LI's Kenny Atkinson thriving with Cavaliers, thanks to new style from working with Steve Kerr at Golden State

How did this happen?

How did Kenny Atkinson, a little more than 4 1/2 years after being fired as coach of the Nets, rocket to the top of the basketball world? How did the Northport native become the NBA’s Patron Saint of Second Chances? How did he turn the Cleveland Cavaliers into Golden State, winning his first 15 games as their coach to carry an undefeated record into Tuesday night’s game against the defending champion Boston Celtics?

Believe it or not, a chance meeting six years ago on the Brooklyn Bridge had something to do with it.

Steve Kerr, who has won nine championships as a Bulls player and Golden State's coach, was in New York for three days as his team played games against the Knicks and the Nets early in the 2018-19 season. He decided to get some exercise and walk across the East River.

“I was coming from our hotel in Manhattan, and there was Kenny coming the other way with his wife, Laura,” Kerr told Newsday on Monday. “I saw him and we stopped for 20 minutes and I told him how much I admired his team and how they played. I really didn’t know him then. We exchanged numbers and kept in touch and texted. And, when he became available, I said, ‘I want to hire that guy.’ ”

Atkinson became available when he was fired in March 2020, a year after rebuilding a franchise that had been in tatters into one that made the playoffs in 2019. Atkinson first took an assistant’s job under Ty Lue and the Clippers and went with them to the Western Conference finals in 2021. Then Kerr came calling and Atkinson spent three years with Golden State, including the year they beat Boston in the NBA Finals in 2022.

“It’s funny how things work out,” Atkinson said three weeks ago when Cleveland was playing the Knicks. “You get fired. You’re like, ‘Oh, man, what am I going to do?’ And then it turns out to be exactly what I needed. I needed more exposure to championship cultures.”

Career as head coach clouds

Atkinson knew there was no guarantee that he would get another crack at being a head coach in the NBA. He was determined, however, to do everything in his power to be ready for that second chance, to be the best possible coach if it happened.

This competitiveness should be no surprise. When you grow up with seven brothers in a three-bedroom home in Northport, you learn to fight for what you want. That might be who gets to sleep on the top bunk or who gets to take the last shot in a backyard basketball game.

Atkinson set out to make himself into a more complete coach than he had been in Brooklyn, absorbing everything he could from top-level coaches and players. He learned how to communicate with players, everyone from stars to the role players. He watched how Kerr empowered his assistant coaches and players, and he learned the importance of paying attention to the big picture.

“It changed me,” he said of his experience with Golden State. “You know, I’m not a totally different coach than I was in Brooklyn, but I learned a lot . . . You want to do everything as a young coach. I would get mad at summer league if someone didn’t guard someone or our team lost. I just think as you get older, there’s things you got to let go or you need to let go.”

That’s not to say that Atkinson has morphed into an easygoing Californian like Kerr. Atkinson  still is a high-energy New Yorker, the type that can get worked up even when he has the most potent offensive team in the league and hasn’t lost a game this season.

After his team led 77-73 at halftime of their game against the Bulls on Friday, Atkinson was so angry about the defense that he “slammed a little flip-flop,” according to Donovan Mitchell.

Still, Atkinson has learned to balance that intensity with team-building exercises and other distractions designed to break up the day-to-day tedium of an 82-game season. He held a trivia contest for the team in the preseason and has used funny videos to open meetings.

Cavs' rise similar to Golden State

Kerr believes there are interesting parallels between the Cleveland franchise that Atkinson took over and the Golden State team that Kerr coached to an NBA championship in his rookie season as a head coach in 2015.

You may remember, Kerr turned down an offer from the Knicks and accepted one from Golden State. Atkinson came close to coaching in Charlotte before going to Cleveland.

“He almost took the Charlotte job and I almost took the Knicks' job,” Kerr said. “We both would have been in trouble just based on talent and organizational circumstances. What I’ve learned is timing is everything in the NBA. As coaches, we are both dependent on the talent and the character of our players and the quality of the organization.”

Kerr said there also are parallels in the composition of the teams. The Golden State team he took over had two big men in Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut. The team Atkinson is coaching has Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

“How do you play two bigs in the modern game? When Kenny was being considered for the Cleveland job, we talked a lot about that,” Kerr said. “Young, talented teams with two bigs. He said this is such a good fit, because we’ve been doing it for years. As long as you have talented guards like we both do, [it works]. I think with the style he is playing, it was helpful for him to be here.”

Kerr couldn’t be happier for Atkinson as he heads to Boston for the most highly anticipated game in the NBA since the Knicks opened the season there. The Knicks, you may remember, were supposed to be the Celtics' greatest competition this season. Instead, they are still working on absorbing new players into the lineup.

Cleveland, meanwhile, basically has the same team it did last season, except with a different coach.

The Cavaliers are one of four teams in league history to have won their first 15 games. Golden State opened 24-0 in 2015-16  and the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols both opened 15-0. All three made the NBA Finals.

If Cleveland beats Boston on Tuesday night, they will need eight more wins to tie Kerr’s Golden State team.

“I cheer for my friends in this league, but . . ., I don’t want them to catch us," Kerr said. "I hope he wins every other game, except that one and the ones we are playing him. And then we meet in the Finals.”

Meeting in the Finals six years after that fateful meeting on the Brooklyn Bridge? Now that would be quite a story.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.