AJ off to fastest start ever

Avery Johnson recently collected his 50th coaching victory, and it took him only 62 games to do it. Previously, Al Cervi and some guy named Red Auerbach each racked up 50 wins in 63 games, and both did it before the end of 1951. In the last 50+ years, no one's come close to the start of those two, but this year, Avery Johnson actually beat them to the punch. He reached 50 wins faster than anyone in NBA history.

The accolades don't stop there. Avery won the coach of the month honors in April, his first full month in the league, and again in November. Yesterday, he was named January's coach of the month. After extensive research by the texasnba.com science department, we've concluded that AJ has now won 3 of the 4 coach of the month awards for which he was eligible. Have you ever heard of that happening before?

Avery Johnson's success in Dallas has been one of the most under-reported stories in the league. He's racking up trophies and making history. The Mavs are in the middle of a complete identity make-over, yet they're tied at the top of the conference with the defending champs. Phil Jackson's doing a fine job in LA, Flip Saunders has taken a champion and given it some offensive teeth, and Larry Brown's doing, uh, hey, at least he hasn't quit yet. But Avery Johnson deserves to be the headliner for Coach of the Year thus far.

Speaking of Flip and Avery, I'm developing a pet theory about NBA coaching. Frequently, a one-dimensional team peaks under a coach and then plateaus. Dallas had gone as far as Don Nelson's all-offense approach was going to take them. The Pistons won a title with hard-nosed D but when they ran into another defensive juggernaut with a bit more firepower, Detroit came up short. In both cases, bringing in a coach with the opposite style of his predecessor has paid dividends. Neither team has lost sight of their original emphasis; the Mavs are 7th in scoring and the Pistons give up the 3rd-fewest points in the association. But each team has also bought into the identity of their new leader and developed a more well-rounded game as a result. Improbably, the Pistons are 9th in scoring offense and the Mavs are 9th in scoring defense.

I'll wait a minute for you to clean the coffee off your monitor.

Both teams had success with their original style and they've maintained its best elements without prodding from the coach. But the aggressive new emphasis on what was lacking has pushed them both to new heights, at least in the regular season. So unless you've got an all-around stud coach like Popovich, I think it makes sense for a team to make a coaching switch when they've plateaued with the current regime.

How do you know when a team's plateaued? Well, you just know. We can all sense it. Owners and GMs can, too. And while it can be hard to fire a coach in the midst of a good run, it might be worth it if you know exactly who you want to hire next. In the case of Detroit and Dallas, the popular coaches also wanted to call it quits, so management was off the hook for replacing them. But even when that's not the case, it could be the right call. Imagine if the Kings had sucked it up and fired Adelman after the first (or second) series loss to the Lakers and replaced him with a fiery defensive-minded leader. I wonder just how good they could've been. Maybe no one could get strong defense out of Webber or Stojakovic, but they only way they were going to win it all was if they brought someone in to try. If the Suns make another conference finals and come up short again, it says here that firing D'Antoni and bringing in a defensive mind will be the only way to push that team over the top. Don't say I didn't warn you, Phoenix.

Just know that Avery Johnson's unlikely to be available for quite some time.