they way d. nelson let him do a coach-in-training the few years before really paid off i believe. he knew what top expect more than anyother rookie coach. but that is not to discount he is brilliant and a great all-around person.
This guy is the greatest ever after one post season, dude can adjust to anything, he has used a different rotation in each series, he is like the MJ of coaching, after the 1st qt. of game one he made some in-game adjustment, he did not do it on a off day, he did it in f..ck game and the Heat have been azz out ever since, amazing!!!!!!!!! He looked at what the Heat were doing drew up some ish on the chalkboard and has dumbfounding the great Pat Riley on the go. amazing!!!!!!
And remember Riley is great, he is making a great coach look dumb!!!!!!
Coach of the Year and on the verge of winning a championship in his first full season as a head coach. Avery's a great coach but even if he wins that title, it won't put him ahead of Pat Riley in terms of coaching.... not yet.
Great coach but he's also on the perfect team. It's not like he's coaching the Knicks or Hawks or has a star player like Kobe or AI who is a coach killer. Other than Duncan, Dirk is probably the easiest guy to coach.
best rookie coach ever? i'm not gonna count last year, this is his first complete season.
Its hard to say, but I'd say yes. Riley won a title in his first year but he had a ready-made championship caliber team. To my knowledge, Riley really didn't change the culture of that team, while Avery certainly has for the Mavs.
Avery will be among the league's elite for a long, long time.
Avery Johnson
