MIAMI, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 08: Head coach Kenny Atkinson of the Cleveland Cavaliers reacts during the … More
The Cleveland Cavaliers have another award to hand out with Kenny Atkinson officially being named the NBA’s Coach of the Year for the 2024-25 season.
The news comes just two weeks after franchise star Evan Mobley took home Defensive Player of the Year, as the trophy cases are filling up in The Land.
Atkinson won by nearly 100 points after earning 59 of the 100 first-place votes:
In his first head coaching gig since 2020, Atkinson guided the Cavaliers to 64 wins and the second-best record in franchise history. It was seven wins better than any Cleveland team not featuring LeBron James.
They finished with the 16th-highest margin of victory of all time, even greater than the 1986 Boston Celtics. It was eerily similar to Steve Kerr, Atkinson’s former boss in Golden State, taking the Warriors from a solid playoff contender in 2014 to one of the league’s most feared teams.
The Cavs took control of the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed on October 30 and never looked back. They held the top seed for 166 days, completing a start-to-finish domination you rarely see in any conference.
Cleveland’s offensive rating was 7.2 points per 100 possessions above league average – better than any of those Finals teams from 2015 to 2018 and the highest of the Cavs’ 55-year existence.
Behind Atkinson’s leadership, Cleveland revamped its offensive system by encouraging every player to trust the pass, move without the ball, and create space by cutting at opportune times.
The theme of Cleveland’s season was truly ‘death by a thousand cuts’ as they set the NBA record for highest efficiency on plays ending with a cut to the basket. The Cavs scored 1.43 points per possession on those opportunities.
Most importantly, Atkinson completed a mission that few believed could be possible. He helped carve a new, winning identity in Cleveland that didn’t center on LeBron. They finally have escaped the King’s shadow – to the extent of their fanbase largely not wanting James to return for a retirement tour.
Part of that formula for Atkinson involved empowering Mobley and diversifying his approach as a scorer. But it also included elevating Darius Garland back to an All-Star caliber player, which wasn’t the case a season ago, and maximizing every role player on the roster.
Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff finished second in the final voting, creating a situation the NBA has never seen before. Bickerstaff nearly won Coach of the Year despite being replaced by the winning coach one year ago.
The Cavaliers fired Bickerstaff in May 2024 and ultimately replaced him with Atkinson a month later.
When Bickerstaff landed his next job with the Pistons, nobody expected the drastic turnaround they were cooking up.
Detroit won just 14 games during the 2023-24 campaign, embarrassing its fans with a 28-game losing streak and mashing the reset button after giving Monty Williams the most lucrative coaching contract ever.
In year one under Bickerstaff, the Pistons became the first team in NBA history to triple their win total from the previous season. They went from being 22 games out of a spot in last year’s play-in tournament to breezing past the play-in picture altogether.
While their season ended in disappointing fashion in the first round, Detroit has many reasons to be excited for a bright future – especially with the culture Bickerstaff has implemented.
