November 11, 2007

Avery Johnson spent 16 years playing for several teams in the NBA, though he is mostly known for his time with the San Antonio Spurs. Johnson was part of the 1999 Spurs team that won the NBA championship against the New York Knicks in which he hit the series-clinching shot in Game 5.

Johnson was known as the "Little General" for his small stature (for an NBA player at least: he's 5' 11"), his outstanding (and vocal) leadership skills, and his close friendship with teammate "The Admiral" David Robinson.

Avery Johnson always knew he would get his chance. With his team trailing by one point and time winding down in game five of the 1999 NBA finals, Johnson got the opportunity every player has dreamed about since childhood: The shot to clinch the league championship. Johnson’s jumper in the game’s final seconds hit the bottom of the net, lifting San Antonio, his former team, over the New York Knicks. “I’m humbled by that experience,” said Johnson. “God could’ve assigned anybody to be in the corner at 19 feet away from the basketball to make that shot. I think He chose me for a reason.”

NBA fans will long remember Johnson for that clutch shot that earned the Spurs their first-ever league title. But there was a long period of time when the scrappy point guard nicknamed “Little General” was anything but a household name. His early years in professional basketball were difficult and looked anything but promising.

Despite setting several NCAA Division One records for assists while playing for Southern University, Johnson went untaken in the NBA draft. He finally got his opportunity to play in the NBA in 1989 when he landed in Seattle.

Over the next five seasons, he would get limited opportunities to play, getting cut three times and bouncing back and forth between eight teams. In 1994, the six-foot guard got another opportunity in San Antonio. There he found his niche, settling in as the Spurs floor leader. It was a hard road, I continued to believe God,” said Johnson. “It’s not that things can work out, it’s that they will work out.”

On October 28, 2004, Johnson retired from playing to concentrate full-time on coaching, and his transition from assistant to head coach came five months later on March 19, 2005.

Under Johnson, the Mavericks closed out the 2004-2005 season with a 16-2 run and a first-round playoff victory over the Houston Rockets, before bowing out to the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the playoffs. Johnson was named the April 2005 NBA Coach of the Month, only one month after becoming a head coach for the first time.

The 2005-2006 season was even more successful for Johnson and was marked by a series of milestones. In November 2005 Johnson again won the NBA Coach of the Month award (his second and second consecutive, following his award from April the previous season), making him the first NBA coach to win the award in his first two months as a head coach. On January 28, 2006, when the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Utah Jazz, Johnson's record as coach reached 50-12, making Johnson the fastest coach to reach 50 wins.

In February 2006, he was chosen to coach the 2006 NBA All-Star team for the Western Conference. On March 15, 2006, Johnson set the record for most wins over the course of a coach's first 82 games (the duration of a full season), with 66 wins over the span. Although Johnson ultimately led the Mavericks to the second-best record in the Western Conference, the team entered the playoffs as the fourth seed in the west, due to the structure of the 2006 NBA Playoffs seeding.

In April 2006, Johnson was rewarded for this success with the 2006 NBA Coach of the Year Award.

In June 2006, after defeating the Memphis Grizzlies, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, and the Phoenix Suns in the first three rounds of the playoffs, Johnson led the Dallas Mavericks to their first ever NBA Finals appearance. However, the Mavs were defeated in the series by the Miami Heat, losing 4 straight after winning the first two games.

On December 31, 2006, Johnson became the fastest head coach to win 100 games by defeating the Denver Nuggets.

“I think a lot of your blessings come from the way you talk,” said the former winner of the NBA’S Sportsman Of The Year Award. “I always said, ‘I’m going to be wealthy and prosperous, financially, mentally, with my family, professionally.’ I always spoke it.” Johnson is always ready to back up whatever he says. “After you talk it, you have to put yourself in positions by making good decisions, especially how it applies to your Christian walk,” he added.

Johnson has—and continues to—put himself in the best position possible: In the hands of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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