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Avery says "phenomenal" very funny.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...jackson/060220
The Little General that could
By Scoop Jackson
Page 2
ESPN.com
It started with a hug.
A warm one. An affectionate one. Nothing "Brokeback." Just friendship. A friendship that is more than 20 years old.
There was a smile on his face. Different from the one that is there all the time. This one was wider, deeper. It wasn't the happy-to-be-alive smile that usually dominates his face. No sir, this smile was about a life accomplishment. One that he didn't even see coming.
It started on Friday. The day he faced the media for the first time as the coach of the Western Conference All-Stars. An assignment given only to coaches whose teams have the best record in the NBA 51 games into the season. An accomplishment.
He sat there inside the Hilton Hotel ballroom. Smiling. Answering every question thrown at him.
Then he saw me. The media person who has known him the longest, the one who understands this more than anyone else because I was there when people called him "Duggy."
Who knew?
Who knew?
That he'd be here this soon, this quickly. Before he turned 43.
Who knew this would happen when he began this journey as a replacement coach only 11 months ago.
Not me. Not when he took over the helm of one of the most misunderstood and underachieving teams not owned by the Maloofs.
Not when he was proving Damon Stoudamire wrong after Stoudamire said San Antonio will "never win a championship with Avery Johnson as their point guard."
Not when he and I were together in New Orleans; I at Xavier University, he at Southern University. Not when he would come down to the Barn for pickup games on our campus and display the gift that had him leading the nation in assists. Not when I replaced him for two games on a New Orleans semipro team, Team Gumbo, in 1985.
None of us knew he would be here, on this stage, so soon in his life. On center stage. Watching Beyoncé sing her last song with her girls, watching 10 of the best ballers in the world compete for best intro during the introductions.
His ecstasy took over his nervousness. This weekend he was like a kid in a GameStop, or a candy store.
For four days … a smile.
On Saturday he turned practice into his own personal mini-concert. Getting the crowd hyped, getting them to choose sides, getting them to know him.
After no one seemed to want to make a basket during shooting drills: "If you all don't hurry up and and make a shot the coaches are going to get in and shoot for you all."
After Tracy McGrady missed a few easy shots: "Tracy, you never miss when the Mavs come to visit the Rockets -- why are you missing now? What are you averaging against us? Like 45?"
After he saw Kobe laughing: "We already know what Kobe's averaging against us. What is it Kobe, 55?"
After verbally separating his first team and second team: "I'm saying first team, second team but we all know all of you all are first team to me."
It was a public introduction to him, for a world who really didn't know him.
Oh, they all knew who he was, the funny-talking "country" point guard from San An who they called the General to David Robinson's Admiral.
But this was different. This was a new and improved Avery Johnson who never needed newness or improvement. This was a man who, in the first 62 games of his coaching career, might have found his calling. Discovered why God put him on this earth.
But before this weekend no one had the chance to see him like this. In his first All-Star Weekend. Ever.
On Sunday, God's love. Being honored at a gospel brunch. A recognition that had nothing to do with his being a professional basketball coach.
His faith was served before the game.
He came to the game in his Mavericks blue. Dark blue suit, soft blue shirt. Tie, cuff links, cursive signature over the wrists, blue square toes. Like he belonged.
He got serious at the 6:19 mark of the third when he saw his 21-point lead evaporate to seven. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and walked out on the court while his team retreated to the bench. He brushed his hand down his tie. The smile was gone.
Even inside the time of his life, Avery Johnson can't stand to lose. The fastest coach to 50 victories in NBA history could not have his first All-Star appearance as coach have an "L" attached to it.
He had a plan to put five 7-footers in the game as soon as Flip Saunders put in all four of his Detroit players. Flip did it, Avery didn't. All gimmicks aside, he had a game to win. One that he eventually didn't.
But the second the game was over, the smile returned. He walked behind the scenes, being led to the postgame podium, soaking in the moment.
When he saw Tim Duncan, he said: "I put Tim Duncan out there to guard LeBron and he wound up getting the MVP."
When he saw LeBron, he gave him a hug, congratulated him, then said: "You spoiled my first All-Star Game."
But when it was all over, when no one else was around, I still don't think he had absorbed his last four days.
"Scoop," he said, "it's just unbelievable that I can call Kobe, T-Mac, Tim Duncan, Dirk, a lot of these guys I competed against, some -- Steve Nash, Dirk, Tim -- I've been teammates with. So for this weekend to go so well, in terms of me being a head coach for such a short period of time and coaching the All-Star Game in Houston … man it's just been …"
"Unreal," I say.
"Phenomenal," he corrected me.
"Who knew, back in the day," I reminisced, "we'd be standing here? With you coaching an NBA All-Star team?"
"Well, you know I didn't come into the season trying to be the All-Star coach," he says, accent intact, humor still serious. "I want to be coach of the month in June."
And it ended like it started … with a hug. Me telling him how happy and proud I am of him, him continually saying thanks.
Both knowing how far he's come.
Then he walked off, smile on his face. Knowing, as he said just five minutes earlier, that the magic slipper would come off in less than an hour.
Avery says "phenomenal" very funny.
Post this on the MAV's board, IMO it does not belong here
Nah, I posted it here.
yeah no , I am sick of the Dallas crap.
The Little General that could
Go straight to for all I care
I guess all that talk about retiring his number was way too premature.
scoop jackson makes me miss ralph wiley. i thought wiley's r-dub columns were kinda annoying, but at least he could write , and write damn well. it sucks we only got a few of the sports guy/wiley back and forth columns. scoop just sucks ass. well at least he's mastered the one sentence paragraph.
Last edited by leemajors; 02-23-2006 at 01:22 AM.
a first grade teacher was preparing his class for a visit from AJ and Cuban.
She said "I'm a MAV's fan and if you are a Mav's fan raise your hand.
Most of the kids had no idea who the mav's were but raised their hands anyway, except for little Ronnie.
The teacher, having had trouble from Ronnie all year, was tired of his
defiance. He asked
"If your not a Mav's fan Ronnie, whose fan are you?"
Ronnie replied, My Mommie and Daddy are Spurs' fans, so I'm one too.
The teacher, seeing red, and not going to let a 7 year old get the better of
him replied.
"Well Ronnie, if your Mommy was a Moron and your daddy an Idiot would
you still be a spurs Fan?
Ronnie thought, only for a moment and replied:
"No SIr, it's for sure, if that was the case I would be a Mav's fan.
Too bad Holting Pattern wouldn't pay the extra Jack to keep AJ and went cheap by going with a young, unproven draft pick at less than a million a year.
Y'all are cold. AJ is one of the most important people in Spurs history. He already has a le as a coach, and he's doing about as well as I expected him to. For anyone who ever saw the 99 time his success in Dallas should come as no surprise.
Why?
The Spurs organization has acted like it's a given that AJ's number is next.
huh?It started on Friday. The day he faced the media for the first time as the coach of the Western Conference All-Stars. An assignment given only to coaches whose teams have the best record in the NBA 51 games into the season. An accomplishment.
Exactly.
Those hating on AJ seriously need to reconsider their thoughts.
Well my good sir, as a wise man once said "the seventh layer of is reserved for mutineers and Judases."
So Danny Ferry, Mike Brown, Mario Elie, et al. also fit that description?
Not really cause their teams aren't that good. Besides Elie was just an assistant coach. Plus they are in a diff conference.
AJ is good, but let's not all suck his at the same time, he took a team that has won on average fifty six games for the past five seasons into a team on pace to win sixty four games...
I'm not saying Dallas isn't better, they have stepped up their offense and defense, their point differential is higher than last season, but it's not like he is taking the Hawks to the playoffs....
And this doesn't have to do with the Spurs...
Nice article.
So, if Dallas sucked, then Avery wouldn't be a Judas?
This is waaay premature, but I'm LMAO at the thought of all the Avery haters trying to swallow the fact that he might make it into the HoF as a coach . . .
You mean, he's kinda doing what Pop did?
wow
another mav thread
A man is a "mutineer" and a "Judas" because he takes a desirable, lucrative, and satisfying job? Geez, there sure are a lot of mutineers and Judases in the country, in the world. Avery was traded from San Antonio. We threw him away like a used kleenex. He wound up in Dallas (after a little wandering) and found himself in a dream situation. Don Nelson and Mark Cuban (neither of whom I can stand) recognized coaching potential there (and rightly so) and the rest is history. How can you fault a guy for that. Avery has never been shy about saying his time with the Spurs was some of the best times of his life. But, everyone has to grow and mature and move on. That's all Avery has done. I don't see any basis for the hate.
That doesn't even make sense. You should be proud of Avery and happy for him (no matter how you feel about the Mavericks), for what he's accomplished in his life. As a Spur and after.
I just look at him and think how lucky we are to have had him here for a little while.
I'm happy for AJ; although I will root for the Spurs to spank that a%#. All the AJ haters need to revisit some Spurs history. There is a reason why everyone in the organization (Pop, P.J., David, Sean, Steve Kerr, even TP himself) spoke in reference to TP's growth as a point guard to the play of Avery Johnson during his tenure with the organization. If you don't recognize or fail to acknowledge that, you don't know basketball or Spurs history.
In short? Stop Hatin'.
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