What Charles Barkley thinks about Avery

March 12th, 2008 Posted in Avery Johnson

Charles Barkley was at the SMU Athletic Forum today and Tim McMahon has a few quotes from him at the Morning News Mavs blog. In particular, Charles says:

“I tell you, all coaches make mistakes, but those two are doozies… And it came back to haunt him. I was like, yo brother, it’s a real bad idea to change your starting lineup. You got the best team in the NBA and you’re playing the No. 8 seed. You don’t change for them. Then he changed back for Game 2 but it was too late…”

“If they believe in him, that’s fine. But if they don’t, he’s going to have to do something in the heat of the moment to get their trust.”

The second quote there is really the concern right now with this team. Are they starting to quit on Avery? If they are then this team more than likely isn’t doing anything in the playoffs unless they fight through it and win for themselves.

The question though is what has Avery done for this team to trust him? Changing the lineup in the first game against the Warriors last year had to kill any confidence the team had built up during a 67 win season. The news coming out a few weeks ago about Avery wanting to trade Dirk, which while it may or may not be true Avery specifically didn’t deny it during an interview with Norm Hitzges on the The Ticket, couldn’t have been good for team moral. Then of course came the Benching of Jason Kidd. This time Avery showed that even though Kidd is an All-Star point guard and a future Hall-of-Famer he still wouldn’t put his trust into him to make the right decision at the end of an important game.

So Charles is right, something has got to happen with Avery to show this team he knows what he’s doing, that he is the person to lead this team to a championship. And if that doesn’t happen this year and the Mavs fizzle out early in the playoffs again it’s time for Avery to go.


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  1. 9 Responses to “What Charles Barkley thinks about Avery”

  2. By Mav in Cali on Mar 12, 2008 at 6:06:06 pm

    I know the PERFECT thing Avery can do to show this team that he knows what he’s doing… QUIT.

  3. By OXZYGENE on Mar 12, 2008 at 9:56:16 pm

    Avery is good coach but easily falls on traps of other coaches.

  4. By Dubaiman on Mar 12, 2008 at 10:03:32 pm

    His coaching style will never get the Mavs the championship. I think, he should consult (Dr. Phil) Jackson. Basketball is a game of brains more than balls.

  5. By WyldMavsFan on Mar 13, 2008 at 10:26:56 am

    The mistakes that Avery has make in the past (Game 1 starting lineup against GS, sitting Jason Kidd, etc…) just prove he shouldn’t be the coach. Those mistakes are too big for the team and fans to trust him

  6. By Dallas mavs on Mar 13, 2008 at 8:43:23 pm

    Dallas not getting the championship with any coach even if Red come out of his grave and coach the mavericks

  7. By Master on Mar 14, 2008 at 9:18:27 pm

    FIRE AVERY!!! FIRE AVERY!!! FIRE AVERY!!!

  8. By e on Mar 15, 2008 at 5:30:34 pm

    Out of the 67 regular season games the mavs won, NONE WERE AGAINST THE WARRIORS! Has anybody ever heard of match-up problems? Nobody could have coached the mavs to victory against the warriors last year. The warriors were playing the best basketball of their life during that series and were too deadly from 3 point range. The warriors owned the mavs last year, but incase you haven’t noticed, that’s not the case this year.

  9. By Toy on Mar 18, 2008 at 4:47:35 pm

    The only way you’ll know if the players are quitting on Avery is to ask them. But you don’t have that access, do you? Or, wait, do you? If so, Mavs PR needs to investigate and revoke your media crendentials! It’s a shame that folks who live off sideline chatter go to these lengths to ask that someone as dedicated as Avery (no matter what has happend) be fired…

    Then I remembered that God’s word said even if you do things the right way, His way, there will STILL be HATERS…
    Matthew 10:17

  10. By captainjack on Mar 18, 2008 at 5:48:53 pm

    Hey Toy, Nobody said a word about hating anyone. It would be almost impossible to hate Avery Johnson who is obviously a hard worker and a overachiever. I do think he should be fired because I think the window is closed for his partiuclar style of coaching with this team. It is now a veteran team that needs more of a mentor approach than a “general” approach. I honestly think Avery Johnson is a college coach and I have no doubt that is where he will end up. His success will depend on his ability to recruit. I get my opinions from 40 years playing and coaching basketball, watching basketball, reading the paper and countless books and having watched about a million games in person and on t.v. I do not get it by “sideline chatter”. Finally, By the way, this is a sports oriented web site. Not a church web site. While you can certainly excersize your right to free speach and say whatever the web master allows, I am not interested in your mumbo jumbo bible verses or your imaginary friends. Tell it to Santa Claus or the easter bunny who will be here soon.

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