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Awesome article. That's basically what I've tried to get across in any thread about why retiring AJ's number makes sense.
Great job, Buck
NBA: A half-dozen sides of Avery Johnson — what he was
Web Posted: 12/21/2007 11:17 PM CST
Buck Harvey
San Antonio Express-News
Avery Johnson will take the microphone tonight, and he will have a few things to say. Someone might want to record this.
His broad smile will fill the arena, and he will unleash the public persona that could have spawned a line of tickle-me-Avery dolls just in time for Christmas. At some point in the evening, when both sentiment and his No. 6 reach a similar height, everyone will forget AJ even has a job in Dallas.
Everyone will remember, too, what time and three more Spurs les have diminished.
That's what these ceremonies are for (besides a clever way to sell tickets to a Clippers game). They remind. They remind, in this case, there was something going on in the Spurs' backcourt before Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili showed up.
AJ needs this. He coaches a Spurs rival, and the evil dancer, Mark Cuban, steps on everyone's toes as his employer. More than one fan wonders if the Spurs might as well be retiring No. 666.
But AJ hasn't changed. No. 6 still has a half-dozen sides to him. He's the same driven, animated, entertaining, calculating, smart, prideful package of energy he was in San Antonio.
Those who speak tonight will address some of this, and they won't tell all the stories. A tumultuous night in Cleveland in 2000 likely will be ignored.
Then, with Terry Porter taking his minutes and Gregg Popovich his power, AJ felt his kingdom dissolving in the spray of the shower in the visitor's locker room. AJ kept repeating loudly to no one in particular, "This is MY team!"
Eventually Steve Kerr turned to David Robinson and asked, "Would you do something?"
AJ and Malik Rose would tangle that night, slipping to the locker-room floor in a naked flurry of unintended comedy.
Popovich would explain to the media who entered later that he was the one who had thrown things around in a post-loss tantrum.
Had AJ gone over the edge? He certainly had driven himself to it. But his weakness was also his strength. He fought for his turf because he'd had to fight for everything, and from that came qualities this franchise needed at the time. This personality, more than his franchise-best assist total or even the culminating jumper against the Knicks, is why his jersey number deserves to hang with the others.
AJ is not the first honoree cut by the Spurs (Johnny Moore was), and he's not the first to play in San Antonio, leave and return (Sean Elliott did, too). But no one whose number hangs in the AT&T Center faced his depth of rejection.
AJ once stood 5-foot-3 in a New Orleans high school, and he later grabbed the only scholarship offer he got. He led the NCAA in assists his last two years at Southern University, but wasn't drafted. Other NBA teams cut him, with Denver doing it on Christmas Eve, and then he came to San Antonio.
He stuck for nearly a full calendar year. And after being in Robinson's wedding in 1991 — after attending the reception with friends and teammates — the Spurs released him to save $80,000.
Years later, when looking back, he said Christmas Eve in Denver was worse. "Because on David's day," he said, "I was just happy for him that he was getting married rather than worrying about myself."
That's AJ. He knew how to handle failure, both with his words and his reaction. He preaches the same now, and he did earlier this month as part of a commencement ceremony at Southern.
Then he put on a cap and gown and talked about how to help the "inner me" defeat the "enemy." That's life as he sees it, as a series of battles that require resolve. That's also the kind of outlook that can affect basketball millionaires, and that's what happened when he came back to the Spurs a second time. Then, after Jerry Tarkanian declared he couldn't win without a real point guard, AJ helped John Lucas turn around the Spurs.
Tark later wrote to AJ to admit he had been wrong, and the Spurs responded by writing AJ a pink slip. He went to Golden State, where Popovich was then an assistant, but only after a Warriors starter had been injured. Three days after entering that locker room, AJ was named a team captain.
Popovich has recently compared Jacque Vaughn to AJ, and there are similarities. The size, the professional approach, the always-in-progress jumpshot.
But Vaughn doesn't have this kind of spiritual muscle. AJ could kid and instruct and demand, and better players listened. That's why Popovich, upon becoming the Spurs general manager the next season, signed AJ even before he signed his coach, Bob Hill.
AJ would start for seven seasons, and his chirpy y'all-ready-for-this would start every game. He put on his happy face in the community, and he put on his uncompromising one in his locker room.
Elliott used to joke about the Little General by using another nickname. The Little Nazi.
AJ was unofficial management, and he critiqued players as well as Hill. He helped recruit Mario Elie, his buddy, and he could be harsh when talking about players who disappointed him. He was not above privately using a term such as "loser" to describe a teammate.
His partnership with Popovich made it all work — especially for Popovich. That was clear in 1999.
Then the Spurs stood 6-8, and Popovich was a couple of losses from being fired. A few things — such as a new arena and Tim Duncan's future — were also in doubt then.
That was the strike-shortened season, and there were veterans new to the Spurs who wondered about Popovich. But AJ convinced them to hang in, and, when the Spurs won at Houston in their next game, Johnson dedicated the moment to Popovich.
Reporters went to Popovich afterward with AJ's words, and Popovich turned away with tears in his eyes.
That was the AJ the public knew. But he could also be political, and he could be angry, and he could be salty with his language. The reputation of the Ghetto Preacher grew that season, and he yelled Five-OH about a hundred times a night.
He also lived by house rules when the playoffs came. No reading newspapers, no listening to sports-talk radio or TV, no unnecessary fan interaction.
"He's worse than I am," Elie said during that run. "You can't talk to me before games, but you can't even breathe on Avery."
And when AJ clinched the le with the jumper he'd been working on for a decade? AJ proved the Spurs really were his team.
His heavy-handed leadership began to wear on some teammates, and his "inner me" didn't know what to do about it. The Spurs considered trading him shortly after the Cleveland incident, though fans never understood why. One sign at the Alamodome read then, "Trade Pop, Keep AJ."
But the Spurs were evolving as Duncan did. Within a year the Spurs would draft Tony Parker, and AJ would leave, and memories would fade. When introducing Ginobili at a press conference, the Spurs held up the jersey number he would wear. No. 6.
They would realize their mistake, switching Ginobili to No. 20, but AJ had gone on. He would go to Denver for the contract he always wanted, and he would end up in Dallas. There he has become to the Mavericks what he once was to the Spurs.
The Spurs sped on without him. Now the point guard in San Antonio isn't a role player; he's the reigning MVP of the Finals. And, as the years passed, so did the idea that AJ once meant a lot.
It's true. The Spurs could have won a le in 1999 with another point guard. But they didn't. They won with someone who fit, whose discipline matched his work ethic. The Spurs won with someone who modeled precisely what Popovich wanted, and they won with an at ude still in place now.
Tonight is for remembering that.
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LINK: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...n.279a6e8.html
Awesome article. That's basically what I've tried to get across in any thread about why retiring AJ's number makes sense.
Great job, Buck
Well, I read that and I still don't feel they should retire it.
IIRC, you liked AJ. Then he coached the Mavs . . .
This isn't about retiring the AJ of today. This is about the AJ who helped bring the first championship to San Antonio.
But whatever, I don't really care if every other Spurs fan now hates AJ, I'm still going to enjoy the ceremony.
IIRC, you liked AJ. Then he coached the Mavs . . .
This isn't about retiring the AJ of today. This is about the AJ who helped bring the first championship to San Antonio.
But whatever, I don't really care if every other Spurs fan now hates AJ, I'm still going to enjoy the ceremony.
i never knew the other side of that smile. all i saw of him was what was shown on tv.
Pretty much - It may not be rational but AJ.
@ the fact that the major problem people have with AJ is that he turned out to be a even better coach than player.
If the Mavs had lost the 2006 series, everyone would still love him.
If AJ had become the commentator and Elliott the Mav coach, Elliott would be the one hated while AJ would be the most popular person in town.
If the Mavs had lost the 2006 series, everyone would still love him.
Elliott only gets lukewarm love nowadays as it is. They'd be burning down #32 during every Mav game if he were on the enemy's side.
Except that Elliott would suck as a coach. While AJ would probably be a damn good commentator.
I haven't noticed that Elliot only gets lukewarm love. Is there an incident you're referring to, or an opinion held by the media? I always thought he was still very well liked.
I was talking about internet Spurs fans. If I had a dollar for how many times I've read "Elliot was a choker who shouldn't have had his number retired", I'd have plenty of dollars.
Casual Spurs fan loves Elliott.
In my mind, Elliot's jersey retirement was two-fold.
First, for his on-court exploits. For years and long before Bowen's arrival, he was the Spurs best perimeter defender. A one-time all-star, decent scorer, and prolific 3-pt shooter. Was never considered a clutch player until the Memorial Day Miracle.
Second, his silent, off-court battle with kidney disease. The courageous effort to play through the 1999 NBA Finals in his condition and the manner in which he fought back to play again. His comeback was ever more publicized that that of Johnny Moore's Desert Fever illness. Like Moore before him, his inspirational comeback further endeared himself to the local and national NBA masses.
With all that in mind, there shouldn't be any question as to why Elliot's jersey is retired From either the casual or hardcore Spurs fan.
i follow the spurs since 1995... i love AJ.. i mostly love what he once meant for us.. i think he still is part of this team work ethic... do you think he will cry tonight?
He should. But he probably wont. Don't think I've ever seen him get choked up.
It's going to be ing great watching the Mavs kick us out of the playoffs and then looking up in the rafters and seeing #6 there laughing at us.
Soft ass Spurs.
Yep. This is a pretty good article.
but...
Avery is still a scrub.
The Spurs were trying their asses off every day he was here to find someone better or bring someone in. Since the salary cap was so low and David, Sean and others were taking up most of it, the only option they had was a scrub named Avery.
Avery benefitted from David and Tim. Then when a teenager came in for ing nothing he was G O N E! What does that tell ya?
Avery didn't win ... he was a beneficiary of Hall of famers....
Wake the up.
I see what you mean. Elliot was 'soft' in the same sense Robinson was 'soft'. The frustration of the 90s made the Memorial Day Miracle and the 99 le in general all the more enjoyable.
Walter Berry was my favorite #6 anyway.
If Avery gets his jersey retired hopefully he'll feel less motivation to kill us every time we play.
And I didn't start hating AJ after he became a part of the Mavs... I've hated him since like 00 so you cant use that argument with me
1. Avery was a scrub.
2. He had no problem playing the Mark Cuban 'who is us' card to the officials in the playoffs a few years back to get the upper hand on us. When AJ took over in Dallas he became as big a punk as anyone associated with that franchise. As such, he doesn't deserve to have his jersey hanging.
Last edited by Aggie Hoopsfan; 12-22-2007 at 05:01 PM.
LOL @ Sean calling AJ the Little Nazi. IT is true...he's the got that Hitler Napoleon thing going....and I still say this jersey retirement is fascism at it's finest.
This article is fluff...telling us why we should like AJ for the one thousandth time....
At least it was honest about his harsh critique of other players...
Calling other players loserss behind their back....hmmmm and belittling them...the harsh criitiques...
Sounds like Damon Stoudamire to me...
I guess AJ thinks he overcame that sort of thing, but he really didn't...he had a lot of really good people that helped him to achieve every single thing he achieved in his career...from Gregg Poppovich, to David Robinson and on and on and on....
If they'd been the same type of people he was...it would have never happened.
The day AJ realizes that(and he kind of has started to do so)...is the day I will have a lot more respect for him.
But he still doesn't deserve to have his jersey retired...that is 100% the cult of AJ thing....he has a knack for developing friends in high places....that's why his jersey is being retired.
Last edited by whottt; 12-22-2007 at 11:58 AM.
I guess that's what troubles me about this whole thing. The fact that AJ trashed the very franchise the he made his name for. He may have harbored some "ill will" because Porter took most of his minutes and then TP later replaced him, but at least he could've remained professional about it.
1. Avery was a scrub.
2. He had no problem playing the Mark Cuban 'who is us' card to the officials in the playoffs a few years back to get the upper hand on us. When AJ took over in Dallas he became as big a punk as anyone associated with that franchise. As such, he doesn't deserve to have his jersey hanging.
I'm one of the ones who doesn't think his jersey should be retired. But to say he doesn't deserve it because he wasn't loyal and went to Denver/Dallas is lame. It's not like the Spurs (or any other team he played for) were loyal to him. AJ has been cut more than cheap coke.
It's not an excuse, it just is what it is.
1. Avery was a scrub.
2. He had no problem playing the Mark Cuban 'who is us' card to the officials in the playoffs a few years back to get the upper hand on us. When AJ took over in Dallas he became as big a punk as anyone associated with that franchise. As such, he doesn't deserve to have his jersey hanging.
I lost all respect for AJ following his "bear hug defense" fest press conference that year.
EXACTLY. He was a little about Bowen's defense, and I guess everyone feels compelled to look past him dogging on Tony Parker as well (something about sending a boy to do a man's job or some bull like that).
This is why Dallas will beat us in the playoffs again should we meet. Pop and the rest of the front office will be talking about what a nice guy AJ is while he is busy putting another knife in their backs.
And what about his wife getting in the pissing match with the fans in the stands and telling them to go to and all that , then Avery comes to her defense and bags on the fans (despite multiple witnesses corroborating the fact she was being a )?
ing idiots.
Avery wouldn't be it if weren't for this franchise, yet he has taken every opportunity to piss on the Spurs since he got his job in Dallas. It's a Pop damn disgrace the little is getting his jersey hung in the AT&T.
Never liked him or cared for his game... Manny, Sequ, and Whott make good points and reflect alot of my same thoughts.
San Antonio loved him because he was a lovable character he had a big smile,cute accent and an adorable media presesnce.
but if you looked past that he brought very little to the table.
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