Say It Isn't So -- Avery Must Go

So my boy KT just sent me an email about the Dallas Mavericks firing Avery Johnson. Okay the Dallas Mavericks have lost two playoff series' in the first round in the past 2 years. So what? Is that a failure. Apparently in Dallas it is.

Over his tenure Johnson amassed a record of 194-70. Impressive by any standard. His playoff record however is debatable at 23-24. But how many coaches have teams that don't even make it to the playoffs? I suppose you could argue based on the results that Avery Johnson has loads of talent but lacks the experience to "seal the deal."

I've thought about this at some length, though and I'd like to offer another perspective. I'd say that the one thing that could have been considered during these 3 full years of Johnson's tenure is team chemistry. From this perspective, the reason for Dallas' early exit in the playoffs started long before Johnson's coaching. We could start with the failure to keep Steve Nash. Cuban's thinking at the time, which I will admit followed conventional wisdom, was that Nash wasn't worth the money needed to re-sign him. Nash's age, his durability, and his liability on the defensive end of the ball, all supported this conventional wisdom. But this move left Dallas without a legitimate point guard ever since. And because they didn't have a true point, conventional wisdom again came into play. In this instance, Cuban re-signs combo guard Jason Terry mainly under the belief that Terry will grow into the point Dallas so desperately needs.

But this doesn't happen. Terry is a scorer with a shoot first, pass later (much, much later, if ever) mentality. Because Terry doesn't become the point Dallas needs and Devin Harris is slow to develop (though he does eventually become a serviceable point) Dallas is now hampered by salary considerations and they lack a point guard with a high basketball IQ.

As a team the Maverick's basketball IQ is very low. Without this ability to make smart decisions in a pinch and down the stretch, not having a legitimate point caught up with them. In order to win championships you need a few things. You need a point guard. You need a presence in the post. You need team defence. You need good coaching. You need an adequate team basketball IQ. And you need team chemistry. I think for most of Johnson's tenure, the Mavericks had at least 3 of these things at any give time. But what they have always lacked was is a high enough basketball IQ and a point guard. It can also be argued that the Mavericks don't really have a presence in the post either. You might be able to win without one or two deficiencies, but not not with 3 or more.

So what I'm saying here is the coach can only control so much of these things. The talent that winds up in the door and on the floor is so much a function of what happens in the front office and not really in his hands. In this case I have to lay the primary reason for the Mavericks woes rest not in Johnson's hands but in Cuban and Nelson's. In my humble opinion. So wherever Johnson winds up next, probably New York might be a good fit, I wish him luck. Somehow I have a feeling Cuban's trigger finger may have the same result for Johnson that the reluctance to re-sign Nash had. If so, Johnson's in line for another Coach of the Year award. Peace.