Nita's Blog

Avery Johnson thanked Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for giving him the opportunity that not one of the 29 other NBA owners offered: a chance at an assistant head coach position under Don Nelson and eventually the head coach’s job.

Leaving with “no hard feelings, no bitterness,” the former NBA Coach of the Year watched his team plummet in the standings after a multi-player trade that he did not fully support.

Before the Mavs closed the deal for guard Devin Harris and 7-footer Sagana Diop to go to New Jersey for Jason Kidd, the team was 24-7 against Western Conference opponents. After the mid-Feb. trade, the Mavs posted a losing record against the west, 10-16.

Ultimately, the Mavs fell to New Orleans in 5 games and thus the season ended.

 

 

Johnson, who exited without harsh words for his former boss, did talk around the difficulty in working within the structure.

“I came from a blueprint of what I knew about how an organization should be run, from top to bottom. I knew what type of players should be drafted” and which free agents to pursue, he said.

 

Johnson was deeply disappointed he could not continue his grooming of Harris, the 4th-year point guard he referred to as his “son” on Wed.

 

“We were knocking on the door of this guy’s making the All-Star team” and becoming an 18-point, 8-assist a game player. But Cuban’s insistence on the trade for 35-year-old Kidd hastened Johnson’s move.

 

“We were able to come here and really make some headway and change the culture and attitude. As coach Nelson said, he felt he couldn’t take it any further. Now it’s time for somebody else to take it. It’s just time for somebody else.”

 

 “The team was changed and we never really got back on track.”