Brooklyn Nets Coach Scores South Of The Highway In Quogue

What is it with professional basketball coaches and the Hamptons? Recent headlines inform us that Larry Brown could be taking his talents to East Hampton High School to coach its varsity team. Former Knicks player and now team executive Allen Houston lives in Sag Harbor. A few years ago, while he was coach of the Nets, Jason Kidd had a well-publicized DWI during one of his stays in Southampton. Let’s hope life is more pleasant and private for the new coach of the Brooklyn Nets, Kenny Atkinson. He and his wife Laura have just scored a house on Edgewood Road in Quogue, for $2 million.

The traditional cottage on over a half-acre of property has 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. It is south of the highway, and there is room for a pool and expansion—perhaps a backyard basketball court?

Mr. Atkinson is a Long Island native, born in Northport, the second-youngest of eight children—all boys!—and he attended St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington. He played basketball while attending the University of Richmond about the same time as another local Kenny—Kenny Wood, of East Hampton High School. When he was not selected by an NBA team in the 1990 draft, Mr. Atkinson hit the road. During the ensuing 15 years he played for a wide variety of teams in the U.S. and Europe, including the Wichita Falls Texans, Vino de Toro Zamora, SG Braunschweig, Demon Astronauts, and Hermine de Nantes Atlantique. His first job on the sidelines was as assistant coach of Paris Basket Racing team.

His nomadic existence, which eventually involved a wife and two children in tow, ended in 2007 when Mr. Atkinson was hired as director of player development by the Houston Rockets. The following year he was finally back in New York when he was hired as a New York Knicks assistant to Mike D’Antoni. In 2012, he headed south again, to spend four years as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks.

There was a stint in the Dominican Republic. Then, last April, Mr. Atkinson was picked to be the head coach of the Nets. At the news conference announcing the hire, his brother Steve said, “Probably the best thing, the coolest thing about it, is that he’s home.” Now Kenny Atkinson can say that about Quogue, too.