Assistant to Vincent Collet in the French Team, Kenny Atkinson had thought of… Vincent Collet to assist him in his staff in Cleveland. This is what the new “Special Advisor to the National Technical Directorate” revealed. “Kenny would have liked to integrate me into his staff but he can't, it's the GM who decides and who has taken other directions” he explained, specifying that his new contract includes clauses in the event of an offer as an assistant in the NBA or a coach in the Euroleague.
Chance or coincidence, he already knows the Cavaliers a little since he had been summer league assistant in 2007when he accompanied Yannick Bokolo to the Las Vegas summer league. “The NBA is something I never discovered, it's curiosity, I went there sharing with my players” he continues about his experience in the United States. “It's more in that sense. Like the Euroleague, it's very complicated (to get in).”
One thing is certain, despite this new position, the former coach of the Blues believes “still being a coach in your head” even if he remains cautious about a possible future in the NBA. “In the long term, head coach? You can't say that when I arrive, if I go there, it's all in to succeed and after that, we don't know where it leads us. And I'm also aware that my age can be a hindrance, even if in the NBA, we coach quite old.”
