CLEVELAND, Ohio — NBA development is most often measured in players. But the league’s quieter evolution happens on the sidelines, in film rooms, late-night offices and assistant coach chairs that prepare people for responsibilities they don’t fully understand until they’re carrying them.
Wednesday night at Rocket Arena was a reminder of that parallel growth.
[The Cavs’ 129-113 win over the Phoenix Suns](https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2025/12/cavs-head-into-the-new-year-with-decisive-win-over-suns-129-113.html) closed the calendar year with authority, but the game itself was only part of the story.
Across the floor stood two familiar figures — Jordan Ott and DeMarre Carroll — now representing the first branch of Kenny Atkinson’s coaching tree. Both returned to Cleveland on the opposing bench, applying lessons learned under Atkinson while guiding a Suns team that has carved out the seventh seed in a tightly packed Western Conference despite constant churn and new pieces.
Even in a double-digit loss, the imprint was visible.
Phoenix refused to fold. The Suns responded after every Cavs surge, fighting back multiple times before the game finally got out of hand in the fourth quarter. Cleveland’s ability to answer those moments — arguably better than it had at any point this season — was part growth, part recognition.
The student may have arrived prepared, but the teacher wasn’t conceding the lesson.
“We go back to the Atlanta days. ... We really think alike, think alike about the game,” Atkinson said about his relationship with now Suns head coach Ott. “And listen, he’s doing a hell of a job. I mean, to me, the Suns are the hardest playing team in the league right now. They play harder than anybody. That’s what I see. I’m not at the game, but it jumps off the page. So that’s a real credit to him.”
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The path between Atlanta, Brooklyn and Cleveland explains why the connection still feels vivid.
Ott was a video coordinator while Atkinson was an assistant coach under Mike Budenholzer with the Hawks, then Ott followed Atkinson to Brooklyn for his first head coaching gig and later reunited again in Cleveland. Each stop added responsibility, context and perspective.
Atkinson saw the shift last season.
“Probably last year, I felt like he just took a bigger step, took on a bigger role with us,” Atkinson said when he thought Ott could be an NBA head coach. “I think I stepped back a lot and kind of let him and other bench assistants do more and just saw the confidence growing, but he was my right-hand man and has been for a while. So it doesn’t surprise me the success he’s having.
“And I know his work ethic is famous in the West now. That guy lives at the arena, lives in the office, outworks everybody. He’s an incredible, incredible worker. Those Pennsylvania roots, man, he’s on it. He’s on everything.”
That trust didn’t arrive all at once. It grew through years of seeing the work put in constantly. Repetition and responsibility. Watching Ott handle pieces of the job that extended far beyond Xs and Os. The more space Ott was given, the more natural it became for him to fill it.
Ott views that evolution as inseparable from Atkinson’s mentorship, not only in what he was taught, but in how he was allowed to learn it.
“There’s been no person that’s been more influential in my professional career than him,” Ott said. “... Without his opportunity here, 16 months ago, 18 months ago, I wouldn’t be right here right now. All the mentorship that he’s given me over the years and even up to now, as I stepped into this seat. It’s so unique to try to reach out to someone to give you honest feedback or really get through some experiences. It’s like a chair like no other or a position like no other. You can’t learn some of those as an assistant until you’re in the seat.
“I could go on for days about what he’s done for me and my family. Very thankful.”
That seat changes everything. Ott felt it immediately, but he also recognized it in Atkinson’s own evolution.
“The difference, seeing where he was in Brooklyn to Cleveland, you know, even how he handled his staff or delegated to the staff was different,” Ott said. “And I’m sure that was some of the experience that he learned four years apart. I tried to bring with me here, create ownership with our assistants or with our coaching staff.”
That emphasis on delegation and shared responsibility is already shaping Phoenix’s identity.
The Suns play with a collective edge, one rooted less in hierarchy and more in accountability — a reflection of Ott’s work ethic filtering through the roster and showing up in the way the team competes possession after possession.
Carroll’s presence completes the circle. His work is less visible than Ott’s title, but no less influential.
Now an assistant on Phoenix’s staff, Carroll previously worked closely with Jaylon Tyson in Cleveland, helping guide one of the league’s most tangible development arcs this season.
Tyson told cleveland.com that Carroll emphasized shooting development from the corners first, focusing on comfort and confidence before expanding his range, a methodical progression that has paid dividends. Tyson now leads a Cavaliers team full of shooting threats in 3-point percentage, while pairing that efficiency with the aggression, intensity and fearlessness taught and shown from the very beginning of his NBA career.
Those traits translated Wednesday night, even as the result swung Cleveland’s way.
The Cavs absorbed Phoenix’s resistance, responded to pressure and closed the game with maturity. It was a reminder that growth — for players and coaches alike — is rarely linear and never isolated. It’s shared, passed down and tested when familiar ideas collide from opposite benches.
As one year closed and another waited to begin, the Cavaliers secured the win. The coaching tree continued its steady growth, rooted in what was built and stretching toward what’s next.