New head coach Kenny Atkinson will be leading the Cavaliers from the sideline, but he won’t be the only voice at practice and on the bench.
The Cavs revealed as much Thursday, officially announcing the list of assistants and support staff.
That list: Johnnie Bryant as associate head coach and Jordan Ott, Mike Gerrity, DeMarre Carroll, Trevor Hendry, Omar Cook, Bryan Tibaldi and Nate Reinking as assistants.
Also, named to the support staff: Alex Sarama as director of player development and Patrick Licursi as advance scout. DJ Ham has been named player development/video assistant, Andrew Olson as shooting coach and Austin Peterson as manager of coaching analytics. Along with all that, the Cavaliers have also hired Aaron Robinson and Luke Webb as video assistants, as well as Adrian Culea as special assistant to the head coach.
Atkinson, 57, arrives to the Cavaliers from the one-time rival Golden State Warriors, spending the past three seasons as an assistant under former Cavs guard Steve Kerr. Before that, he served one year as an assistant under ex-Cavs coach Tyronn Lue (2020-21).
Atkinson’s only previous run as a head coach came with the Brooklyn Nets, guiding a fairly undermanned team to a 118-190 record in three-plus seasons (2016-20). He was the last coach fired in 2020 before the season shut down because of the coronavirus.
The Cavs are relying heavily on Atkinson and the new coaching staff, given that they are returning the majority of the roster and are one of just three teams that have not signed an outside free agent to a standard contract.
They finished 48-34 last season, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, advancing to the conference semifinals before losing to the Boston Celtics.
They tip off the 2024-25 preseason with Media Day on Sept. 30, before heading to IMG Academy in Florida for the first week of training camp. The Cavaliers will face the Chicago Bulls at home in an exhibition game on Oct. 8.
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