Suddenly reeling, the Brooklyn Nets fire coach Avery Johnsonhttp://nyti.ms/UoGhHC
The New York Times 
2:39 PM - 27 Dec 12 · Details
Suddenly Reeling, the Nets Fire Their Coach
By HOWARD BECK
Published: December 27, 2012
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was 30 months ago that the images rose in Midtown Manhattan, a blue-tinted mural of an international hip-hop icon and a Russian billionaire, under the audacious heading “The blueprint for greatness.”
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Coach Avery Johnson did not blame Deron Williams for his firing. “He’s one player,” said Johnson, whose team had lost 10 of 13.
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Avery Johnson was hired by the Nets in June 2010 and compiled a 60-116 record over two-plus seasons.
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General Manager Billy King said Avery Johnson was not reaching his team. “I have a pretty good pulse of players,” King said.
It was clear then that Mikhail D. Prokhorov would have no use for subtlety or small ambitions as the new owner of the Brooklyn-boundNets. He wanted to own New York, to “turn Knicks fans into Nets fans” and to win a title in five years.
The blueprint left no room for patience and zero room for error in the delicate relations between a headstrong coach and a hardheaded franchise star.
On Thursday, Avery Johnson became the first head coach fired by the Brooklyn Nets because he failed to reach Deron Williams and because the Nets had slipped to 14-14 after a promising 11-4 start — and these things were most certainly related.
But Johnson was fired, too, because the hype very quickly outpaced the reality in this maiden season in Brooklyn. The chic uniforms, the cool arena and the remade roster made the Nets easy to embrace. They invoked Jackie Robinson, borrowed a flagpole from Ebbets Field and traded on every ounce of Brooklyn zeitgeist. As Prokhorov and his lieutenants are now learning, it is easier to be hip than good.
The decision to fire Johnson on Thursday morning came directly from Prokhorov, barely 12 hours after the Nets lost their 10th game in December, a slide that threatened to obliterate all of the franchise’s promises of a transformative season.
“Watching us, we just didn’t have the same fire that we had when we were 11-4,” General Manager Billy King said at an afternoon news conference. “Talking to Avery, we tried to figure it out. But, just wasn’t able to pinpoint what was missing.”
Johnson was “blindsided” by the decision, according to a close friend, but the signs of trouble were becoming more glaring by the day. The Nets had lost five of their last six games, including blowouts against the Knicks, the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks over an eight-day span.
The Nets’ two biggest stars, Williams and Joe Johnson, have struggled miserably for most of the season. Several key role players seem lost, most notably C. J. Watson. The team seems remarkably fragile, every injury and every untimely turnover sending everyone into a panic.
