Avery Johnson firing not a big surprise, says C.J. Watson

The fallout from Avery Johnson's firing continues, a month after the Nets let him go in favor of an uncertain future.

In an interview with Adam Figman of SLAM, C.J. Watson says he knew it was coming and suggests every veteran on the team probably should have some inkling.

"As a coach or a player, you can always tell when things are starting to go sour and sideways. So I knew something was going to change, and he was the change," said Watson, noting, "Once we started losing I knew things weren’t right. Then certain things happened, and it was clear that something was going to change, and that was the change that they made.

Watson had been one of the players who publicly lamented Johnson's firing. He tweeted, "The ones you love most be the ones that hurt you the most #allbad smh Cold world smh."

But the Nets back-up point guard tells SLAM that he and Johnson didn't have much of a relationship. " I mean, we didn’t talk a lot, but it was just communicating when I was out there on the court—the plays he wanted to run and stuff like that."

• Q+A: CJ Watson - Adam Figman - SLAM