Report: Deron Williams had to be restrained from going after Nets coach last season

It probably shouldn't come as a surprise that point guard Deron Williams has reportedly agreed to be bought out by the Brooklyn Nets. In hindsight, the most surprising thing is that it took this long.

Williams's relationship with Nets head coach Lionel Hollins reportedly grew so strained at one point last season that physical intervention was required to keep the two apart.

The dysfunction rooted in the Nets organization was illuminated by now-Clippers forward Paul Pierce in a tell-all interview with ESPN's Jackie MacMullan this past April. Pierce took specific aim at Williams in his takedown.

"Before I got there, I looked at Deron as an MVP candidate,'' Pierce said. "But I felt once we got there, that's not what he wanted to be. He just didn't want that.

"I think a lot of the pressure got to him sometimes. This was his first time in the national spotlight. The media in Utah is not the same as the media in New York, so that can wear on some people. I think it really affected him.''

The volume on the Williams criticism - which was already loud, thanks to a contract that dwarfed his production with the Nets - only got cranked up from there.

With a litany of injuries and multiple major ankle surgeries on his medical chart, and his skills in precipitous decline, Williams had his worst season in a decade in 2014-15. He posted his lowest scoring average (13 points per game) and PER (15.7) since his rookie season, and the worst shooting percentage (38.7) of his career.

After three abysmal playoff games in the first round against the Atlanta Hawks (and before a remarkable vintage performance in Game 4), Williams was blasted so viciously by fans and media that Hollins came rushing to the defense of the man who'd allegedly tried to attack him just two months earlier.

"I feel bad for Deron and I think it's unfair, but it's life," Hollins said. "When you're in this business and you're in the public eye, there's gonna be a lot of unfairness."

And apparently some fisticuffs, too.