Avery Johnson: Thunder Won't Win The West

Avery, how are you? I'm doing wonderful. How are you doing?

I'm excellent. Thank you for taking the time to join us. As we get started, I do want to jump into a little bit of news that we got this afternoon this evening. That's that Damian Lillard has been cleared for action, and we know he had the blood clot in his leg.

You played the game, you coached the game. What do you think we'll see out of him, or if we will see him, based on his conditioning level? Yeah, I think that she is, you know, blood clots are always scary, and that's one of the things, you know, that the Spurs are dealing with right now with Victor Winbanyama. You know, those things could be, you know, life-threatening, so I'm happy just to hear that they got it under control, and if they have it under control, then obviously with Damon Lillard and Damian Lillard in the lineup, it just takes their offense to a whole other level. It gives Doc Rivers more opportunities to expand his playbook. He's got a guy that can pass dribble and shoot and create his own shot, especially at the end when the shot clock is down, so I think this is great news for Milwaukee, and even if for some reason he's not at his best, you know, early in the series, you know, they're not in the play-in.

It's not a do-or-die situation, so they'll have a chance to really, you know, have him with upward mobility, and he can get better and better as the series moves on. Yeah, the Milwaukee Bucks, they are in action against those Pacers starting on Saturday. Avery, another point guard, he's gonna play tomorrow.

Well, he might. He's a game time decision for tomorrow. That's Ja Morant, so we got the Grizzlies and we got the Mavs. It's kind of crazy the Mavs are even in this point, given everything they've gone through with Luka Doncic, Nikko Harrison is, I don't know, should he feel vindicated about what's taking place right now? Well, I think with the Mavericks situation, you know, with all that's going on, they're just trying to win this game. I don't know about vindication just for winning that 9-10 game. Let's see what happens against Memphis, and if they can string together some sort of a long playoff run, or, you know, if they make it upset Oklahoma City, you know, there's still a lot of basketball left to be played if they can win this game tomorrow against Memphis.

But yeah, right now I think they're just trying to figure out if they can make some shots. Clay Thompson, Brandon Williams was outstanding off the bench. Those three threes he made in the first half. This young man who just recently signed a new contract was great. Clay Thompson, who struggled in that building during the last playoffs, Anthony Davis was terrific.

So I think we'll see if the healthy Josh shows up tomorrow, and if the Mavericks can string together some sort of a winning streak. Avery Johnson here with us on the JR Sport Reshow. Man, I remember when you coached for the Dallas Mavericks. Talk to us about that fan base, because they've been kind of tough on everybody since Luka got moved. Yeah, and again, that's a situation where, you know, fans are real passionate about their star players. I saw it when I was coaching here with Dirk, and when I played with Dirk, you know, I witnessed it when I was in San Antonio with Tim Duncan and, you know, the Dave Robinsons of the world, Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston, you know, so I've seen it.

You know, I've also seen it on the college level, you know, Colin Sexton, you know, when he decided to go to Alabama when we were coaching there and trying to get that program out of the dungeon and get it back running again, how passionate they were about him, and we made it to the NCAA tournament back in 2018, eventually losing to Villanova, the eventual champion. So fan bases are really passionate about their superstar players, so if those star players have to move on sooner than what fan bases think, then obviously they're going to express their disappointment. Avery Johnson is here with us on the JR Sportbreeze show. Last question on the off season before I asked you about the playoffs. The Phoenix Suns, you want to talk about moving. I mean, we heard from their owner, Matt Ishbier, earlier today. We know that Duran is likely to be moved. Same thing for Bradley Beal if he decides to let go of that trade clause.

What's going on? He's about to have four different coaches and four different years. Yeah, that's a tough situation, but I will give him, I will give him an A for effort. The guy spent a lot of money on this team, luxury tax. You know, he's lowered the concessions at the arena, you know, put games on TV for free. So he, he's done a lot of things just on the court product, has struggled. He thought there was a path forward in terms of hiring certain coaches and firing certain coaches, bringing the new one. But it wasn't because he was trying not to get to a championship level. I think legitimately, he thought he was trying to move the team in the right direction.

And unfortunately, you make those moves. It's like a 50-50 success rate and none of those moves worked on the court, but they've transformed that arena in Phoenix. They just haven't had the on the court product catch up with a lot that they're doing off the court and with fan experience.

But it hasn't been for a lack of effort. Hopefully they'll get the right coach in place that they can help them get to the next level. But you know, obviously they're paying three, two or three different coaches. That's a lot not to coach.

That's a lot of money to throw around. Matt Ishbia got plenty of it. When you think about some of the teams that will be in action this weekend, starting off the playoffs, we got a great, a great series that I'm looking forward to between the Nuggets and the Clippers. I think the Rockets and the Golden State Warriors will be a fun one. What matchup are you looking forward to Avery?

Wow. You know, it's kind of that Rockets Golden State Warriors one, you know, two versus seven because remember Draymond Green promised us that they were going to win a championship when they traded for Jimmy Butler. So and they're coming out of the play in and you got a little, little bit of a younger Rockets team in certain positions. So we'll see if they can kind of protect their home court. The worst thing I think they want to do is get a split or allow Golden State to come in there hot and heavy and win those first two games. So I think it's that's the one that I have my eyes on to really see if this Jimmy Butler effect and playoff Jimmy can work the same way it did in Miami. Avery Johnson here with us NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs. When you think about who might hoist that Larry O'Brien this season, is it just OKC and the Celtics?

Do you see it being any different? No, I got definitely Boston repeating. Now this is barring any injuries. You know, everybody's healthy on Boston. You know, Jalen Brown and presenters is not their different story. But if everyone is healthy on Boston's team, relatively healthy, playing in games, you can survive one playoff game without somebody.

They did it with presenters last year. I have Boston repeating. And then I have the field against Oklahoma City in the West. I don't know exactly who it is. Maybe the Lakers.

We don't know. But I think there's another team in the West in conference that's going to represent the West against Boston. But I got Boston repeat. Avery Johnson here with us on the JR sport re-show as we get ready to let you go. You mentioned your time coaching at Alabama and from your time even four or five years ago to what we have now, we've seen the explosion of NIL, the transfer portal, NFL, NBA or excuse me, football or basketball. We see players just moving around willy nilly. What do you think can put a cap on this? Because there's no continuity in college athletics right now.

Yeah, I think you said the word cap. I think we need to have some sort of a one time transfer rule. I'm I'm a little bit more concerned about the transfer, unlimited transfers and waivers than I am the NIL.

I think the NIL situation will settle down. But yeah, we need to have some sort of a transfer, a one time transfer rule or not. You got to sit out or if you leave after a team is invested in so much money and you maybe, you know, there's some sort of a buyout from the team that you're going to sign with. There needs to be some precautions and guardrails that to make the penalty for transferring so easily, some sort of a price that you have to pay. So I don't have all the answers.

I just know what's going on now isn't working with all the unlimited transfers and all these players moving around so easily. Yes, it's the wild, wild west. Hey, Avery, I thank you for joining us with your perspective, coaching, playing.

Where can people follow you in all of your work? We see you on CBS all the time. Fill us in. Yeah, I'm on CBS Sports HQ a couple of times a week covering now the NBA. I've been on CBS Sports Network. You know, I call, you know, a certain amount of games every college basketball games. But I'm on social media. Coach Avery six.

Coach Avery number six on all forms of social media. I'm normally there daily posting some different content. Avery, thank you so much. We look forward to having a chat with you down the line and join your evening. Okay. Okay. Thanks a lot.