Nets fire Avery Johnson

Yahoo! NBA Report.

Coach of the month in November, out of a job by New Year's.

The Brooklyn Nets have elevated expectations this season, and a .500 record wasn't good enough. Coach Avery Johnson was fired Thursday, his team having lost 10 of 13 games after a strong start to its first season in Brooklyn.

''We don't have the same fire now than we did when we were 11-4,'' general manager Billy King said at a news conference in East Rutherford, N.J. ''I tried to talk to Avery about it and we just can't figure it out. The same pattern kept on happening.''

Assistant P.J. Carlesimo will coach the Nets on an interim basis, starting Friday night with a home game against Charlotte. King said the Nets might reach out to other candidates, but for now the job was Carlesimo's. The GM wouldn't comment on a report that the team planned to get in touch with former Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

As one would expect, Deron Williams' recent comments about the offense and Jerry Sloan's resignation in Utah have garnered a mention or two. It's certainly strange to see someone go from Coach of the Month to the unemployment line in just a few weeks, but it would appear to have been the perfect storm: Williams' dissatisfaction, Johnson's attitude and approach, and losing ten of their last thirteen games.

Adrian Wojnarowski also has his take on the matter here.

For two months they were doing fine then for one month they have issues equals the coach getting fired, too early to make a move like this.

Johnson wasn't fired because of the recent collapse, that was the handy excuse.

''It's a really disappointing day for me and my family. It's my wife's birthday. It's not a great birthday gift,'' Johnson said. ''I didn't see this coming.

''You don't always get a fair shake as a coach,'' Johnson said. ''I'm not the owner. If I were the owner, I wouldn't have fired myself today. But life is not always necessary fair. It's a business and in this business, the coach always gets blamed.''

lol obviously.
Dude's clueless.

Last edited by shadowgrin on Fri Dec 28, 2012 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Johnson wasn't fired because of the recent collapse, that was the handy excuse.

so that's the 2nd coach that deron's run out of town?

It would seem so.