Cavs Fans Hyped for Kenny Atkinson as HC amid Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley Rumors

After spending the past four seasons as an assistant coach, Kenny Atkinson is back as a head coach in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Atkinson's representatives are working on a contract with the team.

His impending arrival was met with plenty of excitement on social media:

The Cavaliers fired J.B. Bickerstaff in the wake of the team's second-round playoff loss to the Boston Celtics.

Even though the Cavs made the postseason in each of the past two years, they often struggled to win games once they got there. They lost in five games to the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.

Cleveland was able to advance to the second round this year by surviving a seven-game series against the Orlando Magic in the opening round.

The victory over the Magic was the Cavs' first playoff series win since the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals.

In the aftermath of the Cavaliers' season-ending loss to the Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, The Athletic's Shams Charania, Joe Vardon and Jason Lloyd reported Bickerstaff's job was in "serious jeopardy" in part because multiple players on the team questioned his "strategies, game management, practice habits and accountability measures, privately and publicly, throughout the season."

Atkinson comes in at a very significant moment for the Cavs. Donovan Mitchell is eligible to sign a four-year, $208 million extension this offseason. If he doesn't take the deal, the organization would seem likely to explore trade options to avoid losing him in free agency next summer when he can opt out of his current deal.

If Mitchell does sign the extension, The Athletic's report noted Darius Garland's representatives would speak with Cavs management about potential trade opportunities for their client.

There are also questions about the fit in the frontcourt between Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. It's probably not a coincidence that Mobley looked much better in the playoffs when Allen was out of the lineup with a rib injury.

Mobley is eligible to sign a max extension for the first time this summer worth up to $215 million over five years. Allen is under contract for two years and $40 million.

All of this sounds like a lot to put on a new head coach, but Atkinson has experience working with teams in transition. He did a terrific job in four seasons with the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-17 to 2019-20 in the aftermath of the Kevin Garnett-Deron Williams era.

The Nets went from a 20-win team in Atkinson's first season to winning 42 games and making the playoffs in his third season. He wound up resigning in March 2020 after the roster dramatically changed with the signings of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in July 2019.

Regardless of what happens with the Cavs this summer, they will be starting at a much better place in terms of talent than what Atkinson had when he was first hired by the Nets. This is still a playoff-caliber roster with the potential for more depending on what moves the front office makes and how quickly Atkinson acclimates himself to the player's skill sets.