by Cheval John

Avery Johnson became the latest casualty to the star driven National Basketball Association (NBA).

Johnson was fired today from the Brooklyn Nets as a result of a slide that produced a 3-10 record in the last thirteen games.

Previously, he was the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, where they produced four straight seasons with 50 wins or more and made four playoff appearances including one NBA Finals.

He was canned from the Mavericks after the Mavericks was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2008.

Johnson came on board with the Nets in 2010 after they went 12-70 the previous season.

The Nets moved to Brooklyn at the Barclays Center before the season began after spending 35 years in New Jersey and were looking to make a name for themselves under the new ownership of Mikhail Prokorov and Jay-Z.

It seemed as if that was going to happen when the Nets started the season with an 11-4 record.

Johnson was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month in November.

Then they went downhill with a 3-10 record during the last thirteen games.

Point Guard Deron Williams haven’t performed well this season as he averaged 16 points a game and shot 39% from the field and 29% from the three-point line.

Instead of pointing the finger at himself and figure out how to improve, he threw Johnson under the bus last week by blaming his offensive system for his shooting woes.

Many suspected that it was the reason why Johnson was fired.

Honestly, I don’t know.

What I do know is that the NBA is filled with a bunch of prima-donas who don’t the fundamentals of playing basketball (with the execption of the San Antonio Spurs).

They want to be the superstar in a league that thrives on the marketability of the players.

In this system, the head coaches always loses because if the “star” player don’t like the way a particular system is run, in the case of Williams, then they can publicly throw the coach under the bus and can go to the upper-management and complain like little babies because they can’t get what they want.

This is why the NBA is so diluted and is not the same as it in the last two decades because these players who only care about themselves and not the team.

I don’t know if the league will ever recapture their essence because if Johnson, who reached 150 career wins in a short period can get canned because of a “star” player performance, then any coach can get let go in this “star” driven league.

As for Williams, well it seems as if he have gone past his prime and is now on the decline.

The dilemma for the Nets is how long they are going to keep him.

And how long will it take for them to realize that he is not part of the solution, but is a huge part of the problem?

Only time will tell.