According to team sources, Johnson was annoyed with Williams' visible apathy toward the Nets' offense and delivered a sarcastic "How would you do things differently?" -- only to watch as Williams diagrammed plays, maneuvered players around and basically showed up his coach in front of the entire team.
For Johnson, sources said, that was the beginning of the end -- an end that officially arrived Thursday afternoon when Johnson was dismissed as coach of the Brooklyn Nets, a little more than two seasons after getting the job and just two months into the team's arrival in Brooklyn.