Sixers talk to Avery Johnson; is Mark Jackson next?

Members of the 76ers brass met with former Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson in Houston yesterday to discuss the team's head coaching vacancy.

President and general manager Ed Stefanski, assistant general manager Tony DiLeo and consultant Gene Shue, who talked with Doug Collins on Saturday, met with Johnson yesterday afternoon.

"We had an informative meeting and open dialogue with Avery [yesterday] regarding our head coaching position," Stefanski said in a statement. "His reputation as a motivator and accomplishments as a head coach in the NBA are well known and I certainly want to thank him for taking the time to meet with us."

Johnson posted a 194-70 record in his three-plus seasons with the Mavs. He led them to the NBA Finals in 2006, the season in which he was named the league's coach of the year. Dallas went 60-22 that season.

Reports say that the 45-year-old Johnson will meet with the New Orleans Hornets today about their coaching vacancy. Johnson was born and raised in New Orleans, and played the last 2 years of his college basketball career at Southern University in Baton Rouge. He was married in the Big Easy and still has many ties to the city.

A source told the Daily News on Sunday that Stefanski is scheduling a meeting with former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Mark Jackson. Jackson, also 45, has never coached, but played in 1,296 games and 131 playoff games with seven different teams.

Collins, who was chosen with the No. 1 overall pick by the Sixers in the 1973 draft and is now an NBA analyst on TNT, has coached eight seasons in the NBA with a career record of 332-287.

Whether or not the Sixers will contact Larry Brown, their former coach and current Charlotte Bobcats head man, is still not known. Sources say the team is still pondering whether to contact Brown, who repeatedly has said he will only coach for Bobcats owner Michael Jordan.

Other possibilities to be interviewed still include Boston Celtics associate coach Tom Thibodeau, San Antonio Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer, former Toronto Raptor coach Sam Mitchell and NBA television analysts Mike Fratello.

Ed Stefanski and Tony DiLeo met with Doug Collins in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Saturday then flew to Los Angeles to talk with point guard Jrue Holiday and his family before heading to Houston for their meeting with Avery Johnson, according to a source.

With coach Eddie Jordan getting fired the day after the last game, management probably didn't have a chance to meet with players individually the way they would have liked. Saturday, they did that with this year's youngest player in the league.

Holiday started 51 games for the team this season, including the final 41, and finished with averages of 8.0 points, 3.8 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 73 games. As a starter, his averages were 9.6 points, 4.7 assists and 1.3 steals.