Avery Johnson Is Not in a Rush to Call the Bulls Back About That Whole Job Thing

Avery Johnson had kind of a rough year. Still, he's got a .735 lifetime coaching winning record, which ain't exactly shabby, and there are quite a few coaching gigs available, even with the Knicks job filled by the Pringles guy. So he should be able to just slide right into a new coaching job like it's a warm pair of slippers, right? Well, that implies that he's sure he wants to coach next season.

A report in the Chicago Sun-Times lays out the fact that Johnson's representatives have not returned calls from the coachless Chicago Bulls to reschedule an interview that was delayed by General Manager John Paxson last week. Now, the Bulls haven't come out and stated why they delayed the meeting last week, but I'll bet all the money in my pockets against all the money in your pockets that the reason rhymes with "Shmike Shmanshmoni."

Johnson had to put up with a lot last year, coming off of one of the most disappointing ends to a #1 seed's playoff run in history, struggling through a remarkably intense Western Conference, and of course, a trade that upended his roster and sent away one of his favorite players, on top of losing his former MVP star for two weeks late in the season with an ankle injury.

It's possible that having all that topped off with getting canned by an overly emotional owner, shall we say, like Mark Cuban could lead to a guy wanting to take a year off and just chill out. Plus he's got all the money the Mavs still owe him and it's possible there could be better openings next year. Still, if Johnson does bow out of the conversation, that's a pretty substantial loss for teams that haven't filled their top spots yet.

And the Bulls could be a team left wondering why they didn't act sooner.