The Dallas Mavericks are out of the playoffs, and apparently it is all Avery Johnson’s fault. Mark Cuban is the kind of guy who needs someone to blame, and his head coach got to be the one. Johnson was fired this week just a day after the Mavs were bounced from the playoffs in the first round for the second straight year. Losing to Golden State last year was pretty bad, but there is no shame losing to New Orleans – they likely won’t be the last team to do that this year. Did Johnson deserve to get fired? Of course not. Just take a look at what he accomplished.

• He took over the team with 18 games left in the 2004-2005 season. He went 16-2.
• In his first full season he won 60 games and led his team to the Finals for the first time in franchise history. He was coach of the year.
• The next season he won 67 games.
• This year he won 51 games despite a number of injuries and an ill-conceived trade which backfired.
• He was the fastest coach ever to reach 100 wins and 150 wins.

Cuban got rid of Johnson, but there is one fact that becomes glaringly obvious when you look at it closely – he won’t be able to hire a better coach. At best he will make a lateral move. Sure, Johnson underperformed in the playoffs the last couple of years, but was that his fault, or was it due to the talent he had and the near-total lack of a killer instinct possessed by the key players? I would argue that Johnson deserves extra credit, and probably a medal, for getting as much as he did out of the team.

From a betting perspective there are two things I feel pretty confident about – there will be value on whatever team is smart enough to hire Johnson, and none in the Mavs next year unless the changes don’t stop here, or unless John Wooden, or at least Phil Jackson, takes over.