Last week, it was reported that the Charlotte Hornets will be naming Kenny Atkinson as their next head coach. He beat out a couple of former NBA coaches in Mike D’Antoni and Terry Stotts and a number of up and coming assistants. A look through his reputation and resume gives us an idea of what the Hornets were so drawn to.
To start, Atkinson boasts about as good a run of assistant coaching gigs as one could have. He got his start as an NBA assistant under the aforementioned Mike D’Antoni. After D’Antoni’s departure from New York, Atkinson latched on with Mike Budenholzer’s staff in Atlanta.