Kenny Atkinson wins NBA Coach of the Year award in debut season for Cavaliers

After leading Cleveland to 64 regular-season victories during his first year in office, plus earning the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, Kenny Atkinson can now proudly say he’s the best coach of the season, as confirmed this Monday by the NBA. 

The 57-year-old received 59 votes out of the total 100 first-place voted from the media panel, beating none other that J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons, who happens to be the man he replaced with the Cavaliers. Rockets’ Ime Udoka came third.

“I stepped into this,” Kenny had said about taking over for Bickerstaff in Ohio. “I keep saying that, that I stepped into this. It’s a little bit of luck too, right?” Atkinson also earned the National Basketball Coaches Association’s coach of the year award, which is voted on by other head coaches.

“I almost broke down when I got that,” said the Cleveland tactician about the honor of being selected by his own peers. “Like, to think [Rick] Carlisle voted for me, that [Erik] Spoelstra voted for me … that’s like the pinnacle.”

The Cavs, who started out the campaign with a 15-0 mark would go on to have a 12-match winning streak and then another 16 consecutive victories. They went on to sweep the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs, setting an NBA record with a 122-point differential after the four contests.

“It’s crazy how you can go to another place and it turns out to be the best for you. I’m definitely different,” Atkinson shared. “I’ve changed. I wouldn’t have been ready for this job before. I needed to get fired, needed those experiences, needed to go through all that.”

The last Cleveland coach to earn this accolade was Mike Brown in 2009. “The timing is huge, for me to get this team where they are in their evolution, for me coming from my Clippers experience with Ty and then Steve at Golden State, to see how that all worked, coaching superstars, coaching elite teams,” he said.