The Brooklyn Nets finally have it going for them. They have top shelf talent with Kevin Durant, once he returns, and Kyrie Irving, if he can ever stay healthy. The Nets have great overall roster talent showing their depth when you look at Levert, Dinwiddie, Temple, Allen, Harris, etc. Brooklyn has a good, smart front office. The Nets even have a coach who helped establish a positive culture that two top shelf free agents wanted to be a part of when they could have went and played on Broadway. Well, the Nets had that coach. Earlier this morning, it was announced that the Nets decided to part ways with Kenny Atkinson, leaving the team in the hands of an interim coach, Jacque Vaughn, while they continue to try to remain a playoff team in the struggling Eastern Conference.
Let’s be clear, the Nets would not be a playoff caliber team if they were not in the East, but all they can do is play who is on their schedule; even though the team is under .500. The Nets GM, Sean Marks, was quoted saying the relationship has simply run its course. What course is that Sean? Is it the course where he takes over a dreadful team, builds up a positive culture, gets into the playoffs in his third year, and enables you to sign two superstars (even though one is hurt and is always hurt)? Seemed like the relationship was kind of paying off if you ask me. After going 42-40 in the 2018-2019 season, the Nets are 28-34 this season. Like I said, it’s not good, but they are still in the playoffs if the season ended today. For his career, Kenny Atkinson coached the Nets to a .383 winning percentage, 36 games under .500; although the dreadful talent on the roster for his first two seasons certainly plays a large role in that.
It was also reported that “some players” wanted him gone. Ok, stop it. The only players on this team who have that power or say are Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Maybe it’s unfair for me to say this, but it would take a lot of information to come out to convince me that Kyrie and/or KD did not play a role in his firing. It is no secret to those who watch the Nets that they seem to make more sense without Kyrie Irving. Is that Kryie’s fault? Is that Kenny Atkinson’s fault? Is it that the players do not like playing with Kyrie? Seems to me that it is believed to be Kenny’s fault by this firing. Maybe the belief is that the team will benefit from having Kyrie if the system is better. Currently, according to cleaningtheglass.com , the Nets only have two players above the 90th percentile in points per shot attempt, the rest of the players are very spread out. This stat tells me that the Nets players are not taking the most efficient shot attempts given to them, it could be a function of individual play, but it also could be a product of a bad offensive system. If you look at a team like the Celtics, you will see they have no player in the 90th percentile, but most of their players are all around the same percentile which shows they have a good, free offensive system put in place.
At the end of the day, most coaches know they get hired to be fired. Not everyone is Coach K at Duke who has a job for 40 seasons, or Pop with the Spurs, or Carlisle with the Mavericks. There is a shelf life for every coach, I just can’t believe that Kenny’s was this short. It is truly a Mark Jackson situation where he built the Warriors culture and was replaced by Steve Kerr to get the Warriors to the finals and win them numerous times. If that is the end result in Brooklyn, I know New Yorkers will be happy because it has been far too long since the state has seen a professional sports title.
