Now this is interesting

April 29th, 2008 Posted in Avery Johnson

Avery met with the team at the AAC yesterday then cancelled practiced, telling the guys he would see them on the plane.  Well, the players didn’t seem to like that idea and proceeded to have a player only practice.  And it doesn’t sound like Avery was too happy about it.

He sounded like a coach who was not excited that his team would go beyond simply having a players-only meeting by actually doing court work. Players-only meetings happen all the time. But a players-only practice before a possible playoff elimination game?

“We’re in a situation where I don’t know if we need another drill,” Johnson said. “We’ve been having drills and scrimmages since the first day of training camp and if you don’t have it by now, I don’t know if you’re going to have a CliffsNotes session and get it.

I’m guessing it’s not a good thing for a coach when his players just don’t listen to him and have a practice anyways.  Of course it could mean any nuumber of things.  Maybe the guys just felt like they needed to shoot around a little more and try to find their stroke.  Or maybe they’ve finally decided to completely stop listening to Avery since he’s said he’s not making any adjustments to his coaching style when it obviously isn’t working.

Johnson talked openly Monday about whether the players are still in his corner. He said he will continue to run his team the way he believes it should be run. He said that since the trade for Jason Kidd, the transition has been rocky.

“Overall, these men have been very loyal to me,” he said. “It’s a tough spot for us. Sometimes, we haven’t played our best basketball. Maybe another team at that particular time was just a better team. But it’s not because the men don’t listen or don’t try.

So it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the game tonight.  Will the Mavs fall back into their jump shooting ways, suffering through Avery’s bad play calling and substitutions.  Or will they take things into their own hands and play this game tonight like they want to.  Either way the writing on the wall is quickly becoming legible concerning Avery’s future with this team.



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  1. 50 Responses to “Now this is interesting”

  2. By FredM on Apr 29, 2008 at 7:49:27 am

    You guys should get JVG. Oh right he hates your owner.

    FireCuban.com?

  3. By joe on Apr 29, 2008 at 8:01:48 am

    good for them….maybe they came up with some new tactics that will work in game 5.

  4. By David on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:10:07 am

    I love this move by the players. It’s a statement that they have an understanding that they have been running shit plays designed by their coach. Hopefully, they used their collective intelligence and experience to create some aggressive strategy for tonight. I would really love it if during the game, Avery calls for a play, but they just keep playing their own style of ball. It’s time to shut that fool out.

  5. By David on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:14:23 am

    I forgot to post this the other night and not sure if anyone else did. Did you hear during one of the timeouts when Avery gave some brilliant coaching advice? He said “Just keep rebounding!”

    Gee, thanks Avery. You know I wasn’t really trying to rebound that hard but now that you mention it, I’ll definitely try harder. Where does he come up with this stuff?

  6. By FreeDirk on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:19:22 am

    Right. I’m sure the boys are going to put their collective heads together and, in one practice, figure out how to solve the vast array of complex problems plaguing this franchise.

  7. By FreeDirk on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:21:48 am

    So, which one of these overpaid underperformers is going to snap Howard and Stackhouse out of their slumps and figure out how to get through to Erick Dampier, all in one practice?

    Because, uh, that’s why we’re losing this series.

  8. By WyldMavsFan on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:33:53 am

    Hopefully during the players only practice, the players decided to let Kidd do his thing, push the ball up the floor and get some easy transition buckets. In the half court, I think we need to do some pick and rolls with Jet and Dirk and try and get Damp involved. To start game 4, Damp had 2 quick touches and 2 quick buckets, and then he didn’t touch the ball the rest of the game.

    I am so sick of the team doing well in the 1st quarter with a great gameplan, and then watch as we completely change everything that worked by slowing it down and doing isos, and essentially playing NOT TO LOSE, instead of going for the blowout.

  9. By Mark on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:50:42 am

    Who cares about the players only practice. The substitutions that he makes will nullify any progress they make in the first quarter. What a bastard.

  10. By John on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:56:38 am

    The only big deal about this practice is the fact that the players went around Avery. Personally I think Avery is right. You have a bunch of lifeless old men, why would you practice them. They are already needing oxygen and a walker. If it were me I would start Bass, Wright, Barea, Dirk, and Jet. At least we would see some hustle.

    This whole infatuation the fans have with Kidd amazes me. How can a player be so bad and yet be so memorialized. Why does a triple double make you a great player? The guy has always looked great against poor teams and pathetic against good teams. That is because he can’t score. Poor teams allow you to pass and rebound at will so Kidd flourishes in that environment. Good teams like the Hornets don’t allow that. Once he can’t do that he is a major liability.

  11. By Mark on Apr 29, 2008 at 10:00:45 am

    This is what makes me sick about this team under Avery. now that I see a glimmer of heart in these players I will now watch the game that I swore not to watch. Cuban has duped us all. Yummy the Kool-Aid tastes good.

  12. By Ronald on Apr 29, 2008 at 12:00:25 pm

    I would have to agree with Mark… I love the idea of the players realizing they need to make their own adjustments realizing of what fantasies are going on in Avery’s mind… however, I can already see the following happening: Our starting 5 builds a 12 points lead… just like in game 4… and suddenly Avery comes up with the genius line-up of: JJ Barea, Stackhouse, Eddie Jones etc… and we end up losing by 30… JUST LIKE IN GAME 4…

  13. By sarcosuchus on Apr 29, 2008 at 12:35:39 pm

    Also the thing about this “revolt” is that it took *player leadership* to organise it. The leadership that Avery always claimed the players didnt have.

  14. By JParas on Apr 29, 2008 at 12:37:34 pm

    I hope someone told JHo to drive the ball and stop shooting…and tell JET to keep shooting…i do’nt understand why avery took JET out when he was clearly hot at the end of the 1st half in the last game…Devin George should not take any jump shots…use him for garbage points only…post kidd and damp

  15. By T on Apr 29, 2008 at 12:58:11 pm

    It does not matter. It is over. If not tonight it will be soon.

  16. By drew on Apr 29, 2008 at 1:08:26 pm

    JParas:

    You and others still amaze me of why you seem so surprised that players are taken out. Think of it this way, you’re working your ass off while 4 others are merely watching you work hard for 12 straight minutes or so. Do you feel like you deserve a break or should you continue to do all the work yourself for the remaining 36 minutes?

    Have you ever played full court basketball, 5 on 5? Even when I was in the best shape of my life, it’s better than any other workout I’ve ever done. I don’t care how strong or in shape you are, that much physical movement just simply wears you out quickly. That’s why you don’t see fat NBA players unlike Baseball or Football, where you’re not physically moving almost 100% the time you are on the court.

  17. By Jessica on Apr 29, 2008 at 1:32:55 pm

    I’m intrigued to see what is gonna happen here, and honestly, kinda proud to see them at least doing something. Obviously Avery counted them out. How insulting to have your coach give up on you.

    I just hope someone is up for the role of bossing Josh around. Sometimes I think he’s the kind of player that really needs to be told what to do, and maybe part of his problem right now is internal. He’s not sure who to listen to.

  18. By mike on Apr 29, 2008 at 1:36:26 pm

    Jeff Van Gundy? That guy is a born loser. Just like his brother Ron Jeremy… er, Stan Van Gundy.

  19. By mike on Apr 29, 2008 at 1:37:41 pm

    And the only way Josh is going to get better is if he puts the blunt down, and drives to the damn hoop.

  20. By Jessica on Apr 29, 2008 at 1:51:51 pm

    True.

  21. By Armanius Maximus on Apr 29, 2008 at 1:53:27 pm

    Avery should have been applauding his players for taking the initiative to practice on their own. Instead, he sounded like he was peeved by the players.

  22. By Max on Apr 29, 2008 at 2:36:42 pm

    I think Kidd is a quality leader that can still take a team to the finals, but since a few games after arriving, he has yielded power to our current “Floor Leader” (Avery) like a good leader does.

    Now… knowing how to stay in control of your team while still letting your leaders lead is a fine art & balancing act I’m not going to pretend to know about, but obviously a lot of coaches do.

    Avery will be a good coach in the league at some point, probably not here,(and we the fans will of course curse Cuban for letting him go) but the window is closing for our players while our coach is still young and developing.

    “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” - John Wooden

  23. By FreeDirk on Apr 29, 2008 at 2:59:33 pm

    Mike,

    Howard’s admission to smoking pot in the off-season was an incredibly ill-advised thing to do.

    But I’m so sick and tired of hearing people attribute his shooting slump to his off-season pot use. Think it through, dude. Do you think that, when Howard was in college, playing his heart out and putting up great numbers, he wasn’t smoking pot in the off-season?

    Or that in his first few years as a Maverick, when he continued to play his heart out and get better and better, he wasn’t smoking pot in the off-season?

    Or last year, when he became an All-Star, he hadn’t smoked some pot in the previous off-season?

    I agree that Josh Howard’s playing has sucked in an epic way of late, and that he was stupid to publicly discuss his off-season recreational choices, but there is no good argument for attributing his troubles to off-season marijuana use.

    One more question: Do you think Dirk doesn’t smoke pot in the off-season? How about Kevin Garnett, or Allen Iverson, or LeBron James, or Chris Paul, or Steve Nash, or Amare Stoudemire, or Shaq, or Pau Gasol, or Ben Wallace, or Tracy McGrady, or ALMOST ANYONE ELSE THAT WEARS AN NBA UNIFORM?

  24. By drew on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:11:00 pm

    The blunt has nothing to do with Josh’s performance, I wish people would start to understand that. If that were the case, half the NBA would probably be shooting bricks.

  25. By DB on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:17:12 pm

    I don’t understand why Damp gets so much criticism. He’s playing the role he’s assigned in the system - set picks, rebound, and foul. He’s scored more since Kidd came and started giving him passes he could catch and in position to score. Substitutions are a necessity, but Avery has no pattern or logic to his rotation much of the time. If you want to steal a couple of minutes with JJ or Juwan stagger when they’re in there and leave a couple of starters in at all times to hold a lead.

  26. By FreeDirk on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:19:12 pm

    drew,

    Word up.

  27. By T on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:21:35 pm

    Mavs need a roster of players like Bass (young and athletic) surrounding Kidd and Dirk. Howard needs to go. He has little intelligence to admit to using drugs. I am sure many players do, but they are role models like it or not and don’t need to promote drug use to our youth. The older role players like Stack, Jones, George need to go and make room for youth to develop. Leadership needs to come from Dirk and Kidd not a bench of has beens. And of course fire Avery!

  28. By Greg on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:25:14 pm

    All the Howard and weed comments are callled jokes guys. Of course it doesn’t effect him right now, if he’s telling the truth about only smoking in the offseason. But since he was dumb enough to go on the radio and talk about it the day of an important game it’s open season to take pot shots at him (get what I did there?).

  29. By drew on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:26:52 pm

    I think an offseason with Kidd, he’ll make Dampier a better player and the rest as well given time. Dirk and Dampier have benefited the most from Kidd. Now it’s time for the rest of the team to adapt. Josh has not adapted to Kidd at all and that needs to be worked out between him, Kidd and the coach.

  30. By Richie Rich on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:29:21 pm

    I don’t agree that it’s Avery’s plays that are putting the Mavs in the situations they get in. It’s the times he runs them and his substitutions that put him in these positions. I doubt Avery has an isolation play for Josh where it calls him to shoot a jumpshot or George to shoot at all.

    And yes, these players can play 40 minutes, ESPECIALLY in the playoffs. If you can’t give it everything you’ve got now then what is the point? Don’t tell me Jason Terry needs a 10 minute rest while his backup is on the court playing the most horrible ball in his career. You’ve got timeouts, inbetween quarters, and halftime to rest.

    I completely agree with Max that Avery is a decent coach. I want someone to tell me a great coach that was great their first 3 years in the league? Pat Riley?? Who couldn’t have won with Magic and Wilt…or Shaq and Wade. Pat seemed to disappear once his teams started to fade. Phil Jackson?? MJ, Shaq, Kobe, Pippen? I agree took over a pretty good team which has underperformed and the blame goes to Avery for that.

    I think this team, for the most part, has tremendous heart and you will see it tonight for 48 minutes. This ‘player practice’ will carry over for at least one more game and then we will see from there.

  31. By FreeDirk on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:30:21 pm

    DB,

    Dampier’s rebounding average in this series is roughly 5.25 per game, while he’s been playing anywhere from 17 to 25 minutes per game. That’s hardly playing the rebounding role.

    And since when is part of a starting center’s job description to foul? I must’ve missed something.

    Especially on a team that has no true backup center in uniform, how is it beneficial for our starting center to pick up 3 fouls before halftime in every game?

  32. By Rick C on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:39:58 pm

    Hey the Mavericks could not do it with Don Nelson, now they can not do it with Avery, maybe it is no the coach. Dirk needs to go, he is not a leader and has no heart. Dirk can not carry a team on his back, he can not fire up a team. also with Cuban trading away our youth and future how can we get get. Cuban made the trade to try and win everything this year so he could sell the team after the championship. I guess he made a great decision….NOT!!!! No hang the coach look at the team.

  33. By PistMavsFan on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:46:17 pm

    This further proves what a joke AJ is. If cubes doesn’t see this, then he’s retarded too.

    Mavs need a coach that can spark the offense with more freedom and play some D.

  34. By selke99 on Apr 29, 2008 at 3:58:37 pm

    FreeDirk, you just took the words right out of my mouth. With what Mavs are paying Damp, no excuse to why he can’t produce double-digit rebounds per game. And his routine 2-fouls-in-1st-period aren’t helping since Bass is pretty much our backup center. I guess Magliore suddenly lost all his basketball skills once he signed!

    And I think some people are getting carried away with substitutions. It seems like some people think Mavs should just play their starter 48 min a game! Avery just needs to sub smarter and with a smaller bench. Bass, Stack, and maybe George should be the bench, THAT’S IT!!! Maybe Jones for defense in spurts. But when Mavs lose a 7 pt lead in the 3rd qtr, are down only 4 to start the 4th qtr, and that lead somehow gets stretched to 19 WITH THE STARTERS, there’s a much bigger problem, be it coaching or the players will/fire.

  35. By CoJones21 on Apr 29, 2008 at 4:04:29 pm

    I Don’t think Dirk is the reason behind this steady downfall since June of ‘06. Without Dirk we wouldn’t even be sniffing the playoffs right now. Yes his leadership has been questioned and he does have times where you would like him to show more emotion… However Dirk does not play a position that is notorious for displaying Leadership. Being a former Point guard, I can say with experience, that the Point Guard is the guy that must be Leader on the team. The fact that he has the ball in his hands 75% of the time, calls plays, and has to know what eveyone else is doing at all times makes him the most critical peice. What the mavs need is a point guard who can be an extension of the coach on the court and lead this team. Not that I don’t think Kidd isn’t the guy for this, I’m just not so sure Avery is the extension we need out on that court. If these guys are going to step up and fight and show some pride, then they’ve got to start playing the game they know how. I think the “players only” meeting may have been the best thing for this team. Avery was a good player and I think can be a great coach given the right situation, he just has to learn to give a little and adjust to the players on the team. Not every team can play the Spurs Style of play and be successful.

  36. By FreeDirk on Apr 29, 2008 at 4:06:31 pm

    selke99,

    You make an excellent point about the 4th quarter deficit extending to 19 with the starters on the floor. The common diagnosis on this site was that inserting JJ Barea was what lost the game for us, when we continue to get no substantial offensive production from Stack or Howard. This team simply cannot score enough points without both of those guys contributing.

    Whether that’s a coaching problem or a problem with the players is something that only the folks on the inside can determine.

  37. By mike on Apr 29, 2008 at 4:21:39 pm

    Look, Josh Howard sucks now. There’s no nice way to put his performance, as of late. 26 percent shooting? You would think that he’d learn to drive to the basket more often when he’s tossing up bricks the entire series.

  38. By Mark on Apr 29, 2008 at 4:24:17 pm

    FreeDirk-Let me coach the Michael Jordan Bulls and substitute like Avery does and I can lose any game I want. Killing momentum is what Avery does best. Could the problem with the players be a result of Avery’s inability to manage a bunch of multi-millionaire prima-donnas? Look at his comments surrounding the cancellation of practice……. “We’ve been having drills and scrimmages since the first day of training camp and if you don’t have it by now, I don’t know if you’re going to have a CliffsNotes session and get it.” Incompetent little smart assed bastard. Wake up - this is 90% Avery’s fault.

  39. By mike on Apr 29, 2008 at 4:24:38 pm

    And to those of you saying Dirk is the problem with this team, you’re probably the ones really smoking pot.

  40. By Richie Rich on Apr 29, 2008 at 4:45:28 pm

    Anyone that knows basketball knows that a big part of it is momentum…I agree that Avery is killing the momentum when he makes a substitution or calls a timeout.

    And were you guys watching the game on Sunday?? It didn’t just all of a sudden stretch to a 19 point lead. They were never really back in it in the 2nd half at all.

    It’s all a moot point at this point right now…that’s why they play the games. Nothing in sports is ever over until it is actually over.

    One comment to Rick C…you are a fool and have no basketball intelligence to say Dirk has no heart and is not a leader. All the basketball ‘people’ have finally said this year that is the dumbest comment to make when talking about this guy. Dirk may not play the greatest defense in the world but he gives everything he’s got on both ends of the floor every night. He shows emotion, he gets in his teammates face when they screw up, and is the 1st one to pat them on the back when they do something good. I guess we would have been better off with Tractor Traylor in your mind Rick.

  41. By John on Apr 29, 2008 at 4:46:19 pm

    We would be having home court advantage and winning the first series if that stupid of all stupid trades wouldn’t have happened. Most of you are dreamers. This team is not very good. Maybe they can find a good senior league to play in.

  42. By ihatekidd on Apr 29, 2008 at 5:12:37 pm

    ^^ haha nuthin but the truth, if Avery was a good coach (which I thought he was) he would take that practice time to talk to the team about what they should do now that they’re in this almost hopeless situation…hopefully this will all be over quick and they can completely revamp the entire organization over the summer

  43. By T on Apr 29, 2008 at 7:08:42 pm

    Dirk is not the problem. He is just surrounded by the wrong group of role players.

  44. By David on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:04:28 pm

    Sorry guys but the problem is not with Avery Johnson. First off you guys have a owner that is as much a fan than anything. Not saying that is bad but it can be a problem as in this case. Second your team has a problem with a inside presence so for them to get Jason Kidd that wasn’t going to fix the problem. Third you have an allstar player that doesn’t have what I call the killer instinct. A killer instict is when a player like a kobe bryant will take over when necessary in the 4th quarter. Now yes Avey can be part to blame but the full blame can’t be put on him. This is not the team he put together this team was put together by one Don Nelson who now coaches the team who took you guys out last year. And if you look at the warriors they have the same makeup as the mavericks. I know you guys are mad at Avery but it is a bigger picture than him.

  45. By David on Apr 29, 2008 at 9:12:39 pm

    Richie Rich I am sorry to say but it is obvious that you have no knowledge of basketball. Statistically speaking Dirk is a good player and would be great with a player that can take over games when they are in true pressure situations like in the playoffs. See if you look at Dirk’s past you will see a lack of killer instinct in him in real pressure situations. Part of this is because he is 7 foot but has the game of a small forward which is what he played when he firts came to the league. I have mad respect for Dirk but he has no heart when it comes to leading a team because he doesn’t have the heart and killer instinct to take over when the game is on the line in the playoffs. See him doing this in the regular season is nothing because that is not what counts in the end. The playoffs is whats matters. Before you respond to this go to NBA.com and look at Dirk’s stats in the fourth quarter in the playoffs and you will see how his game drops.

  46. By db on Apr 30, 2008 at 9:17:46 am

    Freedirk,
    I put the part about Damp fouling in there in reference to a couple of Avery’s comments about Damp and Bass. Avery made the comment at different times that he benched them for not fouling - that was their job. He didn’t say protecting the paint or helping on D, he said fouling. Yet another example of his brainless yapping.

  47. By Mark on Apr 30, 2008 at 9:33:39 am

    David:

    No offence but you have a short memory. If Dirk did not have the killer instinct we would not have made the playoffs this year due to his injury and we would not have beat SA in game 7 to advance eventually into the finals. I get sick of Dirk bashers.

  48. By David on Apr 30, 2008 at 11:17:33 am

    Mark

    I am not a Dirk basher I like him as a player. What I am saying is that yes he steps up in the regular season but in the playoffs where it count’s he doesn’t have a killer instinct. To me the regular season doesn’t matter because you can have a perfect season like the patriots did but if you don’t when the championship you pretty much 2nd best. When you have a killer instinct the 4th quarter of the playoffs is where you make it happen. Did you go to NBA.com and look at the stats from the past few years of Dirk in the playoffs. If you do this you will see that I am not a Dirk basher I am just a realist.

  49. By David on Apr 30, 2008 at 11:21:56 am

    Oh yeah Mark one question.

    What happened in the finals that year with Dirk. No Instinct. How many championships have been to and won even in international play. Think about it.

  50. By Rick C on Apr 30, 2008 at 11:47:42 am

    Dirk is not a NUMBER ONE player, he is a good play be he can not carry a team, he is a Kevin McHale, not a Larry Bird, to reach his full potential he needs a Number one guy. Dirk is a good play and someone I would want on my team but he is not a Lebron James who can take over a game an will his team to victory. also with Cuban messy with the team and picking the trades we will never win the big one.

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