Nets Fire Avery Johnson as Team Slips to 14-14

Well the "Brooklyn Nets being great" idea was fun while it lasted. I think the Jeremy Lin phenomena lasted longer than this.

The Nets had a pretty good start to the season with it being their first in Brooklyn. They started the year 11-4 and were giving the New York Knicks a run for the city's attention. Then December crept around and put an end to all of that. The Nets went on a 3-10 skid with their last game being beaten by the Bucks 108-93 on Wednesday. With the team 14-14, the Nets decided it was time to make a change.

The head coach of the Nets, Avery Johnson, was fired yesterday. He was actually named the Eastern Conference's coach of the month in November but December just seemed too much for him. Johnson was with the team ever since the beginning of the 2010/11 season. Assistant P.J. Carlisemo was named the interim head coach as the search begins for a replacement.

Panic button pressed by the Nets as they look for new leadership. Certainly they will try and see if Phil Jackson wants to give this team a shot but considering that their top player is PG Deron Williams and that the rest of the team is average, it's not likely that Phil Jackson would want to coach the Nets. That being said, whoever they do hire would have to be good enough and command enough respect to coach/deal with Deron Williams. He needs both of those things right now.