I thought he wasn't given a fair shot in NJ/Brooklyn. He's been to the Finals as a player and coach and also won Coach of the Year... not too many folks have accomplished this feat. Here's my list of the top available coaches: Billy Cunningham Larry Bird Jeff Van Gundy Stan Van Gundy Avery Johnson Mike Dunleavy Byron Scott Herb Williams Quin Snyder (hasn't been a HC in NBA, but has HC success in college, NBDL and international... along with assistant coaching experience in NBA)
Bill Cunningham is 70yrs old. Does he even want to coach anymore? Larry Bird has said he will no longer coach. He wants to be GM, and he's got a chip on his shoulder that Ainge got the Celtics job, instead of him.
We don't know what goes on in the locker room and at practices. But Avery has gained a reputation for his demanding style wearing thin on players. Nets played WAY better under PJ Carlesimo than Avery Johnson this past year. (But then Deron Williams mighta had something to do with that, earning some "coach killer" rep) Its looking like his placement now is at solid assistant coach who'll have to wait his turn later on. Or to come up in an interim role similar to Carlesimo actually. Or some team with suspect management like this past year's Bobcats and Suns would bring him in on "name". Its probably not too fair to Avery because he had a FANTASTIC regular season record with the Mavericks. His chance is at reinventing himself as part of the "stats friendly" trend but he might be seen as too old school for that.
Probably due to his reputation as a micromanager who is a control freak, which doesn't translate well in today's NBA. Combine that with the fact that teams seem to do better after he is let go (see Mavs and Nets)
