Lawrence Frank Has Lost Whatever “Magic” He Had
by Sebastian Pruiti
Nov 3, 2009 Analysis, Coaching, Front Office, Lawrence Frank, Nets vs. Bobcats, Nets vs. Magic, Nets vs. Timberwolves, Nets vs. Wizards, Opinion, Xs and Os
Going into this season, Lawrence Frank’s record record as a coach was 225-225. Exactly .500. After last night’s loss, Lawrence Frank is now 4 games under .500 for his coaching career. This season’s start has taken him from a winning coach to a losing coach, and whatever “grace period” his magical start to his coaching career bought him is now fading away. A lot of Lawrence Frank supporters (are there even any of those anymore) point to that 14-0 start as an example for what type of coach he is. Frank’s trip below .500 proves that this might not be the case. This being said, I am not delusional. I wasn’t expecting the Nets to be 4-0 right now, but with what is going on right now (we scored 7 points in a quarter against the Bobcats) you need to look at the coach for an explanation. When you do that, you find that Lawrence Frank is responsible for a whole lot of head-scratching moves in this short season:
Rotations
I don’t know if it is just me, but these rotations just seem off. I know the Nets are young, and they have been hit with a bunch of injuries, but even still. When you have a young team (and the Nets are indeed young, they have the youngest starting lineup in the NBA), it is the coaches job to put his team in positions that make being successful easier. It is like Lawrence Frank is trying to do the exact opposite.
Some examples after the jump:
Minnesota’s Buzzer Beater – With the game tied, the Nets would need to secure an defensive rebound to ensure that an overtime period will be played. He has to have known that, because it is very common for teams trying to force overtime to shoot with 2 or 3 seconds left so that there is time for a putback in case of a miss. So what does he do? He takes out Yi (our PF and second best rebounder – as sad as it sounds) and inserts a rookie wing playing in his very first game. As one would expect, the ball bounces right over Terrence Williams head and the rebound bounces to Damien Wilkins who hits a buzzer beater. Would the same thing have happened if Yi was in there? Maybe. If it did, Frank would have put his team in the position to win and you chalk it up as unlucky. The fact that he made a move and it backfired, that is just poor coaching.
DeShawn’s Coast To Coast Drive – Going into the half, the Nets were down 9 points, and with 9 seconds left, Eduardo Najera was at the foul line. For some unknown reason, Lawrence Frank takes out Courtney Lee and substitutes him with Terrence Williams. What happens? DeShawn Stevenson, who was being covered by Courtney and was now being covered by Williams goes coast to coast for a buzzer beating layup. The lead reaches double digits; momentum gone, game over. Is Terrence to blame for giving up a coast to coast layup? Yes. Like I said earlier though, a coach needs to put his players in a position to win. There is no benefit to take Courtney Lee out and put in Terrence Williams. There is 9 seconds left. Again another move made by Lawrence Frank that backfired. The thing about this (and the one mentioned earlier) move is that you don’t think “It could be Lawrence Frank’s fault.” There is no room for interpretation here. These are two moves that are made and then the next play, it explodes in his face.
The Bobby Simmons Experiment – Four games in and this is a failure. I mean I could have told you that this was going to be a failure after watching this in the preseason, but Lawrence Frank really thinks he got something here. It is one thing putting Bobby Simmons in because he is a vet and that he has a large contract. While I don’t really agree with it, I can understand it. But to go out of your way to find a position that Bobby Simmons is less effective at (and when it comes to Bobby Simmons there isn’t a whole lot of effectiveness to begin with) and then stubbornly play him there, that is just absurd. Bobby Simmons has played the 4 almost exclusively and lets look at his numbers. So far this season he has a PER of 1.3. His true shooting % is 34%. His eFG is 20%. With all of this being said, for some reason he has a Usage Percentage (Usage percentage is an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor.) of 22%, the highest of his career (for perspective Brook’s UP was 20% last year). He played 24 minutes against the Bobcats last night while Eduardo Najera and Josh Boone were healthy DNPs (In the postgame interview, Lawrence Frank said “I like what Bobby brought us this game” - really? Popcorn Machine shows Bobby Simmons was on the court for most of that 24-0 run). Granted those aren’t attractive options, but you have to believe that they will put up better numbers than Bobby Simmons has at the 4. Shoot, I think I can, and I am 5′10″ 200 lbs.
Playcalling
What sets are we running? If you read this blog regularly, you know I am not a huge fan of Lawrence Frank when it comes to playcalling. He has never had a system, choosing to to change the offense from year to year or whenever he pleases. Last year it was the dribble-drive that included a lot of ISO sets for Vince. This year? Vince is gone, but the ISO sets remain. The one possession that remains in my mind is from the Washington game when Rafer was bringing it up and CDR was on the baseline with screens waiting to be set for him. There was a double on one side and a single on the other. This was a go-to play for Vince Carter last year, and it worked, because VC was great catching and shooting off screens. The play didn’t work with CDR running off the screen. CDR isn’t a catch and shoot player. He is much better off the dribble. Again. Putting players in a position to succeed. Lawrence Frank isn’t doing it.
What Is Going On During Timeouts? The players and Lawrence Frank must just stare at each other during timeouts, because they are never successful coming out of timeouts. I mean I see him go out with the clipboard and a marker. Do they play Sudoku? Hangman? Lawrence Frank clearly doesn’t use it for basketball-related purposes. Timeouts are the chess-games of coaching in my opinion. If you are a good coach, you can call a time-out, draw up a quick hitter and get a basket. That’s why coaches take time-outs when the other team is on a run. As a coach, you calm you team down, and draw up a play you know is going to work. They score, get the momentum going back in their direction, and just like that run over. During the Bobcats game, the Nets called 7 timeouts (4 of which came during that 24-0 run), they scored a grand total of 0 points coming out of those timeouts. Here they are in ESPN’s play by play.
- New Jersey full timeout
5:09 Yi Jianlian lane violation 10-4 - New Jersey full timeout
2:47 35-24 Boris Diaw makes free throw 1 of 2
2:47 35-25 Boris Diaw makes free throw 2 of 2
2:32 Brook Lopez 3 second 35-25 - New Jersey 20 Sec. timeout
0:28 Courtney Lee bad pass (Tyson Chandler steals) 39-29 - New Jersey 20 Sec. timeout
6:13 Bobby Simmons enters the game for Yi Jianlian 48-41
6:01 48-41 Raja Bell offensive foul (Chris Douglas-Roberts draws the foul)
6:01 48-41 Raja Bell turnover
5:46 Brook Lopez bad pass (Boris Diaw steals) 48-41 - New Jersey full timeout
1:40 48-49 Tyson Chandler enters the game for Gerald Wallace
1:40 48-49 Stephen Graham enters the game for Boris Diaw
1:40 Courtney Lee enters the game for Bobby Simmons 48-49
1:40 48-49 D.J. Augustin misses free throw 1 of 2
1:40 48-49 Charlotte offensive rebound
1:40 48-49 Raymond Felton enters the game for Vladimir Radmanovic
1:40 48-50 D.J. Augustin makes free throw 2 of 2
1:29 Sean Williams offensive foul (Tyson Chandler draws the foul) 48-50 - New Jersey full timeout
10:57 Bobby Simmons enters the game for Terrence Williams 48-57
10:38 Rafer Alston misses 26-foot three point jumper 48-57 - New Jersey full timeout
9:07 48-63 Raja Bell enters the game for Raymond Felton
8:55 Brook Lopez bad pass (D.J. Augustin steals) 48-63.
Yup, on the possession immediately following a Nets timeout, the Nets had 6 turnovers and a 26-foot three pointer. If that doesn’t personify lack on in game execution and playcalling, I don’t know what does.
Lack Of A Go To Play – When a team is having a run going against them they do one of two things, call a timeout (we already acknowledged that this doesn’t work for the Nets) or run a go-to play. In every game the Nets have played so far this year, teams just go on these crazy runs against the Nets, changing the tide against the Nets completely. It happened in Minnesota, as they went on a 12-0 run to take the lead. Orlando went on three separate runs in the third quarter (7 points/6 points/6 points). Washington went on an 11-3 run in the second quarter effectively putting the game away. Of course, last night featured a 24-0 run by the Bobcats. During any of those runs Lawrence Frank should have been able to call a play, a play that would get us a basket, or a good shot even. Could this be blamed on lack of execution? Sure. But when you have a team full of guys in the NBA, you should be able to come up with a play or two that puts them in a position to get a good look. I mean you have been coaching Brook Lopez for two years now, you can’t come up with anything to get the ball to him in the post and just let him work?
—
So what was the point of this? I don’t know really. Maybe it was just to vent, maybe it was just to tell you guys don’t expect things to change, I am not sure. Lawrence Frank is what he is, and even during his great start he has been doing stuff like this. The thing is, now he isn’t winning. As silly as it sounds, now that Lawrence Frank is under 500, he or his supporters can’t point at that 14-0 start anymore. That is officially gone now.
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:43 AM
time for a change!
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Some of your reasoning for rotations I can agree with.
But the fact of the matter is, that our players suck. They suck. This team is horrible and as fans, we need to realize that so we don’t have such high expectations after every game.
Frank can come up with the best plays possible, and I suspect he does, but when your players can’t even dribble the ball without bouncing it off their foot, then of course it’s going to look like a broken play. There’s play designing, and then there’s execution. It’s up to the players to execute, and they absolutely did not execute yesterday.
As your colleague said in a previous game recap post, all fundamentals were lost. It was horrendous play from the players. So bad that they often weren’t even able to get into their sets, fouling or turning the ball over before anything could happen.
Let’s not forget that there are no jump shooters on the team. I’d like to bet that most of the jump shots that have been made this season have been by Yi and Brook. Lee did not come as advertised, but I suspect that will eventually change (I hope). When your team keeps clanging everything, the offense is going to look bad.
Regarding Simmons: Yes, I think everyone can agree that he sucks and should never play again. There are probably few reasons why he still plays. First he was our best 3pt shooter last year, perhaps Frank is hoping he’ll find his stroke. Second, and probably the main reason for yesterdays major minutes, is that he was shorthanded. Boone had the flu, Sean was fouling people left and right, Yi was injured. I’m not sure about Najera but the plan may be to play him every other game to speed up his recovery.
And I think you are very wrong on his abilities to draw plays after timeouts. I thought it was well known that he was one of the best at doing this. The most obvious example is the winning alley oop against Toronto last season, but he’s had numerous great plays after timeouts. This is actually one of Frank’s great skills so we must be seeing different things here. Of course, as I stated earlier, if your players suck, no play is going to work.
I think Frank is one of the upper tier coaches in the league. He busts his butt off, is a smart guy. Give him an actual, good team and pair him with organization that actually cares about winning and you’ll see he’s one of the better coaches in the league.
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:10 PM
kdub, I agree the Nets aren’t deep with talent, they have a lot of guys who have potential, but not a lot of guys who have talent. I don’t have high expectations for this team, but you can’t seriously tell me the Bobcats have so much more talent than the Nets that they can hold them to 7 points in a quarter.
In regard for the playcalling out of timeouts, it is my belief that Brian Hill was the guy making those calls and I remember vaguely reading somewhere that the alley-oop call you are referencing was drawn up by Hill. You notice now that he is gone we have been awful out of timeouts…
And as for Bobby Simmons at the 4, last night in his post game press conference, Lawrence Frank said both Boone and Najera were healthy and that he didn’t play them because he liked what Bobby was doing out there. You have to be kidding me.
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:20 PM
As a Raps fan, what stikes me reading this post is how perfectly it reflects what we use to say while complaining about Sam Mitchell.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:13 PM
More praise for Brian Hill: The game against the hawks when VC hit the game winner, the Nets had scored a measly 29 points in the first half. Towards the end of that half Frank was ejected. Brian Hill took over as the head coach with little time left in the half. He led the Nets back to win in dramatic fashion. You can argue that Frank’s ejection sparked the Nets, but there is no way that caused them to come back after only managing 29 points.
L-Frank, should have never been our head coach.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:37 PM
B hill should have stayed and by december he would have been our interum head coach. is CDR okay after that play in the fourth. another example of how bad a coach Frank is why in the world is CDR plaing while seconds ago he was limping. they were already down by double figures and there was less then a min left in the game they scored 7 points in the 3rd did he really think they were going to make a come back with CDR at that point.
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:39 PM
First off we have decent players….two potential all stars in Brook Lopez and Yi Jialian (due to China’s voting powers) and an all star in Devin Harris…This along with CDR and Terrence Williams is a solid team to win twenty something games minimum! The team isn’t playing to its potential because of a bad coach! Hence why by the end of the month, if the Nets don’t have atleast five wins, someone’s gotta go and I’m pretty sure no player is being traded.
November 4th, 2009 at 2:43 AM
Not fair to put it all on Frank. Nobody wins with this team, even without all the injuries on top of everything, NOBODY, not even Red Auerbach!
November 4th, 2009 at 2:53 AM
You really think Charlotte had more talent then the Nets? So much so that it excuses the coach when you only score 7 points in a quarter against them?
November 4th, 2009 at 3:00 AM
As a matter of fact, I do. Their players are much more seasoned, been in the league a lot longer, have more experience to draw from, etc. That said, they are no great shakes either. The current Nets team has less talent than an expansion team.
November 4th, 2009 at 3:05 AM
By the way, it’s pretty obvious Frank will be gone after this season. He’ll probably land somewhere else on his feet and be pretty succesful once again I would bet, given he’s still a young coach and the NBA always seems to give guys another shot. This Nets team is so bad, why waste the time blaming Frank after every game. It gets annoying and whhat point does it serve? Instead try to see if any guys on the current roster (Lopez, maybe CDR, Lee, and Harris is he’s ever healthy again) can develop into legit, if not star, players.
November 4th, 2009 at 7:20 AM
The Opester is looking like one of the most clueless, stubborn coaches in all of basketball. I usually don’t like to be that harsh, but I’m fed up w/ Opie.
This Simmons experiment is a disgrace. I can’t believe he keeps playing that bum at the 4. Anyone at PF would be a better option. ANYONE.
I think Najera is done, and I’ll be mad if Frank starts him instead of Josh or Swat, but I’d much rather have Eddie out there, even if he’s playing in a wheel chair, instead playing that bum B. Simmons at the 4.
I don’t care if Sean is foul prone or if Josh can’t hit the jumper, they aren’t worse PFs than Simmons, who can’t defend nor box out PF, period. He isn’t even hitting his shots… he’s shooting 10% from the field so far… give me a break.
The ONLY reason why Frank keeps playing this BUM is because Bobby wouldn’t be happy if he didn’t get any PT, and Frank wants his vets to be happy. He can’t give him any minutes at the SF, because we’re loaded w/ talented, young wings, so he plays him at the 4.
Last year there was a strech, when Frank started Hassell at the 3, he played Simmons as backup 4, and Ryan Anderson didn’t get any PT at all…
That’s the easy thing to do for him.
As for those Frank suporters who keep saying he hasn’t been given a talented enough team… enough w/ the excuses already. I know this team lacks the proven talent to win more than 22-24 games, and injuries are hurting us, but losses are not the problem.
I don’t care that much about losses. But I DO care about building and developing a TEAM IDENTITY. While I’ve seen some improvement from some players, I’ve given up on believing Frank will ever be able to develop a team identity.
This is something Frank hasn’t been able to do in SEVEN years, it’s not only this season. I know he has never been given championship material, so not winning the whole thing isn’t the problem to me. He couldn’t give us a team identity even when he had a couple of HoFers on the team. What would you say our style of play has been during Frank’s tenure? Were we a running team? A defensive team? WHAT has been our style of play, our IDENTITY during all those years with Frank? Even Kidd questioned it, and with good reason.
One day, we let the opponent score 120+ points on our crappy defense. Next day we score just 68 points…
Frank is a guy who preaches defense, that’s the only thing they’ve talked about during TC, yet our defense still stinks… How can a guy who preaches defense play B. Simmons at the 4??? LOL…
November 4th, 2009 at 9:10 AM
I understand the Frank criticism but if he does not have the players to execute then the outcome will probably not be a good one. This team simply lacks talent. Everyone except for the Lopez and Harris would not be starting for an NBA team. Most of these guys can have their moments but they are simply not consistent enough to play for 25-30 minutes a game.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:18 AM
He will be criticized after losses regardless of the combinations he uses, as any combination will lead to a loss with this roster. It’s not like he’s playing stiffs over legit stars. They’re all pretty much stiffs.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:02 AM
[...] I know I shouldn’t be happy. In fact, I should be spitting angry. I was at one point, but after the Nets dropped two tight games to fall to 0-7 (the worst start in franchise – [...]
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:11 AM
[...] up on this now, and hell, Lawrence Frank is even joking about it. You might have remembered my little rant against Lawrence Frank after the Nets’ loss to the Bobcats, I did everything but call for [...]