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very undeserved
By ART GARCIA
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Avery Johnson is committed to delivering the Mavericks their first NBA championship. Mark Cuban is committed to Avery Johnson.
Four months after being on the verge of that first le, the Mavs coach and billionaire owner agreed on a new five-year contract worth $20 million. The agreement ends an off-season of negotiations that sometimes turned touchy, but ultimately proved fruitful for both parties.
“This is just another sign that Mark and I are committed to work with each other,” Johnson told the Star-Telegram on Thursday afternoon. “We have laid the foundation of where we want to go. We haven’t gotten there yet, but we’re both committed to do whatever it takes, however long it takes, to get there.”
Johnson’s deal is now in line with many of his successful peers around the NBA. Cuban has arguably the league’s top young coach locked up through 2010-11, which coincides with Dirk Nowitzki’s extended contract and the Mavs’ likely championship window.
Johnson’s first contract averaged $2.5 million over four years, ranking him in the bottom third of league coaches. That contract was appropriate for a rookie coach.
Guiding the Mavs within two wins of the championship led to the renegotiations. The team’s success also reaffirmed Cuban’s decision to go with Johnson after Don Nelson resigned with 18 games left in the 2004-05 season.
Johnson, 41, led the Mavs to a 60-22 record last season, tying the best mark in team history, and earned NBA Coach of the Year honors. Johnson bolstered his stock even more with the team’s remarkable run through the Western Conference playoffs.
Perhaps the biggest win since the birth of the franchise came in Game 7 of the conference semifinals when the Mavs beat the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on the road in overtime. That was followed by a six-game triumph over two-time MVP Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns to earn a Finals trip.
The Mavs beat Miami in the first two games of the championship series and led by 13 with six minutes left in Game 3 before Dwyane Wade led an improbable comeback that culminated with the Heat winning four straight.
The disappointment of falling short has fueled Johnson and the rest of the retooled Mavs going into this season. The team is recognized as the one of the favorites in the West.
“Any individual reward that I receive is a product of the players’ commitment to our vision, their commitment to defense and being unselfish on offense,” Johnson said. “That’s the reason I’m in the position I’m in.”
There were contentious feelings in Johnson’s camp earlier this summer when talks to renegotiate his contract hit a snag. Johnson and Cuban hammered out the new contract together.
It’s been a busy and expensive off-season for Cuban. He’s committed nearly $120 million to new deals for Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry
Negotiations are ongoing on a contract extension for fourth-year forward Josh Howard, though those discussions may be tabled until after the season.
very undeserved
HAHAHA good one Spurs homer...AJ is one of the best young coaches in the NBA
yeah someone calling themselves ignorant spurs fan is obviously a spurs homer...
There's irony in that somewhere...
I'll be damned, a Maverick whining about something finally paid off. First time all year.
Read names BEFORE replying
WGAS...I'm use to Spurs homers with their silly responses. Couple nights ago they were saying that Bruce Bowen is an offensive threat.
Predictions on how many years AJ will still have on his contract when Cuban fires him, anyone?
He is.. from the corners...
That doesn't mean he's a scorer...
The whole league knows Bowen can only get his points from that place.. so offensively if you ain't guarding him in those corners... he'll sink em..
so that would make sense.
He scored like 27 in a playoff game a couple years ago vs. the Lakers if I remember correctly.
Considering that you started out a Suns fan and then changed to the Mavericks, you have very little standing to call anyone anything.
what a waste of money
Wow who would of thought that there would be Spurs homers here! And of all places a message board called SpursTalk!
Oh and good for AJ getting paid. Sucks that cuban is signing his pay checks though.
look at all of Ignorant Spurs Fan's posts
And how did you come to that intelligent piece of information?
Probably because AJ is going to get tired of Cuban's at some point and kick him out of the locker room or tell him to watch games from the luxury box, at which point Cuban will fire AJ and have to pay him 15 million dollars while he coaches for someone else. Seems pretty logical.
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