The Miami Heat are the clear favorite to come out of the East and many think it is a no brainer that they will repeat as world champions. Being a bitter LA Lakers fan, I of course rejoice in the Miami Heat losing. Read More
The recent resurgence of the Lakers (if you will call the last 2 games a resurgence) has people scratching their heads as to why Kobe Bryant was not more of a distributor earlier in the season. He obviously has the tools around him to do so, even with Steve Nash at the helm. I never thought I’d say this but Kobe needs to play more like Lebron James this year. Read More
The New Orleans Hornets had a difficult decision to make this past off-season. The franchise had to decipher whether shooting guard Eric Gordon was worthy of a maximum contract extension. The Phoenix Suns certainly thought so, as they offered Gordon a four-year, fifty-eight million dollar contract. But, the Hornets knew shooting guard Eric Gordon wanted to go to Phoenix and knew the former Clipper had no interest in continuing his career as a New Orleans Hornet. So, why waste the money? Read More
Following the deal shipping off former 76ers go-to man Andre Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets in the four-team blockbuster deal revolving the popularly named first and second best centers in the league in Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum, much pressure was immediately put on third-year wingman Evan Turner‘s back to help facilitate the team. Undoubtedly he had the talent, however could he take a larger role after just starting 14 games in his first NBA season and 20 in his second? Now nearly mid-way through this 2012-2013 campaign, the answer is obvious, and evident in his play and the stat sheet. Yes, Turner can. Read More
The Washington Wizards plan of building through the NBA Draft hasn’t exactly come to full fruition. Despite having five first round selections over the past three NBA drafts, three of which were within the top six picks, the Wizards only have a 4-24 record to their name this season. By no surprise Washington’s pitiful record is by far the worst in the NBA this season. Read More
The Nets didn’t push their way into Brooklyn to play second fiddle to the New York Knicks. But, two months into the Brooklyn era that’s exactly what the Nets have been… New York’s second rate basketball team. For Brooklyn owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, being second rate isn’t going to cut it. So a change was made. Read More
It was a two minute phone call which I received laying down on the beach under the gleaming rays of the Sun in Miami, Florida. Avery Johnson, head coach for the Brooklyn, formerly New Jersey Nets for the past three seasons has been fired. The order came down from the Nets’ general manager Billy King, who announced today that the former NBA‘s Coach of the Year will be let go by Brooklyn, and will be temporarily replaced by P.J. Carlesimo.
The Nets currently hold a .500 record at 14-14, due to injury problems keeping starting center Brook Lopez out of action for seven games, starting forward and one-time All-Star Gerald Wallace in a suit for seven games, and franchise centerpiece Deron Williams missing one game, while playing through bone spurs and a wrist injury on a nightly basis. Avery Johnson took the honors of Coach of the Month for the Eastern Conference in November, after an impressive 11-4 start by his Brooklyn squad. Now less than a month later, he is without his head coaching position.
The Nets opened up December with a five game losing streak, and are 3-10 thus far into the month as New Year’s Eve approaches. The three wins came against very shallow foes, the Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons, and Philadelphia 76ers. As tough of a slump as the Nets have hit, the losing can’t possibly justify the firing of a coach of Avery Johnson’s caliber. It’s a brand new team, with brand new kinks that need to be worked out. So what other motives would there be?
Well, Nets point guard Deron Williams recently had some crticism of his coach he shared, mainly regarding his system and how it won’t allow him to excel. As it turns out, Williams is having the worst effective field goal percentage (field-goal percentage adjusted to three-pointers being worth more than a two-pointer) for a season in his entire career. This isn’t the first time a great coach in his own right left Deron’s team, the previous situation being Williams’s last season in Utah, playing for the Jazz. Head coach Jerry Sloan of the Jazz stepped down from his position 54 games into the 2010-2011 NBA season, after coaching the Jazz from the 1988-1989 season up until that point. Williams was traded shortly after, and rumors swirl around the possibility that there was some sort fo feud between the two.
There are a good amoutn of possible replacements that can take the reins in Brooklyn and steer them back into the winning column. A bit of a stretch would be Phil Jackson, who was offered a head coaching job by the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers in just the past handful of months. The Nets management has often said on occasions that the personel won’t mesh with Jackson’s triangle offense, however I think otherwise. A terrific shooter for a big man in Brook Lopez in the center spot, with Gerald Wallace playing small ball at the four and Joe Johnson moving up to the small forward position would be ideal in the triangle. All players are solid passers, shooters, and post-up offensive threats respectively, which translate into success in the triangle.
Another possibility is Stan Van Gundy, who could be looking into getting back into coaching after his removal from the Orlando Magic because of the Dwight Howard debacle.
If you’d like to dig through my mountain of tweets, you’ll find I predicted that Johnson would be let go by this time next year, but along with anyone that’s following the NBA right now, I’m left bewildered at the timing of this move.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, led by their two dynamic superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, have been dominating the league up to this point. At a 21-5 record, the Thunder are atop the standings for the entire league, and after a brief period of doubts following their defeat in the NBA Finals last year, it seems they once again find themselves in the ‘which team will win it all’ conversation. The initial launch into contention came following a trade made in the 2010-2011 NBA season, where the Thunder nabbed Kendrick Perkins from the Boston Celtics along with Nate Robinson for Nenad Krstic, Jeff Green, and a first round pick which turned into Fab Melo. However, the defensive-minded center Perkins has hasn’t made the biggest of impacts for Oklahoma City this year, in fact, statistically he’s a liability whenever he’s on the court. Read More
Check out Kyrie Irving cross over Monta Ellis and serve the fancy dish to Tyler Zeller. Visit nba.com/video for more highlights,
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist posterizes Kosta Koufos. Visit http://www.nba.com/video for more highlights.