Fire Avery? Not Yet

For the past three years I've been listening to Nets fans demand that Avery Johnson lose his job. For what reason, I don't know. Look at the rosters he had to work with. He came here in 2010 to coach a team consisting of Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, Travis Outlaw and Johan Petro. The Nets' front office failed miserably that offseason at signing any of the headline free agents that they met with, including LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Outlaw was their big signing of the summer. The fact that he was amnestied the following summer tells us how terrible he was. The fact that the team managed to win 24 games is amazing considering the 2009-10 team that won 12 games had more talent than this team. When Billy King failed at acquiring Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets, he quietly went out and got Avery the superstar he needed in Deron Williams. Once D-Will got here, you could see the improvement instantly.

His second season in New Jersey was no way to show that he was worthy of his job. The lockout shortened the season by 16 games, so that left Avery with a short training camp and only two preseason games to get the team ready for the regular season. People were expecting a much better year, and with good reason. The team was better than the previous season on paper. But then the inevitable happened. Brook Lopez went down with a broken foot and managed to play only five games in the season. That left Avery in a bind. The rest of the season, the middle was manned by the likes of Shelden Williams and Johan Petro. But Brook going down was only the beginning. Next to get hurt was the starting small forward, Damion James. He would miss the rest of the season. The injury bug traveled around the locker room the entire season, as up until he got poked in the eye, Shelden Williams was the only Nets player to not miss any games. At one point in the season, Avery was left with just an eight man rotation. The team struggled all season and there was no depth after everyone got hurt. Billy King went out and got Avery a lock down defender to fill out the small forward position in Gerald Wallace. But with the Nets' luck, Deron Williams got hurt and missed the final 5 games of the regular season. The team's core of Williams, Wallace and Lopez never played on the court at the same time. How could Avery win with a team this dysfuctional?

Now coming into the first season in Brooklyn, Avery was given a very talented team after King re-signed Deron Williams, acquired Joe Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks, and put together a solid bench consisting of C.J. Watson, Andray Blatche, MarShon Brooks, Reggie Evans and other key pieces. This means Avery will actually have a chance to prove his worth for the first time as head coach of this team. The lack of defensive ability on the roster means that Avery will have to teach them how to play team defense, as his system is one that is strictly focused on defense. His goal is to have this team top ten in defense throughout the league.

To say that Avery Johnson needs to be fired is absurd. He hasn't been given a chance to show anybody what he could do. He hasn't been provided the necessities to be a good team up until now. This season will be the year that Avery proves all his haters wrong and takes this team to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Expectations are high in Brooklyn, but Avery has already gone beyond anyone's expectations as a coach. He was the fasted coach to win 100 career games and also coached the 2006 Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals, where they lost in six games. Avery is no stranger to pressure. Any pressure being put on him by the fans is completely unprecedented and unnecessary.

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