The Cavaliers plan to hire former NBA forward DeMarre Carroll to be an assistant on new head coach Kenny Atkinson‘s staff, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
The 27th overall pick in 2009 out of Missouri, Carroll spent the next 11 seasons in the NBA, appearing in a total of 578 regular season games and 64 playoff contests for the Grizzlies, Rockets, Nuggets, Jazz, Hawks, Raptors, Nets, and Spurs. Notably, he played for Brooklyn from 2017-19 when Atkinson was head coach.
Carroll, who turns 38 later this month, transitioned to coaching a couple years ago when he was hired by Milwaukee as an assistant. He spent the 2023/24 season on Darvin Ham‘s staff with the Lakers.
Carroll is the second assistant coach who will reportedly be hired on Atkinson’s staff in Cleveland, joining Jordan Ott. Ott coached Carroll in Brooklyn and the two worked together again last season in Los Angeles.
They could use a player like him at the 4…
This surprises the BLEEP out of me.. not because of who it is.. but who he’s working for. I went to a Heat / Nets game in 2019…. the body language of that Nets team was HORRIBLE… they were ignoring Atkinson in time outs so much he stopped talking to his players and only talked to coaches by the third quarter… I said to the girl I was with “he’s gonna be fired as soon as the season ends” (he was)…. Atkinson doesn’t command respect from his players… so seeing an ex player, especially from that team.. blows my mind.
Pretty sure that was more on injuries, Kyrie and KD f***ing up team chemistry nonstop, and the lack of faith from the front office in that core. ’19-’20 was a lost year in general for the Nets from the get-go.