Avery Johnson has been all over the dial(s) in his ESPN role, mostly talking about the NBA Finals and his old team, the Mavericks. But on occasion as we've noted before, he squeezes in some Nets talk with the hosts....this time telling Mike Lupica that Deron Williams has what it takes to get the Nets to the Finals.
He explained what the big difference is between this year's Mavs and his 2006 Finals team which after being up 2-0, lost four straight to the Heat: the leadership and experience needed to win the big one. Then he switched gears just a bit to talk about the Nets getting there in the future.
"More than anything, you've got to have great leadership, great leadership amongst the players, you've got to have experienced, savvy leadership on the sidelines," he told Lupica. "And, hopefully, if we get there with the Nets, we'll have that with Deron Williams. He's a terrific point guard, he's experienced, he knows what he's doing and I'll be a different coach at this point."
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Avery Johnson Interview (Audio @ 27:30 in) - Mike Lupica - ESPN 1050