01-13-2021, 06:34 PM
(01-13-2021, 08:36 AM)KillerLeft Wrote: Seriously? I'm pretty shocked anyone doesn't remember this. It's how Avery Johnson became coach! It was a bananas situation. Here's how I remember it:
Nellie never forgave Cuban for not bringing Nash back. He started mailing in the job more and more, and was letting Avery run practices (sometimes not even showing up) in 2005, and the team wasn't doing well. At some point that season, the team got booed at home during a stinker, and over that weekend, Nellie literally just quit.
This is all I could find quickly: The first one has a little bit of PR spin mixed into it.
https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=2016984
https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4351802
That was all on Cuban. Cuban cut Nelson off at the knees. Gave Nelson a Mark Cuban roster to coach, not a Don Nelson roster. The Mavs had Nash to run Nelson's offense but needed help ballhandling for when Nash was double-teamed. What did Mark do? Let Nash walk for nothing. If Mark wanted the team coached another way, he should've fired Nelson instead of what he did. Avery couldn't carry Nelson's jock as a coach, as was proven in that GS series. I'll repeat, that was all on Cuban.