Frank Not Happy About Wizards' Coaching Change

What’s up with Najera? I thought this dude was tough as rock, he’s been getting injured like every other game.

Interesting note at the bottom of one of linked stories:

You had to figure this was going to happen. Marcus Williams wants out of Golden state. His agent has asked the Warriors for a trade.

If Frank is so upset he should offer his friend a job on his staff

I guess Jordan stuck with his “Princeton offense” and Frank was able to adjust to the “drive and kick” system suiting Harris game. Unfortunately, Jordan does not have a point guard like Harris. With the way they call games nowaday, a quick good point guard is almost as valuable as a good 7 ft. center.

Don’t worry Frank your next.

hmmm….Devin Harris’ play featuring the new offense put in by Frank is the surprise success of the Nba so far, and Frank is next?…seems the plan put together by Rod, Kiki and team deserves credit but Frank has done his part as well… LF is not next

Eddie going to Ok City….

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if Frank hasn’t been fired by now, he isn’t going anywhere for a while now even if 97 percent of the fan base wants a new coach. He has Rod firmly in his corner and with the team expected to lose or at least “rebuild” this year and next, it is highly unlikely he will removed unless the team completely quit on him, which certainly hasn’t happened yet this season.

They are 6-6.

No one thought at this point that they would have this record.

I am not a Frank guy but to say that he will go soon with this team built the way they are is ridiculous now. He will be the Head coach unless some sort of fall out happens or the play gets really bad (So far, most of the losses have not been too bad for a team like this)

Frank is going to be coaching this team until probably the end of the teams tenure in Jersey (If they do move)

Frank definitely deserves some credit after how well the Nets have been playing recently. That play that won the Raptors game was genius. What he said about Jordan in his interview also seemed dead on. If there is any room for him on the Nets’ coaching staff he’d be a solid addition…if he’s willing to play second fiddle to LFrank.

Whoever gave GA that 111 million dollar contract needs to be fired, EJ was coaching two allstars and role players, not consistent ones at that. Now unless there some internal turmoil going on, this was a stupid move by the Wiz. They will have to readjust to a new coach (even if he is an assistant) and may resist becaue from what I know, EJ was pretty well liked. Players understand business but still they develope relationships with their coaches. Phil Jackson would have gotten the same results!

He isn’t even an assistant coach. He was a member of their front office (One of the best ones in the league I think that article said.)

He has some coaching experience as an assistant but this guy will be there to make sure they stay competitive and thats it.

Yeah so was Vinny del Negro and the Bulls suck! If they had a good coach they would be much better than they are.
Thanks for the info though, I did read the article but thought it said assistant coach. I know the lead assistant coach got fired too.

@kaybee

I agree in regards to giving Gilbert 111 mill after all the knee problems. Ernie should fire himself.

There isn’t a g.m. in the league that would hire little larry frank over eddie jordan as their head coach.

Even rod thorn would love to have jordan instead of frank coaching the nets.

But thorn can’t make it happen because his boss, bruce ratner, is too cheap to make a coaching change.

Jordan is one of the most respected head coaches in the league. He’ll get another head coaching gig any time he wants it.

The wizards have been snakebit by a ton of injuries the last few years. But unfortunately for jordan, he was made the scapegoat.

If frank survives this season, then pay close attention to whether or not he gets a contract extension this coming summer. If he doesn’t, then that’s a dead give-away that the 2009-2010 season will be frank’s last with the nets. He’ll be a dead coach walking … just like byron scott was during the final year of his nets’ contract.

I highly doubt that thorn wants little larry going up against the likes of mike d’antoni in the 2010 free agent recruiting wars … because that’s a bigtime mismatch if there ever was one.

I’d love to see EJ back with the Nets and help out with NJ’s defensive schemes. Byron may want him on his staff, too though, and who can blame him?

BK Bob: While I am not backing Frank in any way, shape or form I must tell you that Jordan WAS NOT LIKED by Thorn and that was one of the main reasons nobody stopped Jordan from going to Washington even though Byron wasn’t far from being unjustly run out of town. Thorn had Frank pegged all along as the guy he wanted as the replacement and 4 1/2 years later he is somehow still here.

Washington’s firing of Eddie Jordon reminds us that this is a player-run league. Grunfeld HAD TO FIRE him, because the players stopped listening, and you can’t fire the players fast enough. Although, DONNIE WALSH across the river HAS fired the players pretty fast this year…MARBURY FIRED, BUT STILL BEING PAID, Curry benched, Randolph/Crawford traded. Pretty big house cleaning! Now all he has to do is finish getting completely rid of Curry, Marbury and James, so Dolan can stop paying them. By the trade deadline, Marbury will be gone…maybe gone to a team, with such good leaders and chemistry that he will have no choice but to shut up and do what he is told…CELTICS? Lakers?

lets hire jordan as assistant

Isaac, i love your posts, but you couldn’t be be more wrong about thorn “not liking eddie jordan.”

Where do you come up with this stuff?

Please tell me, because i’d love to know.

And don’t tell me you have it from one of your “inside sources.”

Anybody can say they have inside sources … that means absolutely nothing to me or anyone else on this board.

You’ve obviously forgotten that when thorn joined the nets in the summer of 2000, the first thing he did was replace head coach don casey with byron scott and replace assistant coach jim lynam with l-frank … while KEEPING eddie jordan and mike o’koren on the coaching staff.

If thorn didn’t like jordan, he would’ve replaced jordan immediately, just like he replaced casey and lynam. Not only did thorn keep jordan on the staff, but he later extended his contract.

The only way that thorn could’ve stopped jordan from going to washington in the summer of 2003 was by immediately giving him byron scott’s head coaching job. But thorn didn’t want to take the heat for firing scott right after he led the nets from the nba lottery to back-to-back nba finals.

So instead, thorn waited until the nets went into a bad stretch of losing, giving thorn an “excuse” to pull the trigger on scott. By the time that happened around midseason, jordan was already long gone to the wizards.

Thorn’s actions prove that he thought very highly of eddie jordan … and so do the other general managers around the league.

@ Paul E,

How do you know the players stoppped listening? I didn’t hear that anywhere. Was there drama in the locker room? The personnel on the court now is the probelem, not him. Other than Butler and Jamison, there is no one else to consistently score. This could very well be our Nets and if it was, Frank would be getting the blame and it wouldn’t be his fault (this time anyway :)
I honestly think he was fired because of the team’s record. I think he was made scape goat like someone else said above. If you know otherwise, please share!

The Nets are doing great and Yes Frank deserves some of the credit, but remember he got to this point ONLY because of injuries to a few players.

@issac, nothing could be a bigger blantant lie than your saying Rod didnt like EddieJ. He loved Eddie, EJ did not want to violate his friendship to Byron. So he took the Wizard job

guys I can only tell you what i’ve heard from people and no i’m not telling who those people are. if you think I would waste my time on here just making things up for the fun of it, so be it.

By the time the Nets reached the NBA Finals in 2003 there was a major divide within the Nets. Scott and Jordan were barely on speaking terms at the biggest moment of franchise history, many of the players declared their allegiance to Jordan over Byron but Thorn clearly sided with Byron in this drama. When it became clear the team quit on Scott in ‘03-04, Thorn decided a change had to come. Im well aware Jordan was already in Washington. That was by design – Thorn never had any intention of making Jordan his next coach, he was planning on Frank all along. It’s not an accident he has been kept on as coach for 4 1/2 years despite not coming close to duplicating Byron’s success.

I never said Thorn never liked Jordan, that would be non-sensical since as you pointed out he was retained as an assistant coach. Those feelings, as I understand it changed when things went sour and some felt Jordan was after Byron’s job despite the success of the team under him.

Take this for whatever you want, but be clear I do not make things up. Like anything else, people can be wrong, but this is my understanding.

thank god najera isnt goin on the trip..he is so over rated…right from the beginning…hayes is a better defender than najera

Is Frank pissed of because the Nets are ready to replace him with EJ anytime he screws up?

I believe that’s the reason he’s pissed.

Eddie would make a terrific coach for the Nets! Arenas let Eddie down as he is being paid to sit on the bench with every ailment in the book and is about as dedicated to basketball and the Wizards as Zo was when he was on the Nets! I would immediately offer Eddie the job as bench coach for the Little General so he could mentor the LG instead of having Batman (VC) spending time as a coach.

maybe eddie can join the nets

I don’t think Frank is the best coach. But I will ALWAYS say that players win championships and NOT coaches. Coaches come and go like the wind. Frank is going to be the fall guy no matter what unless he wins a championship. And unless a hall of famer like Lebron can be added to the team they’ll never win the title. You guys that want to see him go so bad think that the Nets will some how become winners overnight. If it was someone other than Frank doing what he’s doing this year you would be saying how much better a coach he is than Frank. It’s old….

My point is it ain’t the coach it’s the players.. Here are the champs for the last 20 years. Could go further back and the point is the same. That’s why eveybody is clearing cap space for 2010.

2006-07 San Antonio Spurs Tony Parker
2005-06 Miami Heat Dwayne Wade
2004-05 San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan
2003-04 Detroit Pistons Chauncey Billups
2002-03 San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan
2001-02 Los Angeles Lakers Shaquille O’Neal
2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers Shaquille O’Neal
1999-00 Los Angeles Lakers Shaquille O’Neal
1998-99 San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan
1997-98 Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan
1996-97 Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan
1995-96 Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan
1994-95 Houston Rockets Hakeem Olajuwon
1993-94 Houston Rockets Hakeem Olajuwon
1992-93 Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan
1991-92 Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan
1990-91 Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan
1989-90 Detroit Pistons Isiah Thomas
1988-89 Detroit Pistons Joe Dumars
1987-88 Los Angeles Lakers James Worthy
1986-87 Los Angeles Lakers Magic Johnson
1985-86 Boston Celtics Larry Bird
1984-85 Los Angeles Lakers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1983-84 Boston Celtics Larry Bird
1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers Moses Malone
1981-82 Los Angeles Lakers Magic Johnson

I felt and still feel that this is a playoff team. That means playing +.500 ball. Frank is doing what i said he would(better Job).By no means is he a good coach.I just don’t see what he bring to the table. Frank lovers please put up a argument in his deffense.

  @supreme,your smoking something.Frank is between bad and good.I’d only take Frank over Delnegro.Do you guys not see haw talented last years team was and this years team is but Frank doesnt know what to do with the talent.come on already.He has Boone Starting over Lopez.IMO that’s Like Obama being Bush Jr running mate.

 Once again This team is real good and i do think Frank can pull off a playoff birth but what else can he do.Yeah your right they are not going to win it all but no team Frank has will or we would have won it all.

Isaac, did you forget that the princeton offense installed by the nets in 2001 was eddie jordan’s baby?

That it was jordan who was highly familiar with the princeton offense from his days in sacramento with pete carill, who practically invented it.

Without the princeton offense that jordan installed and managed, the nets would never have gotten anywhere near the nba finals … and thorn knew that better than anyone.

Thorn loved both scott and jordan … BUT ONLY ONE AT A TIME COULD BE HEAD COACH OF THE NETS.

Thorn would’ve been absolutely delighted had jordan rejected the wizards’ coaching offer and instead stayed on with the nets as an assistant coach and possible replacement for scott down the road.

But jordan would’ve only rejected the wizards’ offer had he gotten byron’s job instead … and gotten it immediately.

The bottom line is this … frank got the nets’ head coaching job instead of jordan because frank was AVAILABLE for the position when scott was fired, whereas jordan was already long gone to the wizards.

The behind the scenes soap opera stuff that you refer to isaac is pure rumor and hearsay that totally depends upon who you talk to. Ask a different “inside source” and you’ll get a totally different story. Gossip and scuttlebutt occur within every organization, but only the naive and gullible believe every word of it.

@Zartan. Help me out with all the talent from last year. Aging Kidd? Richard Jefferson? Nenad Krstic? Bostjan Nachbar? Marcus Williams? Darrell Armstrong? Stromile Swift? Maurice Ager? Antoine Wright? Half aren’t even in the league anymore. Guess that’s franks fault . I guess that’s championship caliber talent to you. You don’t know hoops… .. If They don’t have the talent and they don’t win. ask Pat Riley…

I’ve heard the same thing that Isaac has. Someone once told me that because Thorn didn’t hire him, Jordan knew he would never be the head coach of the Nets. So he left when the opportunity came.

And Isaac was just passing on what he heard. He didn’t necessarily present it as gospel. No need to attack him about it.

Fire Frank!! and hire Fast Eddie!!!

thanks NetsDaily, I appreciate that post. So I guess i’m not the only one “naive and gullible” enough to believe people I happen to know with KNOWLEDGE of the situation.

Bob, we agree wholeheartedly that the Nets belong in New Jersey over Brooklyn, but I happen to follow the team just as closely as you or almost anyone for that matter. Almost all the information I have gathered over the time I have spent on this team has been pretty accurate. It is well within your rights to believe the information you have come upon on your own, but there is no need to make me sound like some kind of moron for finding out details you may not have come upon yourself.

Eddie Jordan was never going to be the coach of the Nets under this regime and he knew it, that’s why he left for Washington even though it became clear the players (specifically Kidd) were going to force Byron out sooner or later.

@ supreme

jason kidd = first ballot hall of famer

vince carter = first ballot hall of famer

richard jefferson = nba’s 9th leading scorer in ‘07-’08

The nba is a star’s league. How many nba coaches had 3 stars the quality of kidd, carter & jefferson for the last 4 years?

As nets’ head coach, byron scott had less talent to work with than frank, yet accomplished far, far, far more.

Obviously, a head coach needs good players to win. But what you fail to understand is that players need a good head coach to win, as well.

Shaq and kobe underachieved until phil jackson arrived. Jordan and pippen underachieved until jackson arrived. Hakeem Olajuwon underachieved until rudy tomjanovich arrived. I could go on.

Do you honestly believe that any of these superstar champions would’ve accepted lawrence frank as their head coach? Do you? I really doubt that you can answer “yes” to that question with a straight face.

@ isaac

Not only did thorn love eddie jordan, but jason kidd loved eddie jordan too. Jordan and kidd were as close as any coach and player ever were.

Jordan was the lead assistant coach, mike o’koren was the 2nd assistant and lawrence frank was low man on the totem pole. If jordan had not been offered a head coaching job in the summer of 2003, then he would have been the one replacing scott in january of 2004, not frank. Kidd wouldn’t have had it any other way. And neither would’ve thorn.

Prior to scott’s firing, there were no whispers and rumors of frank being promoted to head coach of the nets or of any other team, for that matter. Message boards weren’t lighting up with comments about which head coaching gig frank would accept. Frank wasn’t even on the radar as a head coaching candidate.

Frank got the promotion only because scott, jordan and o’koren were gone and thorn had nowhere else to turn for someone familiar with the nets’ system. It’s pure revisionist history to now suggest otherwise. But if you insist on doing so isaac, that’s your perrogative.

you have some of your facts right Bob. Yes Kidd loved Jordan and wanted him as head coach over Frank. Yes, Frank was in the right place at the right time, no other NBA team in their right mind would have hired him as head coach. But I stand by my knowledge that Jordan was heavily on the outs with Byron (ask anyone that you know that has inside knowledge of the team) – they weren’t speaking much if at all by the ‘03 Finals and Thorn soured on him too. Thorn as you know, has been around the block a few times, if he loved Eddie like you claim he does and he knew a move was imminent he would have told Eddie to stick it out a few more months and they would make this happen. If you don’t know anything other than what is printed in the newspapers than stick with that stuff I suppose.

Very good points, isaac.

I’ve never disagreed with anything you just wrote ^, EXCEPT for the part about “thorn souring on jordan.”

If thorn had “soured” on jordan as you suggest, he never would’ve EXTENDED jordan’s contract in the summer of 2002.

I suspect you’ll say that thorn extended jordan because of jordan’s close relationship with kidd. Well guess what, isaac … gaining the trust and respect of your star players is what nba coaches are supposed to do. Because without it, they are doomed to failure.

Thorn may or may not have told jordan that scott was on his way out the door, although that type of backroom dealing isn’t really thorn’s style. Thorn is an above-board straight-arrow manager who would never want to be accused of conspiring with jordan on scott’s eventual firing. That would’ve been a public relations nightmare for thorn, jordan and the entire nets’ organization.

Jordan himself later explained publicly why he took the wizards’ job instead of possibly succeeding scott, who was on the last year of his nets’ contract … “i just didn’t feel right about replacing byron and the circumstances surrounding it.”

And who can blame jordan for feeling that way, especially when he had a head coaching offer firmly in hand from the wizards, while he could only cross his fingers and hope for the best on getting the nets’ head coaching gig.

As the saying goes, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Jordan took the bird in hand and ran with it … and that was clearly his decision, not thorn’s or anyone else’s.

I think we are going round and round in circles here Bob, and I respect your opinion so let’s leave it at that and move on to the next issue! Most importantly, we both want the Nets to remain in New Jersey and right now i’m much more concerned about that then I am whether or not Thorn truly does or does not like Eddie.

I love EJ to come back and help Frank. I would love also him as a coach, but that is something cruel. I feel like though Frank is not that great or I should say good, he doesn’t deserve that. The NETS is a complicated team and on top of it injuries played a big role on the downfall for the last three years.
The NETS are doing well and hopefully the game will be easier for everyone and more effective. They may not get into the playoff, but would be happy to see them just to compete better. Last year was pathetic, nobody can shoot. Basketball is more fun to see if someone shoots rather than watch those player play defense. I feel stupid cheering , like “did you see that block” or did yous see that interception" It’s about did you see how a player was able to score. So NETS keep up the offense and it will take care of defense.