Avery Johnson, CBS Sports HQ NBA Analyst

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Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. That's what I'm talking about. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network 855212. 4227 is how you jump on board with us. As you are tuned in across all of our great local Infinity Sports Network stations, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app and of course streaming on YouTube if you do want to watch the show. So we had the initial phase of the playing tournament and that did commence on Tuesday evening and last night we did see the Chicago Bulls survive. We did see the Philadelphia 76ers punch their ticket as the seventh seed and they will go up against the New York Knicks. The Celtics are waiting to figure out who they are going to play. It will either be the Bulls or the Heat and that will come your way on Friday and then also on Friday we already know that Stu's Lakers are going up against the Denver Nuggets even though Stu is disgusted by that. And Stu was one of those insane asylum patients that Darvin Ham was like maybe you should go back into the insane asylum if you said that we should have lost the playing game to the Pelicans so we could go get the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I happen to agree with Darvin Ham because the Lakers quite frankly just aren't that good enough to pick and choose when they want to win a game this year. And we know that the King's Pelicans winner will go on to face the Oklahoma City Thunder. The unfortunate news for the Pelicans is the injury with Zion Williamson. And the injuries are always a big part of the NBA postseason. You have some uncertainty with Kawhi Leonard. Now you know Zion Williamson once he gets injured. And it's a hamstring injury. There's just like I don't expect to see another game as Zion Williamson for the rest of the year quite frankly even if they win the game they get into the actual playoffs. I'd still be surprised if we see him just with the past with his injuries and then you know that Jimmy Butler injured his MCL Giannis has a calf strain clearly Joel and beads on 100 percent. And then you have Julius Randall out for the season two so injuries playing a big role this time of the year we're going to connect in a few moments with Avery Johnson the former NBA and also college basketball coach.

And you also know he was a pretty damn good player himself and now he does a great job obviously as an analyst for CBS Sports Network. And when I was at the Super Bowl I was like walking around the the concourse and I saw Avery Johnson in line trying to go get some food I know he was enjoying the NFL as well on a Super Bowl Sunday and coach is kind enough to join us right now. Avery appreciate it as always.

Thanks so much. How you been my man. I've been great. I've been great. Just back here and after my daughter's wedding in New Orleans this past weekend been on the road for the last three weeks basically with March Madness. I called the games in Omaha and the round of first and second round and then I went to our CBS Sports HQ studios in Fort Lauderdale to work some of the Elite Eight and Final Four in Phoenix New Orleans for a wedding.

It's been it has been a busy three weeks. Well congratulations. Give me a little recap of the wedding. There's always some drama at some weddings I've been involved in those weddings but you got a big smile on your face as always it looks like the wedding when a plus all hit it out of the park was awesome.

Yeah it was awesome. It was a three day event and thanks to my friends at the New Orleans Saints who hosted us in their practice facility for the rehearsal dinner and Mickey Loomis the general manager Gil Benson want to thank them. My old buddy Sean Payton made it to the wedding. He obviously is a busy time for the NFL draft but he took a couple of hours to pop in for a minute and breathe for a second and we just had a tremendous time.

And my daughter Christian and Austin her now husband I got to get used to saying we had wonderful support from friends and family. When you guys were cutting the filet mignon did you get us any intel on what Sean Payton is going to do in the draft. He's trading up for a quarterback. What are the secrets here. Avery what are you guys talking about behind the scenes. I know all the secrets. I can't let you in on that man.

I know all the secrets but it was a fun time. You know it was just great for both sides. Avery Johnson here with us is a great job as an analyst for CBS Sports Network CBS Sports HQ.

Let me start you off with the playing tournament. So a reaction I've seen in the last two days Lakers win some of their fans and even Darvin Ham respond to this are saying oh they should have lost and they could have got the eighth seed and they could have played the Thunder. It's better go up against the Thunder and the Nuggets and you have a lot of Sixers fans who are happy they're going up against the Knicks. What do you make of that with the sixer fan being happy they're going up against the Knicks and then the Laker fan that maybe is annoyed that their team won to secure a playoff berth. Well I'll start with the easier one the Sixers should be thrilled. They got obviously the reigning MVP back and if he's available for you know the first six games of this series I can easily see Philadelphia win in this series for two. I just think overall they have the better team. That's if Embiid is available to play his normal minutes. Tyrese Max he's playing at a high level. I think Kelly who was a nice little sneak signing there in the off season. Nicholas platoon if he's going to make six threes and 46 threes and man career high this lights out.

So they should be happy. I believe that's a favorable match up for Philadelphia. Unlike had they lost to Miami and then beat the Bulls and have to go up against the Boston Celtics in the first round. Now let me touch on the Lakers for a minute.

I played 16 years in the NBA coach for close to 10 years both in the NBA and in college. So there's I don't want to say preposterous but to think that somebody would even suggest that the Lakers should lose. And we don't play the game to lose NBA players. We don't do that now.

Maybe if a general manager and a coach at the end of the season have to make a decision and they're not a playoff team and you got to figure out how to position yourself for the best opportunity to get a better draft pick. That's I can understand that that's the game within the game, but we don't play to lose. We you playing against a team against the pelicans that the Lakers had dominated for the most part.

I was there on the court in Las Vegas during the end season tournament. They played well against them during the regular season you play to win and you don't know what's going to happen the next game against a team against Sacramento that play lights out against the Golden State Warriors. So I don't like the suggestion that the Lakers should have lost and tried to avoid the Nuggets. Yeah.

One of my producers too. He's a big Lakers fan and that was his take. He was like oh now we're going to get swept by the Nuggets a bunch of idiots the Lakers are and I go stew your team's not good enough. You guys aren't good enough to pick and choose this year when you're going to win games. That to me is the crazy part about it because like you said they could very easily lose that eight seed game and then they're at their home instead of having an opportunity to go play for something at the end of the pelicans game Zion Williamson was having his best game of his career and he had struggled against the Lakers.

Who's this? We don't know from an injury standpoint. What's going to happen with the Nuggets? Okay, we don't know from a mental standpoint, you know, you look at Mike Porter his brother's gotten banned from the NBA.

You don't know how he's going to respond. There's too many variable factors Lebron James. If you want him to play against the Nuggets, you probably do want him to play against him in the first round rather than go through two exhausting series and then meet them in the Western Conference Finals.

So I think this is their best opportunity. I believe they have a better roster much better shooting around Lebron and AD. So I think this is a better team going up against the Nuggets whether they win who knows but the idea that they should have lost to avoid the Nuggets. That's that's insulting Lebron James in his legacy. Talking Avery Johnson right now get back to what you said about John day Porter in just the second but when we look at this NBA postseason that I think it's going to be Celtics and Nuggets. I would be surprised at the Nuggets don't get there. But where's your confidence with the Celtics, especially in the Eastern Conference now, man, it's like the walking wounded with all these injuries.

Some of these teams have Yeah, I just think the Celtics are too. They're just so balance in the quality depth when they go to their bench. There's really not too much of a drop off and then they have so many different so much versatility within their rotations. They can play Harford and Brzingis together. They can downsize, you know, you can put different guys on and off the ball, but Drew Halliday makes a significant difference.

That's why he was one of the guys on our national team to play in the Olympics. He's a guy that I think should start on that team, but that's another story for another day. But just the depth now the coach has a year under his belt. They added two assistant coaches with a tremendous amount of experience, specifically Sam Cassell on that coaching staff.

I think that helps Missoula out. So I just think they're just too good for anybody in the Eastern Conference. I don't I don't believe that they're going to lose more than two games in any series, and I believe the first series is going to be a sweep. When you look at the West, if Denver does not get to the NBA Finals, who's then the team that you have the most confidence in? I believe if they can really pick it up defensively a little bit. And from what I'm hearing, Kawhi Leonard is still banged up. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mavericks can make a run.

Luca is a problem. You know, he and Kyrie Irvin, you know, I'm here in Dallas. I'm looking at the American Airlines Center as we speak. I'm here in Dallas. I'm looking at the American Airlines Center as we speak.

I'm here in my office a block away. This team is deep in the trade that they made at the trade deadline. They added more depth in terms of front court depth, shot blocking, defense.

P.J. Washington's had some really breakout games. Daniel Gafford is a lob guy. We know he had a stretch there where he made 30 straight field goals. So I really like the Mavericks.

I think if the Mavericks don't make it at least to the Western Conference Finals, they might look back on this season and say, you know, we underperformed. I saw the other day that Mark Cuban was on a podcast and he says, I know Dirk is not going to like this, but Luca is a better player than Dirk. What did you make of that comment? I don't know if you saw that.

I did see that. And I know what he's saying. I believe that Luca needs a little bit more body of work. You know, give it five or six more years from a pure talent standpoint. You know, just talent. Luca has the ball.

I understand what Cuban was saying. He did a little bit of a different skill set. Dirk needed more people to get him the ball, but Dirk had a 20 plus year career. And won a championship. A championship, lost in the finals. He was a, you know, MVP. You know, so I just think we just need to give Luca a little bit more time.

And when he finishes his body of work, then we'll be able to make a decision on who's who's the best all time. Now, it's one thing for you to get on here and say that you could see the Sixers taking care of the Knicks in six games. But I did see that Paul Reed of the Sixers. He said that they're happy to face the Knicks and they wanted to avoid the Celtics. It's one thing for you to say it.

It's one thing for myself to say it. If you were still coaching and a player said that, what are the behind the scene conversations that go on? Is Bolton board material an actual concern for a coach in the NBA?

I don't have the exact number because I don't have my, I don't have the research material in front of me, but I would be curious to see how many playoff games Reed has played in. It sounds like a guy that's not really astute to consistent deep playoff runs, being a significant starter and having a major role on a championship caliber team on the consistent basis, because if he did, he would have never shared those comments publicly. That sounds like somebody that's really inexperienced and you don't want to give the other team, especially Jalen Brunson.

I wouldn't want to say anything. The really good teams that I've been on, we knew how to handle ourselves with the media and what comments that we wanted out there for public consumption and what we wanted to keep private. Yeah, he played in 26 playoff games, only average 11 minutes per game, though. Tells you all you need to know about that one, Avery Johnson. All righty, the Jontay Porter situation.

I thought about this the other day. You kind of alluded to it. How much of an impact do you think that will put on Michael Porter Jr. as he's trying to navigate his brother's situation, but also try to go win another NBA championship? Yeah, I think it's tough. It's going to be in the back of his mind. That's his brother. But I believe Michael Porter is a pro. He's on the team that won the championship last year. He owes it to his team, really not to bring any family situations into his performance. He's got to go out there and play.

I believe he's going to be fine. It's just an unfortunate situation. That's one of those lines that you just don't cross. As an NBA player, we know it. When you sign the handbook.

And even if it's not in the handbook, it's one of those unwritten rules. How do the Warriors get this thing right moving forward? I think the Warriors got to trade Draymond Green. I believe his time is up. He's been the ultimate warrior. This guy's been so good for this organization. But I think the minute that he punched Jordan Poole, his time was up.

But that's the crazy part to me, Avery. They could have got out of business with him last year, and they gave him the new contract. It was almost as if they were saying, we know what you did in the past. I don't think the juices weren't the squeeze anymore, but they still rewarded him for the past and not what he could do into the future. Yeah, and I think at that point, you know, you look at Bob Meyers deciding to move on.

That probably was a telltale sign. But the Warriors just looked a little old. You know, Klay Thompson didn't have his best game.

You know, 0 for 10. Draymond, Steph Curry, they trapped him and forced him. He exerted a ton of energy. Trying to get the ball back. Some of their young guys haven't made significant progress and improvement, enough to carry this team. So I think outside of Steph Curry, they probably need to move some of their key core guys on, get some new blood into the team. Chris Paul, he's another guy that's at the tailgate.

Of his career. You can tell you need energy. You know, Dave, Davion Mitchell, when he comes off that bench with Sacramento is energy and force. They just didn't quite have that with the Warriors. I'll tell you what they need.

And I agree that they should get younger. But if they're going to continue to go with this older method, let's get LeBron and Steph on the same team. How fun would that be, coach?

Yeah, I guess that would be fun. And then LeBron can bring Bronio. He's Avery Johnson. We all know he played in the NBA for a long time. Coaching the NBA, coaching college as well. He does a great job now for CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports HQ. Avery, always great to have you on.

Thanks so much for doing this. Zach, stop stalking me at the Super Bowl, please. What a line. There he is. Avery Johnson here with us.

That's a good line there by Avery Johnson. Congratulations to his family, by the way, on the wedding. That's pretty damn cool too.

You have the wedding at the Saints practice facility? That's pretty badass. That's pretty cool. So good stuff there with Avery Johnson. And no, I was not stalking him. I just, I know Avery Johnson. I looked up and I go, oh, that's Avery Johnson. Coach, Zach.

Zach, how are you? Got a good little chat there at the Super Bowl this past year. I ran into Stu's guy too a few years ago at the Super Bowl, Rich Gannon. Ran into him again this year at a restaurant we were at. But a few years ago I was sitting down and two seats over was Rich Gannon. So you never know who you're going to pop into at the big game. All right, well, come on back. We're going to do a draft.

Stu, Samtor, yours truly, Zach Gelb can have three picks each on who wins the NBA championship, the Larry O'Brien trophy this year that at least Adam Silver doesn't refer to as a piece of metal. You could spend the weekend doing the same old whatever or you could conquer the weekend in the all new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for more details.

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