Kenny Atkinson has Cavaliers poised to be thorn in Knicks’ side

The STORY, as I’ve heard it, is that Kenny Atkinson realized his Nets days were numbered after a team meeting called by himself, the coach. 

Players passionately aired their issues in this postgame locker room gathering and Kevin Durant, who wasn’t even playing that season, became a vocal critic of the state of the team. Keep in mind the Nets were overachieving, at least in my view, still fighting for a postseason spot despite regular DNPs from their top dogs. But Atkinson hadn’t yet established a good connection with Durant or Kyrie Irving — which was difficult since neither was suiting up — and assessed he didn’t have time to work it out before the ax fell. 

So Atkinson told Nets president Sean Marks, and I’m paraphrasing, “If you’re going to fire me at the end of the season, just do it now.” 

Marks obliged. And nobody came out of the Brooklyn disaster looking better than Atkinson. 

Now he’s Tom Thibodeau’s problem to solve. 

Atkinson, the Long Island product and an engineer of Linsanity, is the overlooked and underappreciated upgrade of the offseason as the new Cavaliers coach. He returned to New York on Monday and left the Garden still undefeated with a 110-104 victory, reiterating Cleveland’s status as a top threat to thwart the Knicks’ lofty goals this season.