It’s Official: Lawrence Frank Is Out
by Sebastian Pruiti
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.
November 29th, 2009 at 4:42 PM
I think the NBA fires coaches too fast! A coach has a bad start(B.Scott, F. Lawrence, M. Fratello) then the team is ready to make coaching changes. You start to think, when do we start firing GM for their bad decision making moves. If Phil Jackson coached NJ, they would still be 0-16, when have you 8 or 9 players to rotate and the other team has 12 or more option, how do you expect him to win.. No real leaders, all role players. The only 3 real players that are worth keeping are Douglas-Roberts ,Harris, and Lopez. I blame the GM for trading Vince(22pg) and Ryan Anderson(17pg) and we only get Alston(11pg) and Lee (8pg). Wow!!
November 29th, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Yeah, it’s a shame that Frank never got to coach Carter and Anderson. Then we would have had a winning team, for sure!
The sentimental weirdness of the Frankophiles never ceases to amaze. What’s next, “we can’t trade away Josh Boone, it’s not his fault, either!”?
Oh, and if Phil Jackson was coaching the Nets, they’d probably be about 4-12; roughly the same impact as replacing Rafer Alston with Chris Paul.
November 29th, 2009 at 6:24 PM
Well, apparently it won’t be Kiki the Coach. Presumably he’ll keep a tight rein on Loyer (or whoever) to keep from the perpetuation of Frankism. At least I hope so.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Never a big Frank fan but not a fan of the move either. Frank’s has is pro and cons one being he hates playing rookies which I must say I hated last year. But yeah his main pro I can think of is he motivates a team to play hard which sort of slumped last season. The right move was to let him go last season before a best assistant’s left ie: Brian Hill, or while we had a chance to look for a replacement. I think if Prok wasn’t poised to take over our cheap friend Ratner wouldn’t let this happen. Hmm Franks wasn’t the worst coach with the nets honestly I think he’s pretty good I just question is stuborness and in game decisions at times. So I wish him well. In a way its kind of sad he was likeable enough and is somone I’ve associated with the nets a long time hmmm Good luck Frank!
November 29th, 2009 at 7:19 PM
Oh yeah and it was kind of fair with the injuries to expect any wins I mean the nets don’t have great palyers at fully stregth but we were there once or twice with philly and frank didn’t even get a play that involved gettign a shot off going.