Tuesday night, the shorthanded Nets upset the Boston Celtics. Friday night, they blew out the San Antonio Spurs, further cementing themselves as a playoff team.
Saturday morning they fired coach Kenny Atkinson.
This has been painted by the Nets as a mutual parting of the ways, with Atkinson, general manager Sean Marks, and owner Joe Tsai all agreeing that Atkinson’s voice no longer resonated with the players in the locker room.
Marks: “Kenny is brutally honest…the humility he showed in saying hey my voice is not what it once was here.” #Nets
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) March 7, 2020
Atkinson was at the heart of building the Nets’ hard-working, blue-collar, everyone-is-accountable culture that lifted the Nets to the playoffs last season and has them on target to do the same this season. Former players love him.
Somebody has to explain why a GREAT Coach like Kenny Atkinson gets fired?
— DeMarre Carroll (@DeMarreCarroll1) March 7, 2020
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/Ilv17U93Uo
— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) March 7, 2020
Which begs the question, which players was Atkinson not resonating with?
Sean Marks has been repeatedly asked for some kind of explanation of why Kenny Atkinson's voice stopped resonating in Brooklyn's locker room, and has declined to get into specifics about what has changed and led to this happening.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) March 7, 2020
We all know what changed. This summer the Nets brought in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, two superstars used to playing and winning on their own terms. It was always going to change the culture in Brooklyn, making it more about the stars than the team. That is the way of the NBA, and the stars got their wish on Saturday.
The Nets, of course, deny this.
Sean Marks denied Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were responsible for getting Kenny fired. #Nets
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) March 7, 2020
Asked about whether coaching stars brings a different dynamic that led to this, Sean Marks said “Kenny didn’t even get a chance to coach Kevin.” Didn’t mention Irving. Said we and ownership all agreed "a change was needed." #Nets
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) March 7, 2020
If Irving and Durant wanted Atkinson to be the coach, he would still be the coach.
The question becomes, who do the Nets hire that resonates with Durant and Irving? Is he going to be better than Atkinson? There’s a lot of skepticism around the league that the Nets made themselves better on Saturday.