After leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to one of the franchise’s deepest playoff runs in years, Kenny Atkinson still found himself under fire after Cleveland’s crushing Eastern Conference Finals exit.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Coaching tenures in the NBA are built on instability masquerading as progress. One season, a coach is standing on a stage holding the Coach of the Year trophy. The next, he is packing boxes while executives convince themselves the voice in the locker room has gone stale.

The Cavs are defending their coach after an embarrassing Eastern Conference Finals.

Louis Williams criticizes Kenny Atkinson's analytics-heavy championship messaging: "And I've said it publicly, man, I love Kenny Atkinson to death. This is one of my favorite people that I've ever worked with in the business.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Analytically, that was disgraceful. But when the dust finally settled after being swept out of the Eastern Conference finals in four mostly non-competitive games, Cavs star Donovan Mitchell briefly found humor in one thing.