Avery Johnson will be coaching the Western Conference All Stars in Houston this weekend. Not bad for a man who played for 16-years, but never made the All Star team.
“Yeah, somebody made a lot of mistakes,” Johnson says laughing. “You know fans and coaches made a lot of mistakes. I’ll hold them all accountable.”
But this year, Johnson has not gone unnoticed. In the first four months of the season, he was named the Western Conference Coach of the Month all by once.
Even better, is that his staff gets to share in the All Star experience.
Rolando Blackman was an all star player, and now gets to be an all star coach. “I think the most fun is to be a player of course, to actually get out there and be in part of the game, but I'm going to enjoy it though, through the national anthem, throughout the whole game, no matter what, we would to like to win anyway,” says Blackman.
Mavericks assistant Larry Riley says, “Lets face it, we're like ever body else, we enjoy being around people who are at the top, or at the pinnacle of their profession, and so that's what its all about for me.”
Joe Prunty was on the staff of the Western Conference All Stars last year as an assistant with San Antonio. His advice for Johnson is simple.
“Ah win, win the game, go win the game and just enjoy it. I don't think I need to give him any advice on it, but that would be it, if anything.”
“I'm glad to see it,” says Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. “We've got a lot of young coaches, like Joe Prunty who, you know they really deserve it.”
Johnson loves to toy with the idea of manipulating the all star team. “We want to wear the guys out from all of our enemies,” says Johnson. Ask if Dirk Nowitzki won't play any minutes at all, Johnson replied, “He might play five, ha ha.”
The last time a mavericks coach lead the Western Conference All Stars was three years ago when Don Nelson was given the honors. Now its Avery Johnson's turn in his first full season as head coach. The game is Sunday in Houston.
No comments:
Post a Comment