Thursday, December 27th, 2012 at 1:15 pm  |  109 responses

Head Coach Avery Johson Fired By the Brooklyn Nets


by Marcel Mutoni / @ marcel_mutoni

The Brooklyn Nets, struggling at 14-14 following a strong 11-4 start to the season, have relieved head coach Avery Johnson of his duties.

Johnson’s system has been openly criticized by star point guard Deron Williams, and there’s angry locker room talk of selfish play.

The Nets announced the move today.

Per the press release:

The Brooklyn Nets have relieved Avery Johnson of his head coaching duties, it was announced today by General Manager Billy King. A search for a new head coach will begin immediately. “The Nets ownership would like to express thanks to Avery for his efforts and to wish him every success in the future,” said Brooklyn Nets principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov. Johnson was named head coach of the Nets on June 15, 2010. In two-plus seasons as head coach of the Nets, Johnson compiled a record of 60-116.

In a cruel twist of fate, Avery Johnson had been named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for October and November. He’s now looking for another job.

Assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo will take over on an interim basis effective immediately.

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  • shockexchange

    Avery had to see this coming … (i) a bunch of new pieces that needed time to mesh together,(ii) hype, (iii) national television games, not because the team was deserving of them but simply due to its New York location, and (iv) the star play (DWill) throwing shade. In the Shock Exchange’s opinion, Avery’s biggest crime was in not managing unrealistic expectations.

  • Fat Lever

    I know this is completely knee jerk reaction, but IDAF: D-Will just got another coach fired. Maybe he can just coach the team, although if he gets himself fired I think that may be the seventh sign of the apocalypse

  • zogs19994

    DERON WILLIAMS – AVERY JOHNSON = BAAAAALLLIN

  • http://twitter.com/RyanDeahn RyanDeahn

    Sweet now HOV can coach.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    Deron Williams, Coach Slayer

  • MUBWAR

    dwill: what is it with you and strong willed coaches like Avery & Sloan? maybe you just can’t be coached. I can’t believe I used to argue in your favor against CP3.

  • Allenp

    Yeah, Deron is developing quite the reputation. And given that he doesn’t have Jason Kidd’s magic reputation for making everyone better, he’s not going to get a pass for his coach killing ways.

  • KC

    Wow sooner than expected but you knew it was coming. The nets just aren’t the contender they think they are. Derron Will looks like he is maybe a top 10 or 15 point guard but certainly not one of best. Joe Johnson has always been overrated. Lopez got paid on potential but he is injury prone and not hasn’t lived up to it yet. A new coach wont change any of that

  • Redd

    I was wondering about when they’d finally fire him. Since its Nets I’m sure they’ll blindly chase Jackson.

  • shockexchange

    DWill’s “complaints about the offense” in Utah was simply a smokescreen. He wanted out of Utah and unlike LeBron or D12, he found a politically correct way to accomplish it. Now after complaining about Avery’s offense, Avery gets fired. The Shock Exchange sees you DWill.

  • Jay Cutler

    what are you talking about? the player must adapt but the coach can’t adapt?

    have you worked with people in a team-setting before where success benefits everyone?

  • danpowers

    its not the first coach williams was complaining about but it is also not the first point guard complaining about johnsons coaching

  • RedRum

    This is the right move. AJ is a limited coach. He can be a good defensive coordinator. but a great coach needs to run a whole team and implement a system that leads to player development and offensive production in crunch time. AJ, Thibs and other “defensive specialist” coaches cannot go far in the NBA, if they do not implement an offensive system past iso and pick n roll. DWill probably was wrong with Sloan (and he seems to now acknowledge that) but he was right with AJ. Nets should go after Jax.

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Sanchez

    Blame it Deron Williams and his comb over. It’s the Jerry Sloan saga all over

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Sanchez

    No joking lol

  • Max

    Time to get Sloan!
    Make it happen Russian Billionaire!

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Sanchez

    What other point guard complained?

  • theDankerNuggets

    it had to be done sooner or later. After giving Derron that contract you can’t give up on him right now but you can certainly bring in a fresh system for him.

  • Pop D’Molly

    Damn, my dawg got fired on his day off…

  • Kid Viscious

    dang i thought he was doing a pretty good job…

  • Big Mark

    Looks like I’m gonna be watching the association more now

  • The Fury

    They won’t/can’t because Williams is not going to like the triangle.

  • shockexchange

    Hilarious. When DWill first threw shade at Avery’s offensive system, you defended DWill and said Avery should take it as “constructive criticism.”

  • ScrewT

    Nets needed someone to blame and the coaches normally take the blame in situations like this. The Nets were a bad team last year and really the only change they made was picking up Joe Johnson. They were going to be an average team from the start, but ESPN and everyone hyped them up to huge levels just because they were moving to Brooklyn.

  • ThaWindy

    DWill hated that Avery was going to Joe Johnson late in games and he was making buckets…how can you have a problem when you’re winning?…this is the guy CJ Watson would rather go to war with?…he’s a cancer and their season is over…unless a miracle happens..

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    Avery Johnson should have. But he didn’t fire himself. See the difference?

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    Who can coach Deron Williams? Jerry Sloan, Avery Johnson. This isn’t a good reflection on him. Who would have thought that the Clippers would be one of the best teams in the league coached by Vinny Del Negro and his old teammate, Avery Johnson, would be looking for a job this early in the season?

  • http://twitter.com/niQknacks niQ

    Another one bites the dust.

  • 1982

    14-14 for DWill, Iso-Joe, and last years 22-44 squad really isn’t that bad…

  • BurgerKing

    D-Will strikes again! *evil laugh*

  • shockexchange

    Yeah, but when the Shock Exchange previoulsy implied that DWill was a “coach killer,” you argued with him. Now you’re acting like you’ve had an epiphany.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jhemp15 Jamar Hemphill

    Johnson just started to catch fire, DWill was carrying them before then…Isn’t it ironic how they started losing when Johnson started playing well? And I like Joe, but it’s on the coach to make sure the pieces mesh well

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=509819249 Gaurav P.

    Huh? As Woj hinted: “The firing of Avery Johnson comes less than two days after a critical tweet post-Celtics loss by impatient Nets CEO Brett Yormark.”

    Deron didn’t even say anything that bad.

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    So SLAM…about that Deron Williams ranking for this season…

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    You are confused. I didn’t argue with the notion that he gets coaches fired, I even said, the franchise is Deron Williams’ not Avery Johnson’s, he should be able to express his feelings without Johnson taking it personally. That had nothing to do with the decisions ownership makes, ownership and the coach are different obviously

  • Sin City

    Avery was the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month early this season, think November. Yep, blame Avery.

  • ThaWindy

    Heard Avery was willing to add DWills fav plays..as well as joe Johnson…

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    K?

  • danpowers

    devin harris back then in dallas because avery johnson doesnt really give his players any freedom on court. he is a little dictator

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Sanchez

    Well his nickname was then little general

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Sanchez

    Do you know what the CEO said?

  • shockexchange

    On this thread – http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/slamonline-top-50/2012/10/top-50-deron-williams-no-7/ – you implied that if DWill had more say so in Utah’s offense, he and Sloan never would have parted ways. It had nothing to do with Sloan’s offense, he wanted out of Utah. But let the Shock Exchange guess, Sloan should chalk up DWill’s public “____ fit” to constructive criticism?

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    Maybe you should keep reading in that thread -

    “nbk−

    Show me ONE time he questioned Jerry Sloan to the media. Their issues were behind close doors. And it all happened in a matter of a month”

  • shockexchange

    The Shock Exchange read it. The point is that it’s not a mere happenstance that DWill criticized two coaches, and both coaches eventually exited stage left. When DWill criticized Avery’s offense he didn’t mean for Avery to take it in a constructive manner … there was malice behind it. Before he made those comments, he had already “circled the wagons” on Avery.

  • RunNGun

    Deron Williams 2, NBA Coaches 0. Coach killer… good luck, Brooklyn,

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    I clearly (uhm look at the first comment) what his comments about Avery did. But there were no comments about Sloan. What happened with Sloan happened in the locker room, it’s totally different. First of all, Sloan quit, so I don’t know why you think there is a parallel to this aside from the coach leaving. And again, I have not at any point argued the effects of Williams words to upper management. Or meant to make it seem that way. Only have I discussed how Williams words should be taken by his coach. In which my opinion hasn’t changed.

  • roscoe

    So for those of us keeping score on Dwill who has thrown J.Sloan & A.Johnson under the bus.

    A.Johson = 99’ NBA champion, 06’ Coach of the Year, 06’ NBA champion coach runner up, 98’ NBA Sportsman award, Retired #6 w/SAS.

    J.Sloan = HOF, Longest-Tenured Coach in American Sports History, 4x 1st team NBA defensive team, 2x NBA champion coach runner up, Retired #4 w/ CHI.

    Dwill = s… o… f… t…

    Here’s hoping to Brooklyn shipping Dwill out of town bc the fans deserve better.

  • Seth

    No chance Phil ever coaches a team that isn’t a contender.

  • roscoe

    good points… but at the beginning of the season when lopez and others were claiming a “title contending team” Avery did reel them back in, but the tides were definitely against him.

    we agree dwill is a cancer, no doubt.

  • roscoe

    *team cancer

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