Not Everyone Hates Avery Johnson's Guts

  Just one day after Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban was making headlines slamming the franchise's former coach, Avery Johnson showed up in San Antonio—where he still gets plenty of love and respect from Gregg Popovich. Whether it was planned or not, the message sent by the visit was simple: Not everyone hates Avery Johnson's guts. Cuban laid the Maverick's troubles last season squarely on Johnson earlier in the week, before taking some of the blame himself. "The struggles that we had, as much of that was my fault as anything else," Cuban said speaking to the media during the Mavs' practice yesterday. "It was my choice at the beginning of the year to say, 'OK, Avery, we went to the Finals, you won 67 games. Rather than me being involved on a continual basis in management style decisions, take some rope and you take some more of the responsibility and I'll back off.' Responsibility is not the right word. But, 'You do what you want to do, and I'll back off.'"  ... (link)