The Brooklyn Nets head coach has been under fire due to the recent struggles of what is considered to be a star studded lineup….
Back in the off season, Brooklyn Nets was a team which made some of the biggest scalps in the free agency. They re-signed their star point guard Deron Williams, overcoming a tough challenge from Dallas Mavericks in doing so and
also acquired Joe Johnson in a trade with Atlanta Hawks. The Nets also re-signed Gerald Wallace, Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries, while bleeding money to assemble a strong reserve lineup having the likes of C.J. Watson, Jarry Stackhouse, Andray Blatche and
Reggie Evans.
The output came in the form of an 11-4 start, which resulted in Eastern Conference coach of the month award for October and November for head coach Avery Johnson.
Things have however taken a turn for the worst since then. Before a three point win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, the Nets had lost 8 of their last 10, and seemed like a bunch of players operating without a proper role
definition.
Off course a part of it had to do with the absence of oft-injured Brook Lopez in 5 of those 8 games and Deron Williams’ slump, but their problems are much more than just that. There seems to be a definite lack of chemistry and
creativity. Williams recently attributed his struggles and that of his team to the offensive plan of Johnson, and he was actually right to some extent. While a coach needs to stick with his system, to be successful, he also needs to play according to the strengths
of his star players, to ensure that they are in their comfort zones. That is not happening in Brooklyn at the moment.
Johnson is trying his best though and in a recent public appearance, he shrugged off concerns that his job is on the line due to the recent skid of the team;
“Listen to this: at some point, after I signed on as a coach, when I signed on the dotted line, a couple of things are going to happen at some point: 1. I’m going to get fired, 2. I’m going to resign. 3. I’m going to get re-assigned,”
Johnson said;
“So right now, what I’m really concerned about is us playing good basketball. So until ownership tells me otherwise I’m going to continue to do my job.”
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