Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinso nhas gained 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 courtroom, the Skilled Basketball Writers Affiliation introduced at present.
This season, Atkinson guided the Cavaliers to a 64-18 document, tops within the Jap Convention, and was constantly considerate and fascinating with the media, and beneficiant along with his time. That is his first time successful 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,” mentioned 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, have been Mark Daigneault of the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder and Billy Donovan of the Chicago Bulls. A vote of the complete PBWA membership decided the winner.
The award is known as 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 document and a 51-39 postseason document. His Rockets gained back-to-back NBA titles in 1994 and 1995.
The PBWA yearly honors a PR employees (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.
