Home > Sideline View > Archives > 2008 > April > 30 > Entry
Avery getting the ax is average
Avery Johnson was fired as the coach of the Dallas Mavericks. By informal standards, it was a little too late.
The modern trend of today’s NBA coach was set for me back in 2000, and that coach wasn’t fired. It came from Larry Bird, better known for his Hall of Fame career with the Boston Celtics in the 80s.
Bird was the coach of the Indiana Pacers for three season from 1997 to 2000. Despite his “Hick from French Lick” reputation, he wasn’t bad, with a 147-67 record. In fact, he led the Pacers to the NBA Finals in 2000, before falling to the Shaq and Kobe L.A. Lakers.
Then Bird resigned. My jaw dropped, until I saw the way he looked. He was exasperated, as if the will to be a coach had been taken from him.
In today’s NBA, the power is with 19-through 22-year-olds with eight-figure deals with shoe companies, and impatient owners like Mark Cuban (although I do like Cuban’s enthusiasm and what appears to be a genuine desire for winning). This puts coaches in a situation where they are policemen at best, teachers on field trips at worst. The clock is ticking on how much respect they’ll get from the players until the players tune them out.
Avery Johnson’s three years and change produced a strong 194-70 record and a Western Conference championship in 2006, but not getting the NBA title that year doomed his fate. Losing to Golden State in the first round last year starting the tuning out experience (embodied by Josh Howard fooling around with the wacky weed). The Mavs were deaf to Avery’s coaching around the team they were scrambling for a deal with Jason Kidd.
The only coaches that get respect these days have the pelts of championship skins in their rec rooms. That’s a short list these days: Gregg Popovich and Phil Jackson. Larry Brown doesn’t count because he bolts after three years anyway, and he’s more trouble than he’s worth. Ask UCLA and the University of Kansas about probations he saddled them with, or the New York Knicks about legal trouble with Brown. Hey Charlotte Bobcats, good luck!!
I do feel bad for Avery Johnson. I think he is a good coach and he will be get another head coaching job again shortly, possibly within days. I like his coaching style, and he’s charismatic. I love his talking style and I wish he would be a pastor, because I would never miss his Sunday sermons.
But until a team breaks the hold Poppovich and Jackson hold on winning championships, coaches should get as much money and they can and save it, because they won’t be there long. There’s talk about Paul Westphal being the Mavs new head coach. I like it because he’s got maturity, and he had his own near-miss with the Phoenix Suns, losing to Jackson and the Bulls in 1993.
Yet whether it’s Westphal or another coach, the clock is ticking.
You have three years.
Comments