Avery Johnson looks like Coach of the Year, in first full year - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

kriD · 04-06-2006, 07:29 AM

Coach A+

Avery Johnson looks like Coach of the Year, in first full year

By ART GARCIA
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Dirk Nowitzki's MVP candidacy is justified. But is Avery Johnson the Mavericks' true MVP? Forget the tired tirade - what coach doesn't unload on his players every now and then? - and focus on what's been a remarkable and record-breaking run in Johnson's first full season as an NBA coach. Johnson can't win the MVP, but becoming the first Mavs coach to be the NBA Coach of the Year is well within reach. Or is that earshot?

WHY HE IS COACH OF THE YEAR

1. The Mavs, at 56-19, are poised to not only exceed last season's 58-24 record but break the franchise's all-time best mark of 60-22, set in 2002-03. (That's also the Mavs' last visit to the Western Conference Finals.)

2. The Little General isn't flying under the radar. He's the fastest coach in league history to 50 wins, had the best record ever after 82 games (66-16) and has been Western Conference coach of the month twice this season.

3. The balancing act can't be ignored. Not only has Johnson tweaked and enhanced the system of former coach Don Nelson, but he has held it together while injuries have threatened to take it all down.

OTHER FAVORITES

Flip Saunders (Detroit):

Larry who? Saunders has led the title-favorite Pistons

to the league's best record in his first season in Motown by keeping it simple.

Mike D'Antoni (Phoenix): Sure, last season's top coach has reigning MVP Steve Nash, but Nash has a bunch of new teammates - and no Amare Stoudemire.

Pat Riley (Miami): So what if he set up Stan Van Gundy to fail? The three-time Coach of the Year has Flash, a Diesel and that serious baggage peaking.

Wild cards: New Jersey's Lawrence Frank, Cleveland's Mike Brown and LA Clippers' Mike Dunleavy.

sike · 04-06-2006, 08:43 AM

AJ hands down....with such terrible injuries to still have such a dominating record is just insane!

orangedays · 04-06-2006, 12:42 PM

Flip Saunders inherits the best starting five in basketball and he gets CoY? Heck no.

D'Antoni? It's easy to engineer an offensive juggernaut when you don't play defense. And it's funny but out of Nash's, "bunch of new teammates" - Raja Ball, Eddie House, James Jones - all of them are shooting a (much) higher percentage than Q ever did with Phoenix (with essentially the same number of total shots distributed amongst them).

Pat Riley? With the record the Heat have against the top 4 teams in the NBA? With D-Wade and Shaq and Walker and Payton and Williams and...?

No way.

Sike got it right...A.J. hands down - there shouldn't be any question.

chumdawg · 04-06-2006, 01:06 PM

The flip side of that is that AJ inherited a 58-win team...and quite possibly the MVP of the league.

rabbitproof · 04-06-2006, 01:38 PM

AJ was part of that 58-win team last year and coached 16 wins out of it last year so I think that diminishes the inheriting 58-win ballclub arguement little bit. Also, he's been a rookie coach for most of the year. Not sure if his relative rookie status hurts or helps him though. It should help in the sense it's been more impressive what he has done but perhaps there is some unspoken senority favoritism.

We can't determine which coach had the blessing to coach a MVP yet but we can determine which coach put his team on the 55-60 win mark with only one All-Star....

It is your Little General, Dallas!

Arne · 04-06-2006, 01:49 PM

AJ's gonna win it for sure. There's no doubt about it.

sike · 04-06-2006, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chumdawg

The flip side of that is that AJ inherited a 58-win team...and quite possibly the MVP of the league.

that in no way eliminates AJ's showing through an injury tattered season...Saunders has 4 all stars (rediculous), Mike D has had 2 of his 3 healthy all year....while AJ has only one....even on the "what have they done this season" idea, AJ is still the most impressive.

Saunders inherited a team with a ring, etc,etc,etc....

MFFL · 04-06-2006, 02:36 PM

The fact that Flip was able to use the same starting lineup all year (with 4 of them All-Stars) actually hurts his chances IMO. He hasn't had to do as much COACHING as Avery has. But I won't be suprised if Flip wins it since he's done a fine job of not screwing things up.

sike · 04-06-2006, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MFFL

The fact that Flip was able to use the same starting lineup all year (with 4 of them All-Stars) actually hurts his chances IMO. He hasn't had to do as much COACHING as Avery has. But I won't be suprised if Flip wins it since he's done a fine job of not screwing things up.

I agree...and how sad would that be since AJ has clearly had the more diffeicult coaching job...injuries, playing in the West, less star players than other teams....etc, etc....

G-Man · 04-06-2006, 03:38 PM

Lets look at where these coaches and these teams were when the season started.

Flip inherits a championship caliber squad and does make it better. But he does have 4 all-stars and no injuries. So where is the coaching challenge?

AJ inherits a team that lost its 1st 2 playoff games at home, and got bounced because it couldn't defend the pick and roll, and its star got intimidated by small, active defenders. That star ended the season with his own melt down, attacking his point guard, who spent the summer stewing over his own defensive ineptness. Remember people wondering if Dirk and Jet would be able to bury the hatchet?

To this mix, they added virtually no talent... just one unwanted fat center to go with their overpaid mediocre starter. The team's only chance to improve was from within. Inconsistent guys like Harris and Daniels would have to show significant growth. None of this stuff happens automatically.

AJ solved the problem of his centers being in too much foul trouble to help by starting Diop, conserving Damp and throwing in a taste of DJ. This has to deserve a coaching grade of A. The bigs who have dominated the Mavs have been few and far between.

Look at the growth of the kids? DH would probably be everything we wanted him to be if not for the injuries... he's certainly heading that way. Quis... same thing. Both still need to be consistant, but now they are valuable contributors. Last year in the playoffs they were bench warmers. Thats more good coaching.

Dirk- Who was that that kept accusing AJ of throwing him under the bus, forcing him out of his game? Tell that guy to call Ron Artest to see what HE thinks of Dirk's gme.

Making chicken salad. Remember the Doug Christie deal? shouldn't that have been a disaster? Give Donnie credit forcalling Griff off the couch. But AJ made it work. Made Damp's failure as a starter into an asset. Won with the most Injuries, and is still in the hunt for the best record.

Oh yeah, and he did all that with last year's team leader playing in San Antonio.

If they had this award to someone who's overcome less to be sucessful, I'll be mighty p*ssed.

TripleDipping · 04-06-2006, 03:41 PM

AJ doesn't look like the COY. He IS the COY.

dirno2000 · 04-06-2006, 04:11 PM

How many games were we projected to win when AJ took over...52...53?

chumdawg · 04-06-2006, 06:41 PM

If there were a Rookie COY award, I'm sure he would win that one hands-down.

Let's keep it in perspective. Certainly there was the possibility that could have messed things up pretty badly. But I'm sure he'll be a much better coach one day (perhaps in the not too distant future) than he is today. There are still a few questions that remained unanswered as far as the job he has done. And we won't get those answers until the playoffs, and probably round two, roll around.

u2sarajevo · 04-06-2006, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chumdawg

If there were a Rookie COY award, I'm sure he would win that one hands-down.

Let's keep it in perspective. Certainly there was the possibility that could have messed things up pretty badly. But I'm sure he'll be a much better coach one day (perhaps in the not too distant future) than he is today. There are still a few questions that remained unanswered as far as the job he has done. And we won't get those answers until the playoffs, and probably round two, roll around.

Trying to set him up for failure huh?

I think he has done an outstanding job myself. I don't expect he will win COY though. And the reason why is almost the same reason why Dirk won't win MVP.

chumdawg · 04-06-2006, 09:06 PM

Nah, I'm not trying to set him up for failure. But for all the talk we hear about the playoffs being a "different game" when it comes to the players, I suspect it applies to the coach too. In my estimation, even the most generous assessment of AJ's playoff coaching last year would garner him only a D. The less optimistic assessments give him an F. The way the Phoenix series ended was the biggest clusterfook that I have ever seen. This is not to say that AJ isn't a good locker room guy, that he doesn't have a good system, or anything else along those lines. But he managed endgames miserably in last year's playoffs. (From what I have seen, he isn't necessarily much better this regular season.)

I expect quite a few games to come down to the last possession or two, when tactics take on a premium. I'm not saying Johnson is doomed to failure here, but if part of the criteria in evaluating a coach (as it seems to always be in evaluating a player) is how he performs in the postseason, let's just be kind and say that Johnson has a sizeable hole to climb out of.

TheBlueVan · 04-06-2006, 10:02 PM

watch out. i predict billups wins mvp and flip wins COY, because its all pistons all the time everywhere you look

wescx · 04-06-2006, 10:08 PM

Scoop Jackson at ESPN predicted Avery would win coach of the year before the season.

He also predicted the Mavs would finish 10th in the West.

Tokey41 · 04-07-2006, 12:15 AM

Scoops on crack... 10th? Even at the start of the season despite me crying because we thought Doug Christie could controbute ANYTHING I thought 10th would be a little harsh. And Avery just like the majority of the Mavericks young roster is simply starting his role and can only improve from here on out.

Hes definitely COY though, forget Flip... what about Byron Scott though?