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**Peja Vu** · 05-14-2004, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Avery Johnson and Sam Mitchell are prime candidates to be Bernie Bickerstaff's lead assistant coach with the Charlotte Bobcats, Bickerstaff confirmed Thursday.

Johnson played 16 seasons as an NBA point guard, the most recent with the Golden State Warriors. Mitchell has been an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks the past two seasons, following a 13-year NBA career.

Though Johnson has no formal coaching experience, he appears to have a knack for the job. A survey of general managers last fall, published on NBA.com, named Avery as the active player most likely to end up an NBA head coach.

Avery occasionally ran practices when he played for the Dallas Mavericks, and Mavericks coach Don Nelson said over the winter he'd like to groom Avery as his successor. The question might be whether Johnson, at 39, is ready to quit playing.

"If you're not sure that you're ready to hang it up, or if there's not an opportunity that comes by that definitely says you've got to hang it up, keep on playing," Johnson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram earlier this month.

It's conceivable the Bobcats could instead sign Johnson as a free agent, since Bickerstaff wants a couple of veterans on the first squad to mentor young players.

Mitchell played 10 of his 13 NBA seasons with Minnesota, including the Timberwolves' first three seasons. That could be valuable to the Bobcats, since Mitchell knows first-hand what it's like to play for an expansion team.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlot...ts/8663517.htm

**Charlotte_______** · 05-14-2004, 10:56 PM

Ohhhh awesome canidates. I hope we get them both.I have heard alot of good things about Avery, although Sam I dont know about but has experience with this situation.