Avery Johnson interviewing for assistant coaching position with Sixers

Avery Johnson is interviewing for an assistant coaching position on Brett Brown’s staff, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:

Avery Johnson is interviewing for a job on Brett Brown’s staff with the 76ers, league sources tell ESPN. Johnson has previously been a head coach with Alabama, the Nets and Mavericks. — @wojespn

Johnson falls in my “sexy name” category of candidates; i.e., candidates who are widely known and generate excitement/conversation due to previous NBA experience, typically regardless of merit or ability. That’s not to say Avery isn’t a good candidate — frankly, it’s hard to say whether he is, as he’s been out of the NBA for 7 years — but I can already hear the calls to replace Brown as head coach with Avery, for no reason other than Miserable Fan X finding something to complain about after a 127-110 loss to the [insert basement dwelling team here] in a mid-December, SEGABABA game.

As Woj notes, Johnson has had stops as the head coach with the Dallas Mavericks from 2005 to 2008, where he was named the Coach of the Year in 2006, and with the Brooklyn Nets from 2010 to 2012. More recently, he has served as the head coach of Alabama’s men’s basketball team before he and ‘Bama mutually agreed to part ways following a first round exit from 2019 NIT tournament. Johnson had a long, successful career as an NBA player from 1988-2004, with his most notable feat being a member of the NBA Finals-winning San Antonio Spurs in 1999.