Not your Average Victim: The Nets Fire Avery Johnson

News came out yesterday that Brooklyn Nets fired Avery Johnson. Johnson started the season out 11-4 and was named Eastern Conference "Coach of the Month" in November. December wasn't so kind – as the Nets have gone 3-10 so far with some big losses to the Knicks and Celtics.
The Nets made some great moves in the off season, but the results have been mixed on the court. While I laugh maniacally at the Nets sufferings, I am sad to see Johnson go. I've always liked him as a coach and was glad when the then New Jersey Nets signed him.
The Nets expectations this season might be a little overblown considering their recent history. At this point in time last season the Nets were 1-3. In the 2010-11 season the Nets were 9-24. In 09-10 the team was 3-29. 14-14 sounds like progress to me, and it would be if they were still playing in Newark.  But with the move to Brooklyn it was apparent the stakes were much higher. With a bigger market comes bigger pressures. 14-14 might have been good for the New Jersey Nets, but it's not acceptable for the Brooklyn Nets. ESPN, and other media outlets might have been praising Johnson for his work to get the New Jersey Nets to 14-14, but he's getting fired by the Brooklyn Nets because their 14-14.

Diary of an Angry Nets Fan: Brooklyn Busted

Out of all of my relationships with sports teams these days, my love of the New Jersey Nets has been the hardest recently. As their move to Brooklyn gets closer, I've found a duality in my fandom. One side of me rooting for them like I always have while another side is them wishing them ill.
It was announced that the apple of the Nets eye, Dwight Howard decided to stay in Orlando for the another season. While I was sad, the dark side of me was LMAO. The Nets then went into panic mode, and made a horrible trade for a good player in Gerald Wallace (SMH).
Nothing has seemed to go right since the Nets announced the move 8 years ago. They went from going to NBA Finals 2 years in a row, to losing in the Eastern Conference Finals, to losing in the 2nd round of the of the playoffs, to being out of the playoffs altogether after nearly a decade of great Nets teams, to one of the worst teams ever in the history of the NBA.
But all along former Nets majority owner (now minority owner) Bruce Ratner, minority owner Jay-Z, current majority Mikhail Prokhorov, and CEO Brett Yormark said Brooklyn will be better, but I don't see it. They are promoting flash over substance. They'll talk about their global marketing plans, The Barclays Center, Jay-Z, Prokhorov, how attractive Brooklyn is,  any and everything else but the actual team playing. But no matter how much PR or marketing they do, the Nets are just plain ugly in the win and loss column. It will take a little more than cosmetic surgery  and window dress to fix them.  
They know they need star power to even make a dent in the Knicks domain. But they also forgot that people like winners (even potential free agent superstars), and the Nets haven't been winners in 5 years.  The Nets are 15-29 while the Magic are 28-16, why would Howard want to leave?

Dwightmare over. Nightmare to Brooklyn Begins

The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and if the Nets thought that Jersey was Purgatory, Brooklyn will be ninth circle of Hell (Yes I went all Dante's inferno on you; and for those scoring at home, the Ninth Circle is for Treachery/ traitors.)  They went all in on Dwight, and they came up short.... I laugh... More to come later.....