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Deron Williams’ reaction to Avery Johnson being fired
Deron Williams was in the practice facility when he heard that his coach was about to get canned, and one of his immediate thoughts flashed back to Utah: “Here we go again.”
Just like in Utah two years ago, where coach Jerry Sloan retired following a reported rift with his point guard, Williams was blamed for the departure of Avery Johnson, who was abruptly fired Thursday morning by Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
“I was surprised,” Williams said in a telephone interview with Daily News. “I never had any conversation with (GM) Billy King about not liking coach, nothing about coach Johnson. Avery was a big reason I came back, because him and Billy. So I was surprised.
“We’ve never had an argument, we’ve never had a fight, any disagreements, anything. So, I think it was more kind of what happened in Utah, people still saying I got coach Sloan fired even though he resigned and that’s going to stick with me for a while.”
— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News
