Assessing each of the NBA's 2016 head coaching commitments (Ball Don't Lie)

[Yahoo! Sports - NBA -]

The Coaching Carousel, thankfully, has stopped. Kindly dismount the creepy horse and form an orderly queue that will take you past the gate on your way toward Draft City, followed by a spin through our star attraction: Free Agent Land. [ Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball ] Ten NBA teams – a third of the league!! – committed to brand new head coaches this spring, in a season that isn’t technically over, and in a Carousel run that began just a month and a half ago. One other squad removed the “interim” tag from their coach’s mark in the team directory, and two other franchises sent out contract extensions to their incumbent lead men. It was all a bit much. Now that everything is assured – save for what will no doubt be a very entertaining introductory news conference for the Lakers’ Newest Guy – it’s time to take stock in who went where. Boston Celtics: Brad Stevens, extension Though six years is an eternity in NBA coaching contract terms, few batted an eye when Danny Ainge offered the former Butler coach that length of a contract back in 2013; charging him with the task of shepherding the Celtics through a well-heeled rebuilding process. Stevens responded with three competitive seasons and two playoff berths, and halfway through the deal Ainge clearly thought it the right time to double down on a man who is not only one of the NBA’s great young coaches, but one of the NBA’s great coaches – full stop: Stevens' $3.67 million salary through 2019 was among best contracts in all of basketball. Have to reward him before things get awkward. — Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) June 1, 2016 Hearing Brad Stevens' extension is for three years, bringing him back up to six total. — Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) June 2, 2016 This is the honeymoon period, as the Celtics have yet to cash in on the No. 3 overall pick the Nets sent their way, on top of myriad other assets (including Brooklyn’s 2018 unprotected first round pick) in the team’s search for another All-Star player. There is a chance that all the smart moves and enviable schemes could result in a disappointing pull. That’s just fine. General manager Danny Ainge secured his top star until 2022, and that’s enough to stay giddy with for now. Brooklyn Nets: Kenny Atkinson After years of seeking out the most available players, general managers and coaches with the largest amount of internet search results, the Nets’ ownership group decided to bring in relative neophyte Sean Marks as the general manager stuck with trying to bring some hydration to Brooklyn’s salted soil. That is not the name of an IPA. Marks continued the one-time trend by bringing in Atkinson, a longtime minor league and international professional point guard who acted as a player development maven in Houston, New York (alongside the emerging Jeremy Lin), and two recent overachieving Atlanta Hawk teams. His reported four-year deal will pay Atkinson to lord over what will have to be an extended rebuilding process, pitched mostly without earned draft picks thanks to the unconscionable work of former GM Billy King, and current owner Mikhail Prokhorov. As is the case with Brett Brown in Philadelphia, Atkinson will be directed to find and develop future rotation players – diamonds in the rough – as the Nets find a way out of the entanglements provided by the previous administration. Unlike Brown’s gig, though, Atkinson won’t have the luxury of working with any high-end lottery picks any time soon.

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