Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinso nhas received the 2024-25 Rudy Tomjanovich Award, which honors an NBA coach for his cooperation with the media and followers, in addition to his excellence on the court docket, the Skilled Basketball Writers Affiliation introduced right this moment.
This season, Atkinson guided the Cavaliers to a 64-18 report, tops within the Japanese Convention, and was persistently considerate and fascinating with the media, and beneficiant together with his time. That is his first time profitable the award.
“Kenny has all the time introduced nice candor, humility and a humorousness to the job, and to his common periods with the media,” stated PBWA president Howard Beck. “He’s all the time keen to clarify the nuances of the sport and to debate the larger points throughout the league.”
J.B. Bickerstaff of the Detroit Pistons and Chris Finch of the Minnesota Timberwolves tied for second place within the balloting. The opposite finalists, primarily based on nominations from PBWA members, had been Mark Daigneault of the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder and Billy Donovan of the Chicago Bulls. A vote of the total PBWA membership decided the winner.
The award is called for Corridor of Famer Rudy Tomjanovich, the previous coach of the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers, who all the time was skilled and respectful whereas coping with the media. Throughout his 13 seasons as an NBA head coach, Tomjanovich compiled a 527-416 regular-season report and a 51-39 postseason report. His Rockets received back-to-back NBA titles in 1994 and 1995.
The PBWA yearly honors a PR workers (Brian McIntyre Award), coach (Rudy Tomjanovich Award) and star participant (Magic Johnson Award) who go above and past to work with the media and assist inform followers. Underneath the PBWA’s present guidelines, adopted in 2020, no group or particular person can win in consecutive years.
