaster of injuries. The Nets lost Jeremy Lin for the season in the season opener. To add on to that major blow, D’Angelo Russell went down for a few months with a knee injury in November.

Despite all the injury concerns for the Nets Atkinson had a successful recovery plan. When Lin went down for the season, Atkinson gave Spencer Dinwiddie more minutes to fill the backup role. Atkinson worked during the off-season and throughout the season developing Dinwiddie into a great backup point guard. Dinwiddie developed so well under Atkinson that he was even in the conversation for Most Improved Player. He was unable to secure the award and was considered a long-shot due to Indiana Pacers Guard Victor Oladipo.

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Atkinson did a good job in developing Jarrett Allen, the team’s rookie big man. When Allen was drafted by Brooklyn, he was expected to spend time in the G League. Atkinson however kept the big on their roster due to the struggling and weak front-court.

Throughout the season, Allen improved on various areas and on both ends of the floor. He thrived on defense and led all rookie’s with 88 blocks last season. Atkinson developed Allen from a projected bench player into a top rookie starting center.

Hollis-Jefferson has turned into a potential future All-Star forward. On the offensive end, Atkinson made the big guy drive the ball with aggression and put up mid-range jumpers.

According to Brian Fonseca of NetsDaily, Hollis-Jefferson enjoys Kenny’s coaching style:

"”Kenny’s my guy,” Hollis-Jefferson said when asked about Atkinson, his face lighting up like a match in a dark room, back in November. “Just being with him the last year and some change, our relationship has grown – I’m just understanding him more, getting to know him; just being around him. He wants the best out of all his guys, that’s something that I see in me. I want to be great. I want everyone around me to become great. That’s where we get along very well.”"

Caris LeVert showed the Nets and his fans serious potential this past season as well. Atkinson helped develop LeVert’s confidence and made him into a great role player off the bench. Compared to his rookie season, LeVert made a huge jump, improving on all areas of the floor.

Although Atkinson has been doing a tremendous job developing players, his team is still not winning. The Nets are improving slowly but should they be improving at a faster rate? That is a toss up question.

Nets General Manager Sean Marks praised the Atkinson for his work this past season.

"“I think there’s a lot of bright spots here,” said Marks. “We both enjoyed listening to our players in the exit interviews and what they had to say. They were candid with both of us and also their performance coaches and assistant coaches and they had great feedback for us in terms of the culture that’s here, what we’re trying to implement, the system, the style and the attention to detail throughout the organization. Obviously, in a game-by-game situation, that starts with Kenny and his staff.”"

Atkinson hopes the Nets can come back next season stronger and with a chip on their shoulder to win.

Atkinson did a great job with the Brooklyn Nets this past season. Yes the Nets faced another losing season but he led the Nets to eight more wins and developed some of the Nets young talent into star potential.

Coach Grade: B

Next: Brooklyn Nets 2017-2018 End of Season Roundup

Brooklyn Nets 2017-2018 Coach Grade: Kenny Atkinson

By Chris Milholen | Apr 30, 2018

Kenny Atkinson just finished his second year as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Although the Nets have gone a disappointing 48-116 under Atkinson, Brooklyn improved this past season and beat expectations.

More from Brooklyn Nets News