Game 17 Preview vs. LA Lakers
Nov 29, 2009 2009-2010 Open Thread, Game Previews, Nets vs. Lakers
So the move finally got made. I am a little shocked by the timing, but like I said in my last post, since it was already leaked, no sense in letting Lawrence Frank hang. Again, quoting Wojnarowski’s article:
Sources said Nets management had come to believe that Frank had lost much of the team, a fact that has played out in losses to Denver and Sacramento in the past week. Once the Nets played so poorly against the Kings – believed to be the most winnable game on the trip – management decided it could no longer go on with Frank as coach.
Despite the return of point guard Devin Harris(notes) and shooting guard Courtney Lee(notes), the Nets have played long stretches of uninspired basketball. “Most of the guys have tuned him out,” one source with direct knowledge of the locker room environment said. “This isn’t all Lawrence’s fault, but everyone knows that this can’t go on anymore.”
It makes sense when you think about it, but why the sudden change in effort? The Nets have been giving plenty of effort until the Denver game. Now, I have no inside information, but here a few guesses from me.
- The puzzling roster moves – As a player, when you see a coach putting your team in strange situations, and in positions to fail (like going small in Denver for example), you may not go hard for him.
- The losing – Losing doesn’t effect some people, but you can tell it does bother this team. CDR and others wear their emotion on their sleeves and the combination of losing and hearing the same voice over and over can prove to be too much.
Anyway, I know I have been very critical (maybe too critical) of Lawrence Frank in the past, but I do want to wish him luck, and I think we all know he will get another coaching job soon. As for tonight, let’s see if the Nets completely crumble without Frank, or if they go all out, trying to get a win for their fallen coach. Here are the lineups:
Devin Harris vs. Derrick Fisher:
In the second half of the Sacramento game, you saw the Devin Harris of old. He was getting to the rim and drawing contact. He wasn’t making his layups, but that will come in time. It does look like he has his quickness back though, and against Derrick Fisher that will be a huge advantage.
Advantage: Devin Harris
CDR vs. Kobe
Along with Brook Lopez, CDR has been the only one showing any fight the last couple of games. His work is going to be cut out for him, on both ends. Kobe is a lot better defender than he gets credit for, and he will be hassling CDR all night. Plus with Courtney probably still not at 100% (only 3 minutes last game), he will be defending Kobe most of the night.
Advantage: Kobe
Trenton Hassell vs. Ron Artest
This is actually a somewhat favorable matchup for Trenton since Ron is a guy who likes to use his strength rather than his quickness. Trenton Hassell can and will bang with Artest. It won’t be enough to stop him completely, but it should slow him down a bit.
Advantage: Ron Artest
Josh Boone vs. Pau Gasol
Boone had a very good game against Sacramento, though it probably won’t continue tonight. The reason that Boone was successful is because the Kings’ frontcourt while big, wasn’t very athletic and Josh Boone was able to hang with them. Pau is a big guy who can move around and can hit from outside of the lane. Josh Boone is going to be in trouble tonight:
Advantage: Pau Gasol
Brook Lopez vs. Andrew Bynum
I scored 12 points on Andrew Bynum once. Well, not on him, but my high school played his (St. Joe’s Metuchen) on my senior night, and I hit four threes. We played him again in our conference playoffs, and he responded by blocking one of my runners into the crowd. Brook Lopez is going to give Bynum some payback tonight!
Advantage: Brook Lopez
Prediction
Current Record: 9-7
So the Lakers will win, that isn’t a question, but I think the Nets’ players aren’t going to like reading that they gave up on their coach. They are going to come out hard and will keep it closer than most expect it to be.
It’s Official: Lawrence Frank Is Out
Nov 29, 2009 Breaking News, Lawrence Frank, Nets vs. Lakers
Welp, that was quick huh? Well, according to a number of sources, Lawrence Frank is done and Assistant coach Tom Barrise will coach the team in L.A. on Sunday. Adrian Wojnarowski has the report:
Frank will not coach against the Lakers on Sunday night, when the Nets will have a chance to tie an NBA record with a 17th straight loss to start the season. New Jersey assistant Tom Barrise will coach Sunday instead.
Yahoo! Sports first reported early Sunday that Nets president Rod Thorn had made the decision to fire Frank. Thorn was expected to meet with owner Bruce Ratner on Sunday to inform him that he would replace Frank on Monday, but sped up the process after news of Frank’s imminent dismissal became public.
To be honest, I am a little surprised about the timing, I thought it would not only be after tonight’s game, but after Tuesday’s game against the Mavs as to give coach Frank one final game at home. Here is Wojnarowski one more time:
“Rod didn’t want Lawrence to have that record attached to his name,” one source close to situation said.
Nets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe has been on the team’s Western trip, studying the team’s personnel. Vandeweghe has wanted to dismiss Frank as far back as last season, sources say, but team president Rod Thorn has resisted until now.
As I have already made clear, firing Lawrence Frank right now doesn’t make any sense, but it was going to happen, especially since the effort (something that has been there for the first 12 or so games) was starting to fade. No word on who will replace Frank full time, Tom Barrise has officially been named as his replacement just for tonight’s game.
Yahoo: Nets will Fire Frank This Week
Nov 29, 2009 Kiki Vandeweghe, Lawrence Frank
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo sports is reporting that the Nets organization plans to fire head coach Lawrence Frank this week when the team returns from its west coast trip. The axe could fail on Frank as early as Monday morning according to Wojnarowski’s sources.
This decision will come regardless of how the Nets play against the Los Angeles Lakers tonight. As has been reported by the beat writers, the plan is for team general manager Kiki Vandeweghe to take over for Frank as an interim head coach, though Wojnarowski is reporting there is also support in the organization for assistant John Loyer.
I’m obviously not surprised about this report, but if the team is ready to pull the trigger, what are they waiting for? Or as Sebastian wrote about last week, why did they even bring Frank into this season in the first place? Oh yeah, we have a team owner that has financially run this team into the ground in his quest to move them to compliment his development plans in Brooklyn and was therefore too cheap to pay Frank to sit out for a the season. How could I forget that?
Regardless, after an 0-16 start (with more losses likely to come), this move will do very little to salvage was is already a lost season for this organization. I doubt Kiki will be the long-term solution here, especially if Mikhail Prokhorov takes over as owner in the new year. So let the chaos continue…
The Nets are on the Brink of Infamy Tonight
Nov 29, 2009 Devin Harris, Lawrence Frank, Losing Streak
For Nets fans who have been under a rock for the first 16 games of the season, it’s worth noting that a loss tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers would move the Nets to 0-17, tying the worst starts in NBA history currently held by the 1988-89 Miami Heat (an expansion team) and the 1999-2000 Los Angeles Clippers (might as well have been an expansion team).
In practice yesterday, Nicholas Lozito of the Star-Ledger, and the New York Post’s Fred Kerber, spoke with players about the historic implications of tonight’s game.
Here’s Lozito talking with Lawrence Frank, who win or lose could be coaching his last game with the Nets tonight:
“It’s just a different test,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “It’s a different type of test, and you have to embrace the challenge, and there are certain things we have to do in order to win games and that’s what we focus on.
“There’s no doubt that it wears on you, but I think what you try to focus on is just today. You know don’t let the past determine your future.”
Meanwhile, Kerber talks with Devin Harris, who’s return to the team last weekend, and return to the starting lineup on Friday, has done little to stem the tide of losing:
“Guys were angry,” said Devin Harris, who played far more aggressively after halftime in the Nets’ 109-96 loss — he got to the line 14 times in the second half alone of the 109-96 defeat, their 16th in a row, equaling the franchise-worst streak.
“It was the way we played,” Harris added. “We’re not playing like a team desperate for a win. We talked about we’ve got to will ourselves to win. . . . We’re not going to get certain calls. We’ve got to do it ourselves, and we weren’t playing like that type of team.”
It’s a bit astonishing to me that this team could possibly be playing like they’re not “desperate” for a win. There’s been a certain shift with this team since their heartbreaking one-point loss to Miami on November 14. The undermanned team that was laying it all out there but just coming up short against teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, the Boston Celtics and the Heat, started to get blown away by the Indiana Pacers and the Denver Nuggets, and playing only one half of competent basketball against the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings. Meanwhile, the team now has a rotation of 10 players, though Courtney Lee only played 3 minutes on Friday night against the Kings.
Harris is right, there’s no desperation and urgency with this team right now, outside of maybe Chris Douglas-Roberts (who Devin joked was on “suicide watch”) and Brook Lopez. If this team wants to be known as a bunch of all-time losers, I guess it’s their prerogative.
As a fan, this whole experience has been surreal. Both Sebastian and I thought the Nets were going to struggle this season, and we understood that the November schedule was especially brutal for even a fully healthy team. However, I never contemplated this Nets team being historically bad – just bad enough to not warrant any attention from the general NBA population.
Personally, I don’t see how this team doesn’t break the 0-17 mark and then some. They’ve already lost games against some very beatable teams (the Knicks, the Kings, the Timberwolves, the 76ers, the Bobcats), so who knows who they’re capable of beating – especially if there’s a cloud of inexplicable complacency hovering over this team.
Nets on the Net: 11/29/09 Edition
Nov 29, 2009 Kiki Vandeweghe, Lawrence Frank, Losing Streak, Nets on the Net
Al Iannazzone believes tonight could be the end of the Lawrence Frank era. Daily News speculates the same.
Ken Berger of CBS Sports is reporting that there is “no change” in Frank’s status.
The LA Times writes that the Nets record says they’re bad, but they’re on the verge of being historically bad because of injuries to key players .