Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, who has won both an NBA title and an NBA Coach of the Year Award, gushed over the job Nets coach Kenny Atkinson has done rehabilitating D’Angelo Russell into an All-Star and developing the likes of Joe Harris, Spencer Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert into key pieces.
“He’s one of the most respected coaches in our business because of the task he undertook a few years ago, which was a culture change and a reinvention, taking a lot of players that were pushed aside by other teams,” Carlisle said before the Nets routed his Mavericks, 127-88, at Barclays Center on Monday.