On Wednesday, April 30, 2008, Head Coach Avery Johnson was fired from the Dallas Mavericks. He has been the coach for that team for the last three plus seasons, and although he had a phenomenal record during the season, his efforts did not pull through in the play-offs.
The Dallas Mavericks were eliminated from the first round of the NBA play-offs on Tuesday evening. The New Orleans Hornets who had the second seat in the Western Conference beat the Dallas Mavericks 4-1 in the series; in Dallas efforts they lost their last game at home.
Coach Johnson was a championship winning point guard for the San Antonio Spurs during his career, and later became a coach, and half way through the 2005 season became the coach for the Mavs. In his first consecutive season with the Mavericks he took them to the NBA Finals which seemed to be a huge success when they had a 2-0 lead but, later turned in to chaos and they lost the opportunity for the championship.
Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, claims that he just couldn’t tolerate anymore losing in the play-offs, and that Johnson was just not pulling through. Well, I think that although Johnson’s record has not shown through the last couple play-off seasons, Mark Cuban needs to give him a chance to prove himself; his overall winning record is very high. Mark Cuban is a man who is just too into himself and has his own agenda. He shouldn’t even be coming near people that are genuine like Avery Johnson.
I think that Mark Cuban has made an enormous mistake, and unless he gets a coach like Phil Jackson or Pat Riley, his team isn’t going to be heading back to the NBA Finals anytime soon.
Best of luck to Dallas in finding a new coach for next season, and best of luck to a authentic coach, Avery Johnson.
-jess
