The 57-year-old young coach finally realizes his dream! Atkinson transforms the Cavaliers and wins the best coach

On May 6, 2025, the NBA officially announced the biggest surprise of the year - 57-year-old Kenny Atkinson was elected the best coach with an overwhelming advantage. This "basketball wanderer" who has been in the league for 20 years has brought the Cavaliers, who won 41 last season, to the peak of 64 wins in just one year, setting the second best record in team history.

You would never have imagined that this academic coach wearing gold-rimmed glasses was working as a video editor in the Knicks 22 years ago. In 2008, he followed D'Antoni to engage in running and bombing tactics, and in 2016, he led Jeremy Lin to make a name for himself at the Nets. Atkinson's coaching journey was full of ups and downs. When he took over the Cavaliers last summer, local media questioned: "Can this person who doesn't even understand the assistant coach? "

As a result, he made a big noise at the beginning. Put Garland on the bench and straighten sophomore Craig Porter as the main controller; let the 38-year-old Love turn to center and average 3 more rebounds per game. The most amazing thing is the defensive transformation - the Cavaliers have pushed their opponents to 103.7 points per game this season, a full 9 points less than last season. His famous quote was hung in the player's locker room: "Defense is not talent, it is attitude."

Look at the voting results and you will know how much he is recognized: 59 first votes, 28 more than second place. You should know that former coach Bickstaff led the Cavaliers to 41 wins last season, but only won 31 wins this year with the Pistons. This contrast made Cleveland fans jokingly say: "It turns out that it's not that the players are not good, it's that the coach is really not good. "

Atkinson's killer weapon is "equality". The team's seven players averaged double-digit points per game, but none of them had more than 20 points. In the first round of the playoffs, he even made a rotation of "five up and five down" and was so angry that Spoelstra dropped the tactical board. This courage comes from his years of experience as a scout: "I have video analysis of every player on my computer for more than 500 minutes."

Atkinson's hand holding the trophy was shaking. This top student at Duke University once gave up his dream of playing a player because he was only 1.78 meters tall. In 2003, he recommended himself to Van Gundy as a video editor, working 16 hours a day to edit opponents' tactics. When the Nets gave him the head coach in 2016, his wife had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. He led the team while taking care of his wife who was chemotherapy. He was still watching the game video at 4 a.m.

Now he is the third award-winning coach in the Cavaliers' history, with the first two Bill Feich and Mike Brown bringing out the championship roster. In the locker room, Mitchell took the lead in pouring Gatorade on his head: "We were thinking about playing badly at this time last year, but now the whole league is afraid of us."

As the playoffs deepen, Atkinson is moving towards a higher goal. But for him, this award, which has been late for 20 years, has proved that persistence is more important than talent. As he said at the press conference:"My grandma often said that good soup should be boiled slowly - I have remembered this for half my life."