Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland Cavaliers technician, is the new coach in the NBA. Atkinson won by this award also Finalistas Ime Udoka (Houston Rockets) y J.B. Bickerstaff (Detroit Pistons). This is the third Cleveland coach who wins this distinction after Bill Fitch (1975-76) and Mike Brown (2008-09).
Atkinson has shone in its first season at the head of Cleveland until leading the Cavaliers to be the first of the East with a balance of 64-18 (second best record in the history of the franchise).
With a stellar quartet formed by Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, the Cavaliers fought until the last weeks of the regular season with the Oklahoma City Thunder (first west with 68-14) for having the best record of the entire league. Besides, Cleveland dazzled with a shocking 15-0 to start their season with which they matched the second best start of a campaign in the history of the NBA.
Atkinson was born in the town of Northport, in the state of New Yorkfor what has American nationality. But The Spanish nationality also appears in its passport.
The coach is an old acquaintance of this country’s fans after spending four years playing in national basketball after Go through the ranks of Canoe, Zamora, Salamanca (with which he debuted in the ACB by Pedro Martínez) and Calpe Aguas Valencia. Four years in which he met his wife, Spanish, and got dual nationality, being, therefore, the first coach with Spanish nationality to sit as a main technician on a NBA bench.
Atkinson left the United States with 26 years after his journey in the NCAA and CBA and returned 40 years after marrying a Sevillana, thanks to which he would get Spanish nationality. As a coach, he also started in Europe, just when he retired in 2004 in the Nantes. Since then it has become a regular on the benches of the NBA and after leaving the Nets he found hollow in the clippers and the Warriors, returning to his role as an assistant technician.
