Reply With Quote
Pop, you the man.
By RANDY GALLOWAY
Star-Telegram staff writer
Six weeks later, six weeks after Golden State totally tarnished and tarred the Mavericks' golden season, Avery Johnson was sounding upbeat and positive on Friday.
I wasn't sure exactly why, particularly when recalling a July-a-year-ago visit with Avery, which was a month and a half after his team's other historic collapse, the Miami meltdown.
At that time, Avery still looked and sounded like a guy who shouldn't be allowed to handle any sharp objects.
So what's the difference between that horrific ending and this one?
"Enlightenment and confirmation, plus certainly a continuing educational process for the coach," Avery said.
And with the San Antonio Spurs having won another NBA le the night before, Avery did Friday what he always does -- he also verbally dug up his Bexar County basketball roots. His Coach Pop roots.
Admittedly, what happened to the Mavs a year ago in the NBA Finals caught Johnson by surprise. And not that he didn't expect to beat Nellie's Renegades in the first round this time, but...
"What happened confirmed a lot of worries I had about our team going back to early March," Avery said. "I know the media, and maybe a lot of fans, heard me talk about those concerns, and thought I was blowing coaching smoke.
"But it was happening. We, as a coaching staff, could see it happening. See the slippage in mentality, and see it showing up on the floor. I take full blame for that. I don't put it on the players."
Why?
"Because I couldn't find a way to snap us out of it. Finding a way is my responsibility. The coach discovered again that he still has things to learn about this business."
That learning process for Johnson usually always involves Gregg Popovich, the man he once played for in San Antonio, and the man he now has to beat if the West is to be won again.
"The Spurs, unless we can get Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and some of those other players out of there, are always the team to beat," said Johnson, laughing. "I told everyone that in March, when we were being called the favorite.
"When you've done it as many times as they've done it, it's because they know how to win a championship, and keep winning championships. In this business, that's always the team to fear. The team that knows how, and has the right combination of people, is always the favorite."
With a 67-win regular-season club that went home early, Avery talked like, but didn't necessarily confirm, that he might be altering his hard-driving coaching ways. Because that's not the Pop way.
"Pop's team has a knack for kicking it in about March 15 every year," he said. "Forget what you saw in January, always watch the Spurs around mid-March.
"When I was his point guard, Pop used to drive me crazy because he didn't seem to be concerned we weren't playing well in December or January. I'd get angry with him because he wasn't angry enough.
"I even told him once that our training camps weren't tough enough. But Pop knows how to peak a good team. The regular-season record is not a priority with him. He just pushes the right buttons month by month."
Whatever changes Avery makes for next season in coaching style (and Pop is his role model), he quickly downplayed Friday the talk of major personnel moves for the team.
Six weeks ago, maybe his mentality was different. Those were tough times immediately after the Golden State embarrassment. Even for those of us who still think the Mavericks need a major trade jolt, Avery's answer now is, "Think about it. Think about what makes sense in terms of what we can actually do."
"We have a good club, but we've got to tweak it, we've got to mix in some different components," he said. "I know we must have talent because I'm answering the phone every day with calls from other teams inquiring about trades."
Point guards, I would imagine, are being offered, but Avery didn't sound like he was interested. Instead, he praised, yes, Devin Harris.
"Devin makes the most sense at the position," he said. "He gives us our best chance. I think he's ready, and it's our job to make him ready."
Connecting the dots, you would think, if Avery is actually going with Harris full time at the point, then Jason Terry is on the trading block, which wouldn't be a surprise. But Harris had a tendency to look over his shoulder last season after a mistake, waiting to see if Terry would be taking over at the point.
Also flash back to the Spurs again, and recall that Pop once nearly gave up on a seemingly timid Tony Parker, and that was just four years ago.
Harris, with quickness like Parker, has no consistent perimeter shot, which was once the knock on Tony. But Pop force-fed Parker, and now...
In the recovery process from the Golden State disgrace, Avery seems to be digging up some strong roots from down south. And that's not exactly a bad place to dig.
Randy Galloway's Galloway & Co. can be heard weekdays 3-6 p.m. on ESPN/103.3 FM.
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/140077.html
Pop, you the man.
Randy "Spurs Hater" Galloway actually wrote something positive about Pop? Of course, he had to wrap it around Avery but even so I'm amazed.
try as he might, i dont think johnson can change who he is.
pedal to the metal intense..
that style will produce very good, compe ive teams, but ultimately it will grate on the players a la Larry Brown.
If Devin Harris had Chip Englland working with him, Harris might be able to be as good a PG as Parker someday...he'd be the same kind of scoring PG that Parker has become. Personally, I think his upside is a lot bigger than Jason Terry's, who's had his chances in this league over the years...
I don't like Avery Johnson anymore. The Spurs better not retire his number.
devin harris is a scrub
forever and always
Mavs as a team probably tuned Avery out by April.
Lesson learned.
and a tryhard flopper
That is pure copying. Johnson should be ashamed. Wait till Pop retires, then you use his scheme.
Devin Harris is a crappy point guard
When did the spurs "almost give up on Parker?" When they considered getting the best PG in the game (at the time) over the summer in pursuit of Kidd?
I don't think that cons utes giving up on a parker at all.
coaches do it all the time at all levels. nothing new there.
AJ did coach like Pop in round one and lost to GS.
At least they recognize that Avery learned from Pop. But, Pop obviously didn't teach Avery everything.
but harris has no defense (just flopping) and parker has really improve on defense
People laughed when I said it in January, but Pop WANTS his team to go on a couple of losing streaks in December and January. He WANTS his team to get their ass handed to them by the likes of Milwaukee and Charlotte during that time because it gives him the ammunition to get the guys to focus. Like I've said many times before, the NBA season is a long term race and Pop knows how to allow his guy's to pace better than anyone. Phil Jackson is a close 2nd who did the same thing with an older squad for three les in LA and the latter 3 in Chicago.
They lost to GS due to a combination of things, a big one being they sprinted the entire season and ran out of steam in the last leg.
he cut through the spurs pretty good last year.
Harris isn't a bad PG. He just needs to improve his shot and that's about it. Don't be surprised if the Mavs offer Chip more than Avery is making...so Chip can help them too. The Mavs want what we have....they already said that.
Randy Galloway is a .
Pop coached like Pop and won another championship. Go figure.
I like how the writer uses cute words and phrases to avoid having to print "Devin Harris is a poor man's Tony Parker" in his article.
AJ seemed more upbeat because his true team won the championship
I think the one thing that Avery realizes (and didn't mention in this interview) is that a team needs to have the chemistry/mentality in place, so that when he wants to step on the gas pedal in mid-March, he can and the team will respond. It's taken Pop how long to establish that? Personally, I don't think Cuban has the patience to stick with Avery long enough to establish something like that.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
