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4/30/08
Avery Johnson Fired by the Dallas Mavericks
Mark Cuban Is Quickly Becoming The George Steinbrenner Of The NBA, If He Isn't Already
READ MORE:
[Ed. Note - This is actually 100%, although I (CF) fully endorse this being written under my name. Paxson, will you please hire Avery Johnson. Now!]

Quite a day today, as this is my second coach-getting-fired post. I'm hoping there won't be a third or fourth, but you never know. I assume George Karl could get canned at any instant, but then there's absolutely no reason to defend him.

So this hour's coach to get the axe is the handsomely toothed Avery Johnson. I admittedly don't have anywhere near the same affection for the Mavericks as the Suns, but they're still great fun to wax poetic on. And that's because of Mark Cuban and his asinine decisions in running the team.

Much like the Suns' D'Antoni, Avery is taking the fall for a move that had nothing to do with him. I'm of course referring to the Kidd deal; in the Suns' case the Shaq deal.

And the truth is, Cuban undoubtedly had a large hand in the Kidd deal. He always does in any Mavs decisions. Unlike other owners, he likes to meddle. And that's almost always a bad thing.

In all honesty, the Mavs' move to bring Kidd in made even less sense than the Shaq trade. Phoenix isn't an incredibly young team, Marion wasn't happy anyway, and once the Suns gel next year they might be quite good.

But the Mavs, they basically mortgaged their future on the 35-year old Kidd, and needless to say, it was a disaster as Chris Paul utterly annihilated Kidd in the playoffs.

The simple fact is that Avery Johnson is a good coach. I won't say great because I think he ran the Mavericks into the ground last year in the regular season, which is why my Warriors beat them. And the Mavs should have won the NBA Championship the year before, even with Dwyane Wade getting every call in existence. But Avery's a solid coach. He won't be unemployed long.

This firing is just Cuban asserting his authority again, rather than showing any kind of rational restraint. I'm still amazed this guy is a billionaire. He seems to pull stunts like this - and appear on lame shows like Dancing With The Stars - just so we don't forget who he is.

The real question is what the heck will Cuban will do next? Will he blow up the team? Will he trade Dirk? Will he self-combust?

Honestly, I think anything is possible, and the reason why is that in the ESPN article which broke the Avery firing by Marc Stein, Stein points out that Cuban was considering firing Johnson before the playoffs started. I wouldn't doubt it. If anyone would do something that ridiculous, it's Cuban.

All I know is that after getting waxed by the Warriors last year and watching the Kidd trade kill this season, I think Cuban is literally capable of anything. And that won't benefit Dallas in my mind at all.

Source: (sports.espn.go.com)
27 comments
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4/30/08
5

Just another case of a coach taking the fall for an owner's mistake.  I give props to the Suns and the Mavs for trying to make a move to match the Lakers but lets be real, its crazy to think that Shaq and/or Kidd would have the same effect that Gasol had for the Lakers.  The Lakers gave up NOTHING for Gasol, while the Suns lost a great defensive player who complimented Steve Nash and the Mavs lost there future. 

 

I cant blame Dirk for this series loss, he came to play everynight.  Josh Howard, on the other hand, was MIA for the whole series and will be remembered more for what he said off the floor then anything he did on the floor. 


4/30/08
1
Mavericks are another team that will regret selling their future to attempt to become better in the short term and failing miserably.  The effect the Pau Gasol trade had on the NBA is rather amazing.

 I think either Josh Howard or Dirk is certainly on their way out of Dallas, although trading either would probably be a mistake.

4/30/08
5

Just another case of a coach taking the fall for an owner's mistake.  I give props to the Suns and the Mavs for trying to make a move to match the Lakers but lets be real, its crazy to think that Shaq and/or Kidd would have the same effect that Gasol had for the Lakers.  The Lakers gave up NOTHING for Gasol, while the Suns lost a great defensive player who complimented Steve Nash and the Mavs lost there future. 

 

I cant blame Dirk for this series loss, he came to play everynight.  Josh Howard, on the other hand, was MIA for the whole series and will be remembered more for what he said off the floor then anything he did on the floor. 


4/30/08
1
Dear John Paxson,

Please hire Avery Johnson.

4/30/08
0

Mr. Cuban, for someone who is a billionaire, how can you not understand the principle of square peg/round hole? Jason Kidd was not a good fit. So no matter how much you want to keep hammering that peg in, realize you have possibly screwed things up for this teams future.  Now since you have stopped hammering at that peg for now, can you now hear your team's window closing?

 

P.S. Also, would it kill you to take a comb or brush to your hair?


4/30/08
0
(Edited by kantwistaye)
Am I the only that finds it a lil bit funny that the only place it would've made sense for Shaq to be traded to was Dallas?  And then when some poor team makes the horrible choice to trade for Shaq that Dallas decides to do the same thing just with a different player?

I don't get the Dallas and Phoenix deserve props for trying idea.  Trading for JKidd and Shaq was illogical from the start for both teams and they should be ripped accordingly for it.  If you're going to mortgage your future you must improve your chances to win now.  Instead Dallas and Phoenix mortgaged their future and made themselves worse at the present time.  Those should go down as two of the worst trades of all time, because at no point in time did their teams improve because of it.

4/30/08
2
How about this for a trade: Carmelo for Josh Howard and a few other pieces for cap reasons. Dallas would get a crunch time scorer while Denver would get a good intangibles guy who doesn't need the ball in Howard. I think that would work well for both teams who are in need of a change.

4/30/08
0
You claim that it was a mistake, but it wasn't. It was Avery's inability to work around Kidd. He wouldn't let Kidd run the offense he wanted to run. If they would have let Kidd run the fast paced offense they were used to, it would have worked out better. Instead Avery wanted to shoot jumpers, instead of driving the lane. Avery is the reason the offense fell apart. It wasn't Kidd. Avery wanted to run the offense he thought would work best, but after going down 2-0 in the series and him not changing anything, I don't fault Cuban for wanting to let him go. We need someone who will run an offense that suits the team. Not a coach that will not let his players do what they're best at.

4/30/08
0
(Edited by Eric)
Jubanator14 wrote:
How about this for a trade: Carmelo for Josh Howard and a few other pieces for cap reasons. Dallas would get a crunch time scorer while Denver would get a good intangibles guy who doesn't need the ball in Howard. I think that would work well for both teams who are in need of a change.
I'd take that trade in a heartbeat. Josh won't drive the lane at all. Well, he does... but he'd rather take a 18 foot jump shot that he'll clank 65% of the time.

4/30/08
0
(Edited by kantwistaye)
Jubanator14 wrote:
How about this for a trade: Carmelo for Josh Howard and a few other pieces for cap reasons. Dallas would get a crunch time scorer while Denver would get a good intangibles guy who doesn't need the ball in Howard. I think that would work well for both teams who are in need of a change.
On paper it sounds good, but I don't know if it would work.  Melo and Dirk have almost the same game.  On the other hand, it would certainly make life much easier for Dirk.

4/30/08
1
Eric wrote:
You claim that it was a mistake, but it wasn't. It was Avery's inability to work around Kidd. He wouldn't let Kidd run the offense he wanted to run. If they would have let Kidd run the fast paced offense they were used to, it would have worked out better. Instead Avery wanted to shoot jumpers, instead of driving the lane. Avery is the reason the offense fell apart. It wasn't Kidd. Avery wanted to run the offense he thought would work best, but after going down 2-0 in the series and him not changing anything, I don't fault Cuban for wanting to let him go. We need someone who will run an offense that suits the team. Not a coach that will not let his players do what they're best at.
Dallas was a half court team.  To bring in a fast pace, full court PG is a mistake no matter who you want to blame.

4/30/08
2

as a mavs fan, i'm glad to see avery go....it got very old waching him continually get out-coached in the playoffs

 

avery wanted kidd as well, then refused to hand over the reins of the offense to kidd.....sitting him the last 35 seconds of a close game with san antonio? seriously

 

and avery refuses to give bass the minutes he deserves:

 

bass>stackhouse

bass>george

bass>allen

bass>dampier

 

yet many games went by where bass played less than a minute - straight up ridiculous

 

 

buh-bye avery.....go ruin some other team that should be breaking through


4/30/08
1

5/1/08
0
kantwistaye wrote:
Dallas was a half court team.  To bring in a fast pace, full court PG is a mistake no matter who you want to blame.
Yes, it was a mistake to bring him in... But, once he's brought in it's the coaches responsibility to do a work-around. You can't bring in a guy for 17,000,000 dollars and not work him into the proper offense.

5/1/08
1
Cuban isnt becoming like Steinbrenner because the Yankees win titles and the Mavs dont.

5/1/08
0
MattTito23 wrote:
Cuban isnt becoming like Steinbrenner because the Yankees win titles and the Mavs dont.

mavs have been to more title series then the yankees the last 12 years buddy (about the time cuban bought them)

 

care to recount that statement?


5/1/08
0
(Edited by RespectTheStar)
kantwistaye wrote:
Am I the only that finds it a lil bit funny that the only place it would've made sense for Shaq to be traded to was Dallas?  And then when some poor team makes the horrible choice to trade for Shaq that Dallas decides to do the same thing just with a different player?

I don't get the Dallas and Phoenix deserve props for trying idea.  Trading for JKidd and Shaq was illogical from the start for both teams and they should be ripped accordingly for it.  If you're going to mortgage your future you must improve your chances to win now.  Instead Dallas and Phoenix mortgaged their future and made themselves worse at the present time.  Those should go down as two of the worst trades of all time, because at no point in time did their teams improve because of it.
I really dont buy the fact that dallas got worse. They were god awful midseason. Werent they the same team that went on a 14-2 rip, and then ripped of 3 of the next 18? Thats pretty bad to begin with. Fact is, Dirk is to inconsistent. Josh Howard is the same way. All you have to do is fluster these guys and they crumble. Dirk never will be a great player until that happens. However, dont completely write off this as just Cuban's fault. Avery Johnson has had this team playing heartless since last years playoffs. Yea, he's not on the floor shooting anymore, but as a coach it is hs job to fire up the team and keep them going. Dont believe me, that the mavs dont have heart? Why then, did no one(not even Dirk) do ANYTHING about West up in his face?

5/1/08
0
Jubanator14 wrote:
How about this for a trade: Carmelo for Josh Howard and a few other pieces for cap reasons. Dallas would get a crunch time scorer while Denver would get a good intangibles guy who doesn't need the ball in Howard. I think that would work well for both teams who are in need of a change.
Nope. Howard isnt great shooter, but is one of the better defensive players on this team(which is kinda sad, wait...no. not kinda....its really sad). 'Melo is the future of the mavs, and this time next year, we will be talking about how bad of a trade that is. The mavs need a decent big guy(dont kid yourself, dampier is ok at best), needs to give bass more playing time, and run sprinters from noon today till next season so they have the stamina to close games out.

5/1/08
0

yeah, let's compare cuban's, what, 14 years owning the mavs to steinbrenner's, what, 35 years of owning the yankees?

 

great comparison


5/1/08
2
staffbb43 wrote:

yeah, let's compare cuban's, what, 14 years owning the mavs to steinbrenner's, what, 35 years of owning the yankees?

 

great comparison

Fine lets compare the last 14 years - Yankees 4 titles and the Mavs 0. Good call.

5/1/08
0
Actually, that's not a bad argument! ;)

 
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