Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld looks at coaches for whom 2012-13 could be make-or-break. Top of his list? Avery Johnson.
No one expected Avery Johnson to win games in New Jersey. The roster was not constructed to win games and Avery, for the most part, got a free pass as the team prepared for this past off-season. All of that changes when the Nets open their inaugural season in Brooklyn in two weeks.
Not only do the Nets expect to compete. They expect to win a lot of games and if Avery cannot deliver a winner in Brooklyn he could very easily be out.
The saving grace for Avery is that owner Mikhail Prokhorov likes him a great deal. However with so much of the Nets future riding on them being good from day one, the expectations on Avery have more than doubled and if he does not deliver, someone else could be running things in year two in Brooklyn.