Posted on 12/27/2012 7:05:49 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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.
King said the decision to dismiss Johnson was made by ownership after a phone discussion Thursday morning. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov had expressed faith in Johnson before the season.
"With the direction we were going we felt we had to make a change," King said.
Johnson was in the final year of a three-year, $12 million contract.
"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. But this is ownership's decision. It's part of the business. Fair or unfair, it's time for a new voice and hopefully they'll get back on track."
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$4 mil a year. I realize that’s pocket money for most of the players, but decent salary by real world standards.
And they replace him with PJ Carlesimo as interim coach; not exactly a power move, IMO. If they don’t have a better option than that, ownership has exposed themselves as impatient boobs. A .500 record at this point in the season is not a bad place, depending on what division you’re in.
I always liked Avery when he was in Dallas. Both as a player and a coach.
I have always been of the opinion that he got the boot from the Mavs because he was a pretty tough coach that expected a lot from the players, aka prima donna millionaires.
I wonder if that might have happened with the Nets as well.
That could be - they wanted the millions but not do the work he required them to do. So they underperform and he/the coach gets the boot. There is no room for excellence any more.
Pretty rash decision to fire AJ and every team goes through slumps. Its the Nets and not the Heat for crying out loud.
AJ deserved to coach until the season ends as I see it.
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