Avery Johnson 2006 NBA Coach of The Year. On March 19, 2005 Avery Johnson assumed the duties of head
coach of the Dallas Mavericks after former head coah Don Nelson decided to step
down and concentrate on his role as a consultant with team. Prior to the season,
Johnson announced his retirement as a player on October 28, 2004 to assume
full-time duties of an assistant coach.
In his 16-year career, Johnson played 1,054 games and averaged 8.4 points, 5.5
assists and 1.7 rebounds in 25.3 minutes per game. He finished his career with
an impressive 3.34 assist-to-turnover ratio. Johnson also played in 90 playoff
games and started 73 of those contests. He has playoff averages of 10.5 points,
6.2 assists and 1.13 steals in 31.2 minutes per game. In 1999, he was a member
of the San Antonio Spurs NBA Championship team.
Johnson became the 75th player in NBA history to play 1,000 career games on
3/28/03 and joined Calvin Murphy as the only other player under 6-feet in height
to reach that milestone. He also reached the 5,000 career assists plateau on
2/27/00 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Avery Johnson at 5-11 and 180 pounds was undrafted out of college. He first
played for the United States Basketball League with the Palm Beach Stingrays in
1988. He was then signed as a free agent with the Seattle SuperSonics on 8/2/88.
From 1990-92, he played with San Antonio, Denver, Houston and back to San
Antonio. In eight of the next nine seasons (1992-2001), he was a member of the
San Antonio Spurs. Avery Johnson spent one year during that time in Golden State
(1993-94). He spent his last few seasons with the Denver Nuggets, Golden State,
and signed with Dallas as a player/coach prior to the 2004-05 season but decided
to retire as player and concentrate on being an assistant coach before the
season started.
Johnson was a college standout at Southern University where he led the NCAA in
assists as a junior and senior. He was named the Southwestern Athletic
Conference Player of the Year and the MVP of the conference tournament both
seasons as well. He still holds several NCAA Division I records including the
most assists in a single game, the highest single season assists average and the
highest career assists average.
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