Avery Johnson to coach his 1st NBA game . . .

[Guest_Randy]

tonight against the Spurs.

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson will step aside for Tuesday night's game against San Antonio and let his top assistant Avery Johnson run the team.

Nelson will still be on the bench against the Spurs, but will leave it to Johnson to make decisions.

"I'll give him my opinion and he'll have to make the call," Nelson said. "Just like when he gives me his opinion, I reject some of them, he can reject mine."

Nelson would like Johnson to be his eventual successor, and plans to let him coach five or six games this season. Nelson is in his eighth season in Dallas, and is signed through next season.

Nelson chose San Antonio as the first test because Johnson is familiar with the Spurs and coach Gregg Popovich. While playing in San Antonio, Johnson, aka The Little General, hit the title-clinching jumper in the 1999 NBA Finals.

Johnson ended a 16-year playing career when he retired during the preseason. He returned to Dallas this summer, initially signing as a player-coach.

Avery looks like the heir-apparent to Nellie in Dallas (REALLY glad it isn't his son or Del Harris).  I still am surprised that SA didn't give Avery this opportunity first -- with all his years leading SA, I thought Pop would jump on Avery to be an Assistant Coach.

Glad to hear this for Avery -- a smart basketball player.

 

[westkoast]

*logs in as Lurker*

Dallas is going to win the title this year

[Lurker]

*logs in as Lurker*

Dallas is going to win the title this year

No, I wouldn't say that....but I did predict that they would be playing much better defense this year than last.  And if you look at the 2002/03 season when Avery was there they played tougher (by Dallas standards) defense.  He brings a defensive mindset to the practice floor that carries over to when the games count.

[Guest_Randy]

Avery has always been a leader -- IMO, DRob was SA's best player but Avery was the leader of that team.  Definately a tough guy -- of course, you would never know that listening to him talk!

[westkoast]

*logs in as Lurker*

Dallas is going to win the title this year

No, I wouldn't say that....but I did predict that they would be playing much better defense this year than last.  And if you look at the 2002/03 season when Avery was there they played tougher (by Dallas standards) defense.  He brings a defensive mindset to the practice floor that carries over to when the games count.

Lighten up jeez!

How much of that improved defense has to do with just Avery, I dunno.  After you have a very good team for 5 years straight and never get to the finals it causes coaches to really change alot of things.  Defense, of course, was one of the things that Dallas has been working on over the past 2 seasons.

If Avery replaces Nelson I think it would be a good move.  Avery is a leader and has a little bit better of an idea of how basketball all around has changed since Nelson was a player.

[Lurker]

*logs in as Lurker*

Dallas is going to win the title this year

No, I wouldn't say that....but I did predict that they would be playing much better defense this year than last.  And if you look at the 2002/03 season when Avery was there they played tougher (by Dallas standards) defense.  He brings a defensive mindset to the practice floor that carries over to when the games count.

Lighten up jeez!

How much of that improved defense has to do with just Avery, I dunno.  After you have a very good team for 5 years straight and never get to the finals it causes coaches to really change alot of things.  Defense, of course, was one of the things that Dallas has been working on over the past 2 seasons.

If Avery replaces Nelson I think it would be a good move.  Avery is a leader and has a little bit better of an idea of how basketball all around has changed since Nelson was a player.

Didn't mean to come off as "unsettled".  Not that way at all.   :cheers:

But I did say back when they resigned Avery after trading him away last year that he would help them regain their focus on defense.  When he was there in 2002/03 he worked as a coach during many practices.  And it wasn't a conincidence that they played their best defense and had their best season until Dirk went down in the playoffs.

[westkoast]

*logs in as Lurker*

Dallas is going to win the title this year

No, I wouldn't say that....but I did predict that they would be playing much better defense this year than last.  And if you look at the 2002/03 season when Avery was there they played tougher (by Dallas standards) defense.  He brings a defensive mindset to the practice floor that carries over to when the games count.

Lighten up jeez!

How much of that improved defense has to do with just Avery, I dunno.  After you have a very good team for 5 years straight and never get to the finals it causes coaches to really change alot of things.  Defense, of course, was one of the things that Dallas has been working on over the past 2 seasons.

If Avery replaces Nelson I think it would be a good move.  Avery is a leader and has a little bit better of an idea of how basketball all around has changed since Nelson was a player.

Didn't mean to come off as "unsettled".  Not that way at all.   :cheers:

But I did say back when they resigned Avery after trading him away last year that he would help them regain their focus on defense.  When he was there in 2002/03 he worked as a coach during many practices.  And it wasn't a conincidence that they played their best defense and had their best season until Dirk went down in the playoffs.

I kinda feel that its been so long since Don Nelson has actually been a basketball player that he has kinda lost touch with the younger players in this league.  You dont need to motivate players to score in this league but its a chore and a half to get em to play D.  I think of his lack of being able to find a way to motivate certain players to play D has hurt Dallas in previous years.  I just dont see any other reason as to why their defense always has been pretty bad for the amount of athletic players they have/had.   Although he did get stuck with guys who could play awesome defense but choose not too like Jamison, Walker, and Nash (who I think could be 2x the defender he is if he focused on it more)

 Maybe you are right that Avery came in and changed that attitude.  Plus I think he brings a little bit of that Popavich defensive coaching style to Dallas that has been so successful for the Spurs.