Let me dust off the cobwebs…
Sorry you guys, Natalie and I have been busy doing life related things, and have not had a chance to update the site as frequently as we would like in the last few weeks. We both know that while there is not a lot of positive things going on, a coaching search still happened during this lockout downtime. While most of us weren’t thrilled with the options available for Head Coaching candidates, in my opinion we got the best of the available bunch.
So… Lawrence Frank, what do we know about him?
- Born in New York and raised in New Jersey.
- Did not make any organized basketball teams during his time in High School.
- Volunteered to be a manager for the Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Basketball for 4 seasons under legendary coach, Bob Knight.
- Has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education.
- Served as an Assistant Coach under current USC Men’s Basketball Team Coach Kevin O’Neill’s staff at the University of Tennessee after working as a staff assistant with O’Neill at Marquette University for 2 years.
- Current Pistons’ Assistant Coach Brian Hill (my original recommendation for the coaching job) had Frank as an Assistant Coach on his staff with the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies team.
- Frank was named Interim Head Coach of the New Jersey Nets during the 2003-2004 NBA season after Byron Scott was fired.
- Frank became the permanent Head Coach after the season, in which he started 13-0 which set a record for most consecutive coaching victories to start a career.
- Frank was fired from his position as Head Coach of the Nets during the 2009-2010 season, just after Thanksgiving. The Nets began the season 0-16.
- Frank spent some time as an on-air analyst for NBATV during the 2009-2010 season.
- Boston Celtics Head Coach Doc Rivers hired Frank to takeover the Assistant Head Coaching spot left vacant by Tom Thibodeau when Thibs left to become the new Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls.
- Frank, alongside Rivers, helped the Celtics advance to the 2011 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals where they lost to Joel Anthony and the rest of the eventual Eastern Conference Champion, Miami Heat.
- Frank has a career record of 225-241 which is a .483 winning percentage.
- Frank’s style has always been balanced defense and offense. Motion based offense, primarily because of the backcourt he had in New Jersey. The offense will work in a halfcourt set, like we’re all used to seeing as Pistons’ fans.
- The defense will likely revert back to a little of what we saw with Larry Brown, as far as sets are concerned. Frank ran a trapping half court set that would jump back and forth from zone to man according to matchups.
- Frank has coached some good players in his time as a Coach in this league: KG, Paul Pierce, Jason Kidd, Ray Allen and Vince Carter just to name a few.
- Frank is highly respected around the league, as evidence to his hiring to be Doc Rivers’ primary Assistant in Boston, replacing Thibodeau.
I’ve been hoping that Detroit would select Frank because, as you heard me say in the last podcast, it’s time for the Pistons to break out of their “roots”. It’s nice and sentimental to hire old, familiar faces from the by-gone era of the franchise. Allowing another 1st year Head Coach (Laimbeer) to come in and flounder in his first year or two not only puts Joe Dumars’ job at risk, but it doesn’t give new owner Tom Gores’ and his Platinum team a potential high reward. Frank is a low risk, high reward hiring. He has shown he has the ability to “coach up” his teams, as evidenced by the 13-0 start to his career after the Byron Scott firing. He will also be a good Head Coach to have in place while building a team, and re-establishing the “Piston Way” of doing things since he is a defensive minded coach, who typically runs a half court “motion” offense which has been the Pistons “bread and butter” for years.
He has coached teams that have had a lot of talent, and then some that have had little talent. Consider Frank to be a more experienced Rick Carlisle (pre Dallas Mavs, Carlisle), and take back what Joe said after he hired John Kuester, (and I’m paraphrasing) “This team is in the pre-Rick Carlisle stage. They’re poised for another run”.
This team is far from another run, unless the new CBA allows for them to not only dump a bad contract (via Amnesty Clause in the last CBA) but also to trade bad contracts to another team to clear cap space. A single player base of rookie sensation Greg Monroe is a strong start to build around. Monroe has shown that he truly does have the heart of a Piston and is willing to do whatever the team needs him to do to win.
Frank is a safe choice to be the next Head Coach of the Pistons. We’ve all read the negative things about him: “He lost the team in New Jersey” or “his last year started off 0-16” or “He’s not as good as his 13-0 start” or “he should’ve gotten more out of that Nets team that featured Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson”. Frank will give this team the stability it has lacked in the Head Coaching position for the last 6 seasons because of his demeanor, work ethic, relative youth, and experience in dealing with the attitudes that come along with “entitled” athletes.
try not to make the Frank cartoon look too much like a middle schooler
But he looks like one…should I put a beard and mustache on him?
no, but just make sure you try to at least add some wrinkles or something.. lol… but you are right.. he looks like hes 12 or something
Good hire and the best choice of the candidates that I knew of…but where’s the consideration for Rick Adelman???
^ Rick Adelman’s never “won”. I’ve had a few weeks to marinate on the Frank hire and i’ve come to terms with it. He’s going to be head and shoulders above everything we’ve been subject to since Flip Saunders. Even if he’s not the guy that’s gunna return detroit to the glory days of expecting and ECF or bust, i’m hoping he can develop our youth into pure studs. With this being said, i feel like the pistons need to clear their plate of everything not named Knight, Jerebko and Monroe. The reason i’m so confident in KNIGHT is because hes a Calipari point guard which are just notoriously good nba players. I anticipate another bad season, maybe even 2, but with this, im praying for high lottery picks so we can pick up more incredible talent, and as we have the past 2 years, what i consider steals for falling to us.
Just spitballing here, but how would you guys feel about Greg Oden joining the Pistons? I know the guy cant seem to stay on the court without his knees exploding, but i truely believe Arnie Kander has it in him to keep the big man healthy. He’s still young and showed flashes of greatness at Ohio State. Just a thought.
Its definitely a long shot, but you might be right… I could see taking a chance on Oden with Kander on the staff… look what he did for Antonio McDeyss and even Tracy Macgrady. on the other side of it, he would have to prove that he can last at least 2 seasons without being gone for multiple months before I would give him a contract…
Rick Adelman is too old for a team in the position that Detroit is in.
Greg Oden was extended a qualifying offer by the Blazers which is essentially an $8 million dollar contract. There is no one on the Pistons roster that the Blazers would likely take that will even out that trade in terms of equal salary.
damnit danny, coming in and ruining my 2k11 ideology
stop watching basketball and start watching wwe its a lot better
you should be stunnered
what are you? 5?!?!?!?!
wwe rules and its not fake losers only the punches
dude i live in louisville kentucky, and i used to go watch OVW every friday night. Do you ever wonder why they change the camera every time theres contact? so people cant see how fake it is..
on wednesday night at 10pm on the BIO channel watch “exposed! pro wrestling’s greatest secrets” and then tell me wrestling is not fake!!!!
wrestling is not fake
u losers are non belivers of the realness of wwe and other pro wrestling shows
you’re providing about as much evidence as *insert religion here*
goWWE something is telling me that you are a lot like this guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvTNyKIGXiI
thank you for sayin what needed to be said!!!!! hahahaha
With regards to some spe c, oercehe strapless educate beaded ones, one-shoulder embroidery taffeta ones