Coach of the Year - and Man of the Hour
Date: Monday, June 12, 2006
By: Monica Lewis, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Future NBA Hall of Famer David Robinson was known as The Admiral, a moniker befitting of a man who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and steered the ship known as the San Antonio Spurs to world championships in 1999 and 2003.
But for the Spurs’ first title, Robinson had Avery Johnson, often called The Little General, partly because he was small in stature, but mainly because he was a true leader, both on and off the court.
Nowadays, Johnson is the top commander, calling the shots from courtside as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. From an undrafted collegian looking to latch onto a team, Johnson amassed an impressive NBA resume that spanned 16 years. Not wanting to leave the game behind, Johnson took over the reins of the Mavericks in March 2005 when then-coach Don Nelson stepped down. And in just his first full season as a head coach, Johnson earned Coach of the Year honors en route to guiding Dallas to its first NBA Finals appearance in franchise’s 26-year history. His Dallas Mavericks currently lead the NBA Finals series against the Miami Heat 2 games to 1.
Johnson also became the fastest coach to win 50 games and earned the best start for a rookie coach in the NBA’s history, wining 66 of his first 82 games and taking the Mavericks to the best home record in the Western Conference. And now his team is just two games away from winning its first NBA championship.
(I know AJ is a Southern University grad so I'm sure all you Jaguars will be in here showing out....)
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site....ews/johnson612
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