Thursday, December 27, 2012

Avery Johnson fired by the Brooklyn Nets.

Photo Courtesy of SBnation


Who would've thought that Avery Johnson's firing will be the reason why I'm going to write an entry on this blog. Well I know this blog has been dead for almost a year now (?). But yeah I guess it's back since I'm writing this one. Anyway enough with the updates and let's head on to the news. So, I was playing NBA 2k13 on steam when I called a timeout just to read some of the tweets on my phone then there goes a freaking ALL CAPS RAGE TWEET by none other than Netsdaily himself (maybe Netincome not really sure). And here I am 30 minutes after writing this reaction entry after the firing.

The Nets have named Assistant Coach PJ Carlesimo as their interim head coach but hasn't named any candidate for the head coaching job. Just 24 days ago, Avery Johnson was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month (NOV 12) who were 10-4 at that stretch. They have been 4-10 after that. So what is my opinion about this firing? I would be honest that, the Nets' offense looked really bad whenever I watched them. And it was way worse during the Christmas match-up against the Celtics. All ISO, they did play some of the Flex offense that Sloan used to run with Deron back in Utah. But other than that, the offense looked stagnant. I'm no coach so don't freak out, it was just my observation as a fan/player of the sport. The defense was alright though. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And I can't really blame Avery on that cause some of his players weren't really defensive minded at all (ehem Brook).

Is this an overreaction? For me, NO. Yes, the Nets FO could have waited another month for AJ to make adjustments but the Nets are in a New Arena and they are in Brooklyn. Sharing the territory with their conference rival, the New York Knicks who are unexpectedly outplaying the Nets in the conference. Just like what uncle Ben told Peter Parker, "with great power comes great responsibility" And that quote applies to Avery Johnson. He would not get fired if this team was let's say, Memphis or even Oklahoma City. Avery Johnson was fired because he was at the spotlight of New York. A new team, in a city of Brooklyn. A team that has a lot to prove. The money is there, the talent and the roster is there. But Avery with JJ and Deron just didn't work. He had 3 months to adjust to that situation but Avery never did. Some of the Nets' games still felt like we were still in New Jersey (no offense HA seriously no offense).

I wish Avery Johnson all the best. He did managed to turnaround Kris Humphries and Andray Blatche's career and it would not be long, I think he's going to find a job somewhere. I never really endorsed Avery Johnson to be fired. But I was upset with what I saw during Christmas day. It was really ugly and Proky was right (according to his statement) that the Nets didn't look good even in the games that they won. It's such a disappointment that it had to end this way. I expected Avery to get fired after a first round exit in the playoffs. But here we are still shock by the news that Avery Johnson is no longer going to coach the surprisingly failing Nets. The Locker room quit on Avery and after that it was really easy for Proky to let him go. Rome wasn't build in one day people.. 

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