The Nets have signed 45-year old Avery Johnson to be the new head coach. Details have not been released yet. Johnson last coached in 2007-08 with the Dallas Mavericks. Johnson has a career record of 194-70 (73.5) during the regular season. He is also 23-24 (48.9%) in the post season in his NBA career. He led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals during the 2005-06 where they were defeated 4-2 by the Heat. He won the Coach of the Year Award that season.

One of the first things that new Nets’ owner Mikhail Prokhorov did was inform head coach Kiki Vandeweghe that his services were no longer needed. Vandeweghe came down from the front office to replace Lawrence Frank as the head coach in season and he was 12-52 (18.8%). Prokhorov probably wants a high profile coach who will help him lure free agents to New Jersey as they have a lot of cap space available.

The Nets released Shawne Williams before he even played a game for them after coming over earlier this week from the Mavericks in the Eduardo Najera trade. Williams was indicted by the Grand Jury on 8 drug charges. The Nets didn’t want Williams anywhere near the young roster they have right now.

The Nets have released 23-year old F/C Sean Williams to make room on the roster for Shawne Williams and Kris Humphries. Sean Williams played in 20 games (0 starts) for the Nets this season and he is averaging 11.4 minutes, 2.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. He has now played in 126 games (29 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 14.8 minutes, 4.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. The Nets have just grown tired of Williams’ antics both on and off the court.

The Nets have traded 33-year old forward Eduardo Najera to the Maverics for 24-year old power forward Kris Humphries and 23-year old small forward Shawne Williams. Najera played in 13 games (2 starts) for the Nets this season and he averaged 15.7 minutes, 3.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Kris Humphries is the key of this trade from the Nets point of view. He played in 25 games (0 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 12.6 minutes, 5.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. He has now played in 313 games (8 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 11.7 minutes, 4.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Shawne Williams has not played at all this season. He has played in 126 games (6 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 13.4 minutes, 5.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Williams was a first round pick so the Nets are holding out some hope that he hasn’t reached his potential yet. Humphries was the key to the deal though as he will back up Yi Jianlian the rest of the year for the Nets.