The Brooklyn Nets have fired coach Avery Johnson, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports.
It's a big surprise.
The team is 14-14 right now, clinging to the final playoff spot in the East.
But they are 3-10 in December, including a Christmas Day drubbing at home to Boston on national TV.
Johnson has been on the hot seat ever since $100-million point guard Deron Williamsopenly questioned his offensive philosophy last week.
There are obvious reasons why the Nets are struggling a bit. They spent $330 million to bring in an entirely new group of players this summer, and they need time to play together. It also didn't help that starting center Brook Lopez went out with a foot injury in mid-December.
Was two months enough time to figure it out?
According to Nets GMBilly King and owner Mikhail Prokhorov, it was, and Johnson didn't get the job done. Ken Berger of CBS Sports reports that some inside the organization didn't see it coming:
While not unforeseen given the Nets' struggles, firing Johnson caught some in the organization off guard. Clearly a Prokhorov decision.
— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) December 27, 2012
It was believed that Johnson would be given more time to turn things around after nine losses in 12 games against mostly winning teams.
— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) December 27, 2012
Player Andray Blatche didn't see it coming either:
@brooklynnets @bkdefend wow this is cray
— andray blatche (@drayblatche) December 27, 2012
Ironically, Johnson was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for November.
Wojnarowski reports that assistant coach PJ Carlisemo will take over as interim coach.
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