NBA

NBA Coaching Roundup: Avery Johnson, Tom Izzo, Doc Rivers In The News

It sure has been a busy day for NBA coaching news.

Filled coaching vacancy (Nets).  Ambiguously filled coaching vacancy (Cavs).  Formal complaint to the league offices about officiating (Celtics). And that’s just been within the past couple of hours.  Let’s break it down:

The Nets:

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the New Jersey Nets have supposedly reached a verbal agreement with ESPN analyst Avery Johnson to be their next coach.  In effect, this move should put an end to all the rumors swirling around this position, which, in light of Nets’ financial capabilities this summer and in light of its change in ownership and soon-to-be change in venue, has been a lightning rod for speculation.

Among those “linked” to the position were Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, and Lakers head coach Phil Jackson.  And while Johnson’s coaching resume is, at least on paper, pretty impressive–194-70 record (.735 winning percentage) with the Mavericks over his 3+ year tenure as coach, coach of the year award honors in 2005, and NBA finals appearance with the Mavs in 2006–this move can only come as a slight disappointment to all those Nets fans hoping for Phil Jackson to drunkenly sign a 5 year, $100 million contract with the team.

For the sake of Nets fans, we hope that the beginning of the Avery Johnson era in New Jersey will be a smoother ride than the end of the Avery Johnson era was in Dallas, which included back to back first round playoff exits (including to the 8th-seeded warriors in ’07) and the launching of FireAvery.com in 2008.  Yep, that’s a real site.

The Cavs:

Despite a report from WaitingForNextYear claiming that Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has accepted the Cleveland Cavaliers offer to be Mike Brown’s successor as head coach, no such report has been confirmed as of yet.  What has been confirmed, however, is that Tom Izzo did meet with his team this afternoon in order to address the reports of his possible departure.

As ESPN’s Andy Katz reported:

Izzo told the team that Cleveland has a big interest in him and that he has a lot of thinking to do about it, according to the source.

But Izzo did not give any indication that he would accept the job, according to the source.

In other words, so yea…I know I recruited you guys…and you guys are swell, you are really are, but I may be leaving soon…but keep working because I also may not be leaving.  I-I’m not sure.  Basically, what you heard in the news yesterday…I can’t really tell you more than that.

That which was in the news yesterday: the Cavaliers are offering Izzo in the range of $6 million a year over 5 years.

The Celtics:

(Hey, news about a guy who is actually coaching!)

Doc Rivers reportedly sent a videotape of Game 3 highlights to the NBA offices today, which included several instances that Rivers believed to be offensive fouls against the Lakers that went wrongfully uncalled last night.  Rivers particularly harped on the issue of moving screens:

“I think it was a ton of moving screens they got away with.  As far as off-the-ball action … you are not allowed to hold, you are not allowed to bump, and you are not allowed to impede progress. I read that this morning, and I’m positive of it. So, you know, when that happens it has to be called.”

Interestingly, ESPN’s John Hollinger also criticized the series’ refereeing two days ago; however, Hollinger pointed to the reverse trend: an increase in fouls called.

According to an ESPN insider column that Hollinger wrote on June 7th:

These Finals, obviously, provide barrels of contradictory evidence. Through two games we’ve had 112 fouls and 134 free throw attempts, both of which vastly exceed the league’s regular-season averages of 41.7 and 49.1 per game, respectively. Since neither the Celtics nor the Lakers were particularly high-foul teams in the regular season, it’s not a case of unusual teams skewing the averages.

Yet, regardless of how the refereeing has been, (and I think we all agree that it hasn’t been good), you can expect one thing moving forward: Rivers will probably be fined for his comments.

The NBA: Where There’s-No-Way-In-Hell-That-You’re-Getting-Away-With-Talking-About-The-Referees Happens.