After Superstorm Sandy ravaged the area, the Nets’ East Rutherford practice facility was a flooded shambles. When the water finally subsided, a dead fish was found in the workout area.
Call it symbolism or foreshadowing, but yesterday the official word came that the Nets’ coaching career of Avery Johnson slept with the fish. Johnson said he was surprised, the firing was “something I didn’t necessarily see coming — especially after our pretty good November.”
And it was a pretty good November, a great one in fact. The Nets had buzz, attention. They beat the Knicks in November and finished the month 11-4. And that was good enough to earn Johnson Eastern Conference coach of the month honors. Not a contract extension, but some league recognition.
Less than a month later, the award can be used to wrap fish. After ownership called and asked many within and outside the organization for input, Johnson was notified yesterday he was being canned.
“It was ownership,” said general manager Billy King when asked who made the call.
The who was easy to figure out. The why is a bit more sticky. The downward spiral began last month with Brook Lopez getting hurt.
The Nets finished out the month with a win over Orlando but then went on a five-game slide without Lopez. That dive hurt.
But during the skid, three of the games, including the Knicks’ thrilling victory, were witnessed by a rather interested party, Mikhail Prokhorov. The owner also saw a November collapse against Minnesota, making his viewing record 0-4. Never had he come to the U.S. and seen nothing but losses.
And the stumbling continued in December, even with the Russian billionaire off the premises.
“We just didn’t have the same fire as we did when we were 11-4,” King said.
And they didn’t have the record expected after ownership spent more than a third of a billion dollars over the summer.
As coaches have learned forever, it’s a players’ league and Johnson’s status received an irreparable hit when Deron Williams voiced discontent over Johnson’s system. Williams even used the “S” word — Sloan — as having a system better suited for his play. And everyone knows how the Jerry Sloan-Deron Williams marriage ended. Williams’ public displeasure could not have helped Johnson.
“To pinpoint this all on Deron, that’s not fair. He wasn’t [consulted] in deciding this decision,” King said.
The loss in Milwaukee Wednesday was the final factor — especially when blue-collar worker Gerald Wallace went nuclear and called out teammates for being selfish. That left the team at 14-14 — “unacceptable,” one Nets’ exec said.
So there wasn’t any one factor that sank Johnson after the marvelous November. Lopez’s injury, Williams’ public pronouncements, Prokhorov arriving just in time to catch the guts of a losing streak, Wallace providing the image of a team in turmoil all ganged up on Johnson, who began his tenure with the Nets as the coach with the best winning percentage ever. They flamed out in a hurry.
“It’s part of our business — fair or unfair doesn’t matter — but it’s time for a new voice,” Johnson said.