AJ Back to the Spurs?

[T Park]

Popovich another clear AJ "nut hugger"

[SequSpur]

Simple Simon....

Avery was a decent point guard. Spurs management was trying to replace him every day of his life here. They drafted a 17 year old and then sent his ass packing.

Avery didn't win at Dallas in the playoffs because Dallas isn't built for the playoffs. It has nothing to do with Mark Cuban. Teams win because they have better players.

Avery winning in the regular season doesn't mean .

Avery being here today didn't mean . , where else is he welcome?

Dude, are you all related to Avery? Avery is a lucky mofo that inherited a very good Don Nelson team that could win 55 + games every year and lose in the playoffs. , he met expectation.. but he didn't exceed at anything.

Let's see Avery take over the Grizzlies and see what he does.

Avery Avery Avery.... Avery.

[SequSpur]

Where's the let's resign Malik Rose topic???

[duncan228]

Where's whottt?

[T Park]

Simple Simon....

Avery was a decent point guard. Spurs management was trying to replace him every day of his life here. They drafted a 17 year old and then sent his ass packing.

Avery didn't win at Dallas in the playoffs because Dallas isn't built for the playoffs. It has nothing to do with Mark Cuban. Teams win because they have better players.

Avery winning in the regular season doesn't mean .

Avery being here today didn't mean . , where else is he welcome?

Dude, are you all related to Avery? Avery is a lucky mofo that inherited a very good Don Nelson team that could win 55 + games every year and lose in the playoffs. , he met expectation.. but he didn't exceed at anything.

Let's see Avery take over the Grizzlies and see what he does.

Avery Avery Avery.... Avery.

Who is this 17 year old that they drafted?

[The Truth #6]

Avery has a great mind for basketball but doesn't know how to relate to people. He is grating and annoying at times, but it was clear that he improved the Mavs when he took over. They were never going to the Finals with Nelson still on board. I don't see how one can't give Avery credit for that.

His intensity worked well for the Mavs in 06 but it quickly faded. Some of that's on him, some of that is because Dallas just sucks.

I see no reason to hate on Avery. He's a part of Spurs history. And to have him associated with us and not the Mavericks in this instance is a positive thing. The more he can disassociate himself from the Mavericks the better.

[SequSpur]

Who is this 17 year old that they drafted?

one Tony Parker ding dong...

[T Park]

one Tony Parker ding dong...

Except he wasn't 17 ding dong. He was 19. Try to get it right when you babble like a moron.

[SequSpur]

oh yeah, you're right.. when he was 17, he was destroying NBA talent and then played 2 more years in France

blow me... Tony Parker was a kid and he removed AJs ass quicker than . Still doesn't counter the argument that AJ was ousted by a late first round pick from France who never played nba ball in his life...

[T Park]

oh yeah, you're right.. when he was 17, he was destroying NBA talent and then played 2 more years in France

Uh, huh!?

Still doesn't counter the argument that AJ was ousted by a late first round pick from France who never played nba ball in his life...

What arguement. He was let go at the end of his career, whats that got to do with him as a coach?

Oh yeah, nothing.


Go to bed.

[SequSpur]

Avery is overrated, unemployed, and a former crappy point guard. What else would you like me to add?

[T Park]

Avery is overrated,

?

Overrated how short stuff?

unemployed,

How observant, good for you

and a former crappy point guard

.

He wasn't crappy kid. I know you started watching the Spurs in 2002, but give me a break.

.

What else would you like me to add?

Why you give a , you don't root for the Spurs nor go to the games anymore.

[anakha]

oh yeah, you're right.. when he was 17, he was destroying NBA talent and then played 2 more years in France

blow me... Tony Parker was a kid and he removed AJs ass quicker than . Still doesn't counter the argument that AJ was ousted by a late first round pick from France who never played nba ball in his life...

If you're talking about the in bent starter that Parker ended up replacing after the first few regular-season games, it wasn't Avery.

Avery Johnson and Tony Parker were never on the same official Spurs roster together:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAS/2001.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAS/2002.html

[SpurSupremacist]

Bring him in. Yes, he's a nutcase. That's a good thing. The Spurs need someone to balance all of their lethargic personalities. Also, lest not forget, he outcoached Popovich a few years ago, and beat him with a far inferior unit... as a rookie coach.

[anakha]

Bring him in. Yes, he's a nutcase. That's a good thing. The Spurs need someone to balance all of their lethargic personalities. Also, lest not forget, he outcoached Popovich a few years ago, and beat him with a far inferior unit... as a rookie coach.

I'm no Mavs fan, but saying that the 2006 Mavs were far inferior to the 2006 Spurs is absolute horse .

[SenorSpur]

And secondly, would you like to produce any quotes? Those are a lot of accusations to be throwing against the wall without sourcing your work.

I have no written quotes to supply. However, I have a couple of acquaintances in the Dallas media, who provided me perspective on some of the behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt. Take it for what it's worth.

In the interim, he is an article that describes how AJ's fierce stranglehold can choke the life out of team.

http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2008/5/...ery-johnson-lo

The Night Avery Johnson Lost The Season, The Team, And His Job
by Jakedfw on May 3, 2008

It was December 6, 2007, and for a Mavs team reeling from its worst stretch of the season it was just one more blow. At home against the Denver Nuggets the Mavs were sliced and diced by Allan Iverson and dropped their second straight game in the process of losing six in nine. Dirk Nowitzki could have been speaking for head coach Avery Johnson when he described the game: "It was a layup drill out there. At no point in the game I thought we could really stop them."

Avery Johnson puts a lot of emphasis on judging his team in 20 game increments, and after what he saw in the previous 19 games, this loss to Denver was more than a symbolic close to the first 20 games of the season: It was the final straw. He had done everything he said he would do coming into the season. He had let young players like Brandon Bass and J.J. Barea get significant playing time. He had unleashed Devin Harris to control the game and the Mavs offense. He had moved Jason Terry to the bench and increased the size of his shooting guard position. For twenty games Avery Johnson had done what everyone else had told him to do, and for what... a thrashing at the hands of the Nuggets?

The result from Johnson was immediate and severe and led to his losing the season, the team, and ultimately his job.

After the Denver loss, the first thing he did was strip Devin Harris of his freedom to run the offense. Fast breaks and offensive sets built off of transition were removed, as Johnson slowed the game down so that he could call plays and run the offense. For the first 20 games the Mavs offense was clocking in at 90 pace, a significant gain over the previous year's glacial offensive pace. As we noted in a previous column, however, the pace was inconsistent. Twice in November Harris directed back-to-back-to-back games where the first game had a pace of over 95, which was followed up with a game where the pace plummeted to under 84, only to have the pace increase again to over 92. This inability to control the pace of the game clearly drove Johnson crazy, and the low point was, not coincidentally, the Denver game on December 6, where the Mavs played completely at Denver's pace, over 100.

The next five games after Denver the Mavs pace never went over 85 and averaged an almost unbelievably slow pace of 83. To put this into perspective, the slowest team in 2006-2007 was the Detroit Pistons, and they averaged a pace of 86. After Denver, Johnson put the hammer down on Harris, and he never let up.

Denver also was the moment when Johnson gave up on working to improve his bench and grow players into the rotation. He dramatically lowered the minutes of Barea, who had averaged 11.3 minutes per game in November but saw his minutes drop to 7 minutes per game in December and 4 minutes per game in January. Dasagana Diop, who averaged 23 minutes per game in November, found himself riding the pine and averaging 12 minutes per game in December. Even Brandon Bass, who showed real flashes of excellence, saw his minutes cut by over 4 a game from November to December.

In short, after the Denver loss, Avery Johnson lost his perspective on the team, what it needed to do, what HE needed to do, and, perhaps most importantly, the value of listening to advice from others. His response was extreme, and it reverted the Mavericks back to the team that lost in the first round of the playoffs the previous season: A one-dimensional iso-focused offensive team that was eminently beatable in a series. Even worse, it was clear as the season wore on that Avery's reversion to his system adversely affected his players, which affected their effort, especially on the defensive end.

Here were my comments at the halfway point of the season:

By now you should be seeing a pattern: The Mavericks defense is slightly worse in every single aspect other than fouling the opposition. There are two things to take from this: The first is that the Mavericks are suffering death by papercut on defense. The small declines in multiple defensive categories adds up to a significant decline overall. The second thing to take from this is that there is a reason for what we're seeing: A drop in overall defensive aggressiveness.

Make no mistake about it: Avery Johnson is a very good defensive coach, but if the players don't have their heart into it, you see what I outlined above. After Denver, Johnson's moves demoralized the team. Even if they didn't say it, you could see it in their performance on the court.

Certainly we can't blame one game for Johnson giving up on all of the important tasks that he had to tackle coming into the season, but the game was absolutely a turning point. It was after this game that Johnson gave up on all those important initiatives and adjustments that the team needed to move ahead. After twenty games of chaos and a debacle against Denver, Johnson retreated to what he was comfortable with: His system. His offense. His rotations. His plays. His way.

[T Park]

I have a couple of acquaintances in the Dallas media, who provided me perspective on some of the behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt

In other words.

I'm making it up.

[SenorSpur]

Avery has a great mind for basketball but doesn't know how to relate to people. He is grating and annoying at times, but it was clear that he improved the Mavs when he took over. They were never going to the Finals with Nelson still on board. I don't see how one can't give Avery credit for that.

His intensity worked well for the Mavs in 06 but it quickly faded. Some of that's on him, some of that is because Dallas just sucks.

I see no reason to hate on Avery. He's a part of Spurs history. And to have him associated with us and not the Mavericks in this instance is a positive thing. The more he can disassociate himself from the Mavericks the better.

All great points.

He is a more than competent coach and he took the Mavs further than they ever would've gotten with any other coach. However, like former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, his at ude and personality dictate that he's got a relatively short shelf-life. He simply cannot get out of the way of his own ego. He should borrow a page out of the Popovich handbook and "get over himself"

[SenorSpur]

In other words.

I'm making it up.

Keep building your statue sweetie

[T Park]

Keep building your statue sweetie

I didn't want his number retired.


Sorry to burst your bubble kiddo.

[timvp]

I have no written quotes to supply.

So after sourcing half the known basketball universe who supposedly lambasted AJ's capabilities to properly coach, you can't come up with one quote to back that massive claim?

However, I have a couple of acquaintances in the Dallas media, who provided me perspective on some of the behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt. Take it for what it's worth.

I thought you just told me you "didn't give a squat" about what Dallas thinks. No offense to you but Dallas media has zero credibility in my eyes. They are a hyperbole loving, controversy creating, bandwagoning bunch. Dallas Media can be entertaining and they have some of the best sports radio in the nation, but it's literally the last place I'd look to get factual NBA information. I'll listen to SequSpur before I listen to talking head in Dallas if facts are what I'm after.

In the interim, he is an article that describes how AJ's fierce stranglehold can choke the life out of team.

A blog post written after AJ got fired about an event that happened five months earlier doesn't tell me anything. Especially when what the blog is criticizing him of is a move that Pop does every single season.

The bottomline regarding AJ's tenure is that he could no longer help the team win with smoke and mirrors. Eventually, teams with not enough talent are exploited. AJ never coached a Mav team that was talented enough to win an NBA championship and that lack of talent became even more apparent once Cuban took away most of his authority and they traded for a player who could never fit in his system. The day the Mavs traded for Kidd was the day AJ truly got fired.

All of the criticisms of AJ are almost word for word criticisms people had (or even have) of Pop. They both have abrasive coaching styles and demand an ungodly amount of effort and perfection from their players. The difference is Pop has full autonomy and this guy named Tim Duncan on his team.

[timvp]

Spurs Notebook: 'Little General' surveys camp
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/s...veys_camp.html

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich enjoys the company of great basketball minds, so it is never a surprise when other head coaches, past or present, visit the Spurs practice facility.

Wednesday's visitor to Spurs training camp, though, was special.

Avery Johnson, the former Spurs star and 2005-06 NBA Coach of the Year who was deposed as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks after the 2007-08 season ended, was on-hand at the team's practice facility, and Popovich hinted he will be around for a while longer.

“It's great having Avery here,” Popovich said, “because he's special to all of us in San Antonio, especially the Spurs family, and it's good fun. I get a chance to talk basketball with him and talk family and just laugh and have a good time. But my feelings having him here are kind of mixed, because I wish he were still coaching.

“He's doing a good thing. He's taking a break, spending a lot of time with family. He's staying involved by seeing different programs here and there, but we get the benefit of having him around right now. It's wonderful, in a lot of ways, having him here in training camp.”

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban this week told theDallas Morning-News that several Mavericks players told him after the season that if he did not fire Johnson, they wanted to be traded.

Popovich did not address that issue Wednesday, but said Johnson had grown as a coach during his time in Dallas.

“All these jobs in the NBA are volatile for a variety of reasons,” he said. “What Avery has expressed to me is that he had a great opportunity there and he enjoyed being able to do what he did. You get a job in the NBA and it's really a special thing. He learned a lot, enjoyed it, made some special friends. Now he moves on.”

The Spurs, Popovich said, will benefit from Johnson's presence.

“He's got a great feel for the game, both on a fundamental basis, and as far as what it takes to win in the NBA,” he said. “We'll take advantage of that, and he'll add something to our program, without a doubt.”

[Obstructed_View]

I'm sure it's been said before, but I've particularly enjoyed having a guard that's getting paid millions of dollars of Mark Cuban's money to contribute to the Spurs. I'd love few things more than having an assistant coach do the same.

[timvp]

Avery Johnson, the former Spurs star and 2005-06 NBA Coach of the Year who was deposed as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks after the 2007-08 season ended, was on-hand at the team's practice facility, and Popovich hinted he will be around for a while longer.

Hopefully AJ is given a role similar to what Kelvin Sampson had last year. As long as he's not paid, he'll likely be able to keep the millions he has coming from Cuban.

Last season the Spurs didn't defend as well as usual and would sometimes shoot too many three-pointers. Those happen to be two of AJ's biggest coaching strengths. He turned the Mavs from a no defense playing, three-point bombing unit to a well oiled, half court oriented machine. If he could get on the players about defense and maybe convince a couple of the shooters to drive to the basket every now and again, that would help out.

[milkyway21]

I don't know if I'd want AJ to be around SA org for good but I'd be more thoughtful if he's somewhere else and observing camp with other WC teams such as Houston or Phoenix. It's odd though that some wouldn't credit Avery for adding a D to _allas team, good enough to win a WC finals in 2006, beating the 2005 champs Spurs.