So we’re listening to Mike Tirico’s radio show – a reader emailed in saying he was talking about blogs and mentioned us, so we thought it was worth checking out – and out of nowhere, Marc Stein swoops in: Avery Johnson’s gone. Wow. Two years ago: 61 wins, trip to the NBA Finals. Last year: 67 wins, unlikely first-round ouster. This year: 51 wins, first-round ouster. What the heck does a guy gotta do to keep a job in the NBA? (The Suns win total the last four years: 62, 54, 61, 55.)

We were all set to proclaim the Jason Kidd trade as the beginning of the end for Avery under Mark Cuban’s reign of terror, but then the Dallas Morning News unearthed this about admitted pot-smoker Josh Howard (regardless of what you are about to read, it’s not nearly as bad as ‘Melo’s DUI): “Howard passed out fliers in the locker room inviting teammates to celebrate his 28th birthday bash at a Dallas nightclub in the wake of the team going down 3-1. Johnson confronted his team about the party Monday – the source said only a few of the players attended – and canceled practice, prompting the players to practice on their own without the supervision of the coaching staff.”

Tough call here. You’ve got Mark Cuban mortgaging the future by bringing in Jason Kidd, and then, in the midst of a series in which you were already losing, a player handing out flyers to his birthday after a loss. Howard’s obviously the most clueless Maverick since Roy Tarpley. Truthfully, though, the series was over long before that.

Howard’s birthday bash led to more turmoil for Dallas Mavericks (Dallas Morning News)