I caught the Mavs here in Indy playing the Pacers and he was the star of the show. Calling all the plays, yelling, screaming, and eventually running out to mid-court to upbraid a ref and getting tossed out of the game. The Mavs have always had good complainers, but he definitely reinforced that tendency in them with guys like Nowitski. Kirk and Noc are already pretty annoying complainers... I shudder to think what they'll be like under him. And hey, he's a great quote. If he survives the Pax/Reinsdorf internet gauntlet and concludes he actually wants to work for them I'd be shocked. I'd be shocked if they want him to work for them as well.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ May 11 2008, 02:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I caught the Mavs here in Indy playing the Pacers and he was the star of the show. Calling all the plays, yelling, screaming, and eventually running out to mid-court to upbraid a ref and getting tossed out of the game. The Mavs have always had good complainers, but he definitely reinforced that tendency in them with guys like Nowitski. Kirk and Noc are already pretty annoying complainers... I shudder to think what they'll be like under him. And hey, he's a great quote. If he survives the Pax/Reinsdorf internet gauntlet and concludes he actually wants to work for them I'd be shocked. I'd be shocked if they want him to work for them as well.</div> Avery Johnson is more strict than D'Antoni and that may or may not work over well with our current line up especially Tyrus Thomas. So, we may have to do some trades to get a line up more suited for his personality. Avery Johnson has good commonsense, but does complain. As for his style, he had bigs in Dallas to help get the ball rolling, he won't have that in Chicago unless we make some trades that would more than likely involve a combination of players from our young 4: Deng, Gordon, Hinrich, Noc. It isn't impossible to fit Avery, we'd just need some changes, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if we had another bad season if Avery is hired (I'd like to be wrong).
Well looking at Avery coming in...Gooden could work...and Aaron Gray would definitely be in the mix, so this could open up the consolidation trade extraordinary. I think Avery would love to go in, and develop Gordon into a point guard. So fill in the lineup: PG-Ben Gordon SG-???? SF-Luol Deng PF-Joakim Noah C- Aaron Gray Bench: Thabo Sefolosha, Chris Duhon. That would be the main 5 we would have and keep in an Avery system. That gives us peripheral players of: Larry Hughes, Andres Nocioni, Kirk Hinrich, Drew Gooden, Tyrus Thomas. Now this trade wouldn't be a garauntee, but: Bulls Trade: Kirk Hinrich, Tyrus Thomas, Larry Hughes, #9 pick for Tracy McGrady and Rafer Alston. Now that would leave us with a solid team imo: PG-Ben Gordon/Chris Duhon/Rafer Alston SG-Tracy McGrady/Thabo Sefolosha SF-Luol Deng/Andres Nocioni PF-Drew Gooden/Andres Nocioni C- Joakim Noah/Aaron Gray So then we have 3 bigs; Nocioni, Alston's expiring. Maybe work something using Gooden, Nocioni, and Alston's expiring for a starting powerforward. Hate to say it, but Jermaine O'neal would be the easiest to get with that package...even though I know most people won't like that. That would leave us with PG-Ben Gordon/Chris Duhon SG-Tracy McGrady/Thabo Sefolosha SF-Luol Deng/Thabo Sefolosha PF-Jermaine O'neal/Joakim Noah C- Joakim Noah/Aaron Gray I think Avery could mesh with this type of team. If you break the minutes down: PG-Ben Gordon (36) / Chris Duhon (12) SG- Tracy McGrady (36) / Thabo Sefolosha (12) SF- Luol Deng (36) / Thabo Sefolosha (12) PF- Jermaine O'neal (36) / Joakim Noah (12) C- Joakim Noah (24) / Aaron Gray (24) That could work for the skeletal model for an 8 man rotation. Another big could likely be added (taking say 6 minutes from Gray, 6 from Noah, and 4 from O'neal) could be added to the rotation to make a 9 man rotation. I like our position. I think protect Sefolosha/Noah out of our young guys. We have our two best players basically untouchable this offseason, so I think we should wheel and deal with the rest of our roster while we can without giving up those two.
I'm shocked that post ended with Kirk somehow not fitting Kirk and Devin Harris are very similar players and Avery liked Harris. Anywho, I don't think there's much shot for Johnson... he just looks like a bad fit here.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ May 14 2008, 12:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>His contract demands are likely to be a bad fit.</div> Jerry is very cheap . He's probably going to want atleast 5 mil a year long term deal from whoever signs him. But, Jerry is cheap.