Kenny Atkinson’s fast start with the Cavaliers hasn’t shut down the conversation around his future in Cleveland - it has only made it more complicated.
Atkinson guided the Cavs to the Eastern Conference finals last spring, becoming the first coach to get Cleveland there without LeBron James in more than three decades. But with championship expectations hanging over this season and a 6-6 start already stirring questions, the long-term picture has stayed unsettled.
On the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, Cavs beat reporter Chris Fedor laid out why the discussion keeps circling back to Atkinson - and why Tom Thibodeau keeps coming up as a possible alternative.
A big part of it, Fedor said, is the way the organization now operates under owner Dan Gilbert. Gilbert has a history of making quick coaching changes, but Fedor said the current version of him is more restrained because of his trust in president of basketball operations Koby Altman.
“His history with Koby Altman running the show is quite different,” Fedor said. “There isn’t as much impulse, there isn’t as much overreaction. There isn’t as much emotion tied to it.”
That means a 6-6 start alone is not likely to spark a rash decision. The Cavs are expected to judge Atkinson on the full body of work, not one stretch of games. Still, Fedor pointed out that the setup around this coaching situation is different from the ones that came before it.
When Gilbert replaced David Blatt, Tyronn Lue was already there as the highest-paid assistant in the league. When John Beilein didn’t work out, J.B.
Bickerstaff had already been positioned as the next man up. Cleveland had internal answers it trusted.
That isn’t the case now.
“Do they feel the same way about Johnnie Bryant? Do they feel the same way about Mike Gerrity and Trevor Hendry and some of these other guys on Kenny’s staff?”
Fedor asked. “Or would they say to themselves, no, if we move on from Kenny, it might be a better option for us to go outside the organization.”
That’s where Thibodeau enters the picture. The speculation isn’t built on one practice appearance alone.
Fedor noted that around the NBA, Thibodeau is seen as the best available coach without a job. He also has a built-in connection to Donovan Mitchell, since the two are neighbors in Greenwich, Connecticut.
And stylistically, he offers a sharp contrast to Atkinson.
“When you make a coaching change, you try to find the antithesis of the guy that you just fired,” Fedor said. “I would say Tibbs is quite the opposite of Kenny Atkinson.
Right. Shorten the rotation, play these dudes big minutes, work them harder behind the scenes, defense first as opposed to offense first.”
That defensive angle matters, too. Cleveland’s defense has been a recurring problem, and Thibodeau has built his reputation on addressing exactly that.
Host Ethan Sands also pointed to the financial side of the equation, noting that coaching contracts do not count against the salary cap. In that sense, a coaching change is one of the easiest moves ownership can make.
“That’s why he’s the most replaceable,” Sands said.
Atkinson is not in immediate danger, and his résumé gives him real runway. But with the Cavs carrying big expectations, the pressure is real - and so is the possibility that the list of replacements could include Thibodeau.
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