That loss at Miami really hurt.

Wolves hurt more, maybe if we didnt lose that we would atleast be not looked at on espn as a joke. We have had a lot of bad lucky, Courtney Lee, The Buzzers, injuries, frank. It goes on and on!
Did I mention I miss Ryan Anderson, I read on some Orlando forums that people really like him and although miss Lee *guess they havent seen his 2009-2010 season they love Ryan Anderson and believe he will be an all star.

Exactly. Frank is not a good game coach. He lost many games because of poor substitutions. It does not matter if he is a good preparation coach or good manager of ego coach. If you manage games poorly a coach has to go.

That minny game we “shouldve” won.

Just a quick thought ,
I’m in financial sales and in my business we have sales reps who are extremely knowledgeable and extremely prepaired, organized , etc. just like Lawrence frank is, and they are at the bottom of the list every month as far as production goes. Then thier are guys in my office who’s desks are always a mess and who’s knowledge is basic and every month they produce the biggest numbers.

My point is that Frank is so distracted by the little intricate asspects of the game that sometimes he overlooks the fundementals that win games.

time for LF to go

@Edd

sure, poor substitution.

There’s no excuse for the team blowing a 19pt lead in Minnesota. We’re still the only team that they have beaten all year, that really says something.

Reduced to its most simple components, basketball consists of three elements: offense, defense and rebounding.

There is no question that the Nets team defense is markedly better than last year. (Not saying much, but it’s clear that the team bought into Frank’s emphasis on D during training camp.)

In terms of rebounding, by and large, it’s a function of the roster, and while it’s been adequate in most (though not all games, with too many second chance points allowed), the loss of Yi has certainly been felt here the most. Not the coach’s fault.

That leaves offense. The coach’s job is to design plays and schemes that are intended to create open shots, and in this regard, the coach has done exactly that. The problem is that he has been plagued with a roster than CANNOT SHOOT THE BALL. PERIOD. I wonder how many games the Nets would have won to date had they made, say, 55% of their OPEN (not all) shots. Decent teams usually shoot 46-47%, which counts open and contested shots, and my guess is that teams make at least 55%, if not more, of their open shots. (On the year, the Nets are shooting 40%) And three point shooting? You need to make at least 33%, and the Nets are shooting 26.3% from long range. Sorry guys, but this has nothing to do with substitutions, small ball or anything else. We don’t have enough good shooters to compete, and you can’t blame that on the coach.

Lawrence Frank would be better or as a assistant coach I guess than a head coach. He’s not much for X’s and O’s but he does have his uses.

Maybe we could lure a guy like Tom Thibodeau from with the prospect of a head coaching job. Or Ettore Messina since Prokhorov would want a euro in the organization.

You could keep Frank as assistant coach or whatnot to compensate for Messina’s unfamiliarity with American players and general NBA, but basketball is basketball anywhere so he should do fine with the on the court stuff.

@ Edd…I agree w/ you 100 %….That’s exactly the problem…So a terrible game coach = A terrible coach….That should also make Thron and KeyKey totally responsible for letting this continue for so long..For the past five years or more I’ve been focusing my attention on frank only but you have made it quite obvious to me that the upper management should also be disposed of…Thanks…

Both games against the Sixers were also winnable.

aymesq: when you do your break down and absolve Frank of all blame like that, you leave out the main problem that has cost us so many games this season AND last season… His stubbornness with playing small ball. When we’re having Bobby Simmons and Trenton Hassell and Vince Carter (last season) trying to defend PF’s and Sean Williams trying to defend C’s, you give up any rebounding and defensive edge that you may have had. We’ve lost countless games in the past 2 seasons because of Frank’s insistence on playing a small rotation.

And this is the question all of the Frank fans seem to ignore or can’t answer every time it’s asked: Can anybody explain why he SHOULDN’T be fired for this failed plan he continues to run??? It’s not like he has a .700 record up to this point. Since his first full season, his win count: 42, 49, 41, 34, 34, 0. Why keep him?!

WOW
the world is watching the Nets!!
Now the nation sees how bad of a coach LFank is.
Maybe Ki Ki will take over and LFrank sits on the bench.
Something is happening at halftime.
Getting outscored by 10 or more points to start the 3rdQ for multiple games is inexusable.

He plays small ball because outside of Lopez, our next best 4 players are not bigs!!! Kinda obvious, no?

I don’t see any simple offense being run for open shooters. I see a bunch of guys running around like chickens with their head’s cut off.

Clogging up lanes, bringing multiple defenders to the handoff pass at the 3 point line. Which traps us and usually results in a bad cross court pass. Basketball is very simple. Run some high pick and rolls for the fastest player in basketball( DH). They double him you got Brook wide open for an 18 footer. Where are the clearouts for Lopez? Why do we dribble the ball so much!? PASS the ball!

Every team we play looks like a championship team compared to us. They run fast breaks much better then us, easy offense.. high screens, pick and rolls, pick and pops, back door cuts and clearouts. Instead we dribble in circles get clogged in corners and turn the ball over cause we rush shots to beat the shot clock. I appreciate LFrank but it’s clearly time for fresh idea’s and a new voice. I wanna blame it on the injuries but look at the Rockets!!! We should at least have a couple of wins by now.

aymesq is right – too many guys haven’t shot well. I posted a few days ago that only 4 guys had better than 41% FG% (3 bigs and CDR). Maybe it is because they are too tired from the D but many of them are just not good shooters to begin with.

We still should have won the Wizards game and one of the 76er games.

johnfried, no, it’s not obvious. How are Simmons and Hassell better rebounders and defenders AT THE POWER FORWARD POSITION than Boone and Williams? For that matter, how is Simmons better than anybody in the league?? Mini Sly could play better. Just because our PF’s suck doesn’t mean you don’t play them and instead play equally bad players out of position. Kobe’s a great player, but if Gasol goes down, are you putting at PF?

BillyLaz, I agree 100%. We don’t even look like we play in the same league.

Look, I’m not saying that L. Frank does not share in any respponsibility. Last year, I agree that there were questionable substitution patterns and rotations, and yes, probably too much small ball. There were also examples of giving fouls at the wrong time. But all coaches make game mistakes on occasion.

What I am saying is that it is absurd to place the blame on the coach this year for the team’s situation. But, assuming that we don’t win either of the remaining two games on the trip, he will be fired, because sometimes change is necessary just for the sake of change. I just don’t like to see a guy who I know to be a class act and an incredibly hard worker to be scapegoated to the extent that I see by many on this board.

And by the way, please don’t tell me that you need to have been a “player” in order to be a good coach. Most people think that Red Auerbach was pretty decent. He was 5-9, had asthma, and never played a minute following high school. And Jeff Van Gundy couldn’t make the Yale team.

@johnfried – There is a reason why tall guys play in the NBA. LFrank seems to have lost track of it something about rebounding defense shot blocking. Have you heard coaches talk about teams that are “long” in term of being tough to deal with. Don’t hear too many coaches saying the other team is real short, not sure how we are going to match up with them? Short is fine for baseball, bowling, horseshoes etc but we are talking about basketball here.

aymesq, we’re not saying fire him based on this season alone (although any other team in all of pro sports would’ve fired him by 0-15). This problem is that his ineffectiveness and mediocrity have gone on for more than 2 seasons without change. We could be 0-81 and he would STILL be playing small. Basketball has been a tall man’s game since it’s inception for a reason. His isn’t a revolutionary gameplan, it’s a stupid one.

LAWERANCE FRANK FOR COACH OF THE YEAR!!!!!

I don’t get why if we’re 1-14 Opie’s job is safe but 0-15 he’s in trouble. If that’s the case 0-15 is a blessing in disguise. If you look at my post (it was moderated so it got lost in the shuffle) in Game 16 thread, I really tried to break down how and why things are the way they are to me. What I found interesting in this article was as an outsider I always suspected the benching of Harris last year led to Opie “losing him” but now I see Sheridan writes that as well. I don’t know if he knows that as fact or it’s just his opinion but that’s a big mistake by Opie if it’s true. Benching your PG/captain against the biggest and best team in the NBA when you can’t defend or rebound in the first place must have killed the morale with anyone who knew better. Opie reminds me of a bad salesman. He knows the product inside and out, he just can’t sell it and he doesn’t have an open mind. Imo people who have had success at something as well as knew what it took to succeed could see the problem with Opie. It’s very subtle but has a tremendous impact.

“The whole "Frank loves small ball" thing is a complete myth.
“it’s impossible to play 48 minutes of "big ball" anyway.”

I disagree. With a decent amount of minutes where one of the big three playing alone therefore increasing their chances to foul cuz of lack of help you fall just short of going big all game. Lopez plays 35 min on average with 3.7 fouls per game. Boone plays 18 min w/2 fouls pg. Swat plays 12.9 min w/2.6 fouls per game. Based on those numbers you could get about 45 min out of Boone and 45 Lopez/Swat. I believe for the 6 min. difference you could reduce the fouls by always playing two of them together therefore always having help. It’s not a “myth” when the total minutes played by our bigs on average = 66 out of 96 and the fouls total 8.3 when you have 18 to give. It’s the coach’s choice and he has one.

People just need to include all valid points when trying to be truthful and accurate.

1. Frank will be removed. Whether it’s his fault or not is immaterial. This kind fo thing is just too bad. It’s not like he’s been great either.

2. There are not enough good players on the roster. In fact there are very many very bad players. Young and old. So Frank or not, there is very bad shootinhg, tunrovers, etc.

These 2 things are true, so it really is necessary for levelheaded people to express these fats (be honst – it is not an opinion LOL).

People who only blame the coach have their head firmly planted where the sun doesn’t shine. People who only criticize the players are far more accurate but are in dreamland because Frank won’t be here next year for sure.

Hopefully the Nets get 4 or 5 mnore legit NBA players next year to replace the trash on the team now, including at least 1 scorer, that has to be guarded. We’ll see who the coach is. Why a Euro coach would ever be considered is totally beyond me. What a great way for a good free agents to look elsewhere.

Mr. Big , nice math I agree 100%

@Zartan. I have said this before.
If you give a chef, great or not, crap to work with then you end up with meal that looks and tastes like crap. There is no other way around it.
We have a lot of crap players. Blame frank all you want but God himself could not have coached these players to more than 5 wins. It ALWAYS starts and ends with the players in pro sports.

@NetsDaily (Income)

Forget it, it’s hopeless. Why beat our heads against a wall?

@Molskin:

We have one of the best centers to ever play for the nets and an all star point guard. How many other teams have even that? It is inexcusable that we haven’t won a game yet.

Is it all Franks fault? No def not, but I absolutely question some of his coaching decisions. Tell me why we didn’t double Wade? If he passes off to Haslem, who was at the foul line, they at best tie the game. But no.. he stays single coverage with one of the premier players in the game today and look what happens.

I believe injuries obviously played a part in the record so far but we should still have a couple of wins by now.

I’ll say again to look at what Adelman has done in Houston.. Can you imagine us without Harris and Lopez? I really like Frank as a person, he seems genuine and he really cares for this team. But most highschool romances get old quick. These guys need a tough minded coach to fire them up, teach them simple offense and not over think the game.

Without Kidd’s knowledge of the game and ability to run an offense and make perfect passes, I think Frank would have been exposed long before this.

I live with two Knicks fans.. this sucks.. I should have never ran my mouth before the season started

The coaching “death watch” is about as debilitating as the losing streak. I have no doubt that Frank cares and tries his best but he’s been here 5+ years and is probably a below .500 coach at this point. As much as people want to point to the winning streak that started his tenure as proof of his ability, he can’t be excused completely from what is happening now

I agree that the prep and analysis is good but the in game coaching is awful. He has preached defense for at least 2 seasons and our defense is awful. Either he can’t explain it or the players choose not to listen. If he knows what the other team is going to run, why can’t he get his players to adjust?

I have wanted to see him go for a while, but take no joy in the fact that things have gotten this bad. 0-15 or 1-14 makes no difference—there needs to be a coaching change. The longer Rod and Kiki wait, the worse it will be.

Mr. Big,

Great post.

Frank has been using small ball and it has cost this team games not only this year but last year as well.

I think you guys read a different article than I read. It does not say his in game coaching is bad. Not at all. They fault him on one move: starting T-Will in the second half. Why should he? T-Will is apt to take stupid shots. Then where do you go? That loss was on the road and the road is hard place to hold a lead. The coach is not at fault for this play: it’s all about injuries and a poorly assembled roster with glaring weak spots. Houston roster is better than our healthy roster. Lopez and Harris are good, not great and neither can really carry a team. Houston has more to work with.

@ NetsDaily

The amount of small ball can be calculated with some basic math. Add the number of minutes played this season by all the Nets big men; divide by the number of game; and compare that to the number of minutes available per game for center and power forward.

According to basketball-reference.com:

Lopez 529
Boone 270
Yi 119
Najera 133
S. Williams 142
Battie 0

Total 1193

Divide by 15 games: 79.53

Minutes per game for center and power foward positions: 48 * 2 = 96

The difference: 96 – 79.53 = 16.47

So on average Frank has played over sixteen minutes per game of small ball. In my opinion, that is way too much. It’s true the Nets have had only three available big men lately, but until someone fouls out more “big ball” remains possible. And of course Frank was doing the same thing last season even with more big men healthy.

You could do similar calculations for the rest of the teams in the league if you really wanted to. I doubt that many teams have a number nearly as high as the Nets.

Frank’s obssession of small ball hurts. It affects the way we play, handle and sign our big men. Yes, we have been hurt by a lot of injuries and bad luck but things could be different if we have one or two quality bis on the bench. Instead, we have guards taking wild shots. A higher shooting % would have won us at least 3 or 4 games. And regardless of what some people have said about Yi, his rebound is really missed now.

@ aymesq Says:

“Forget it, it’s hopeless. Why beat our heads against a wall?”

Almost as good of a response as having Opie for COY. I guess your ready to give him an extension. Did you having anything to do with Yi’s option being picked up? I’m waiting for the sequel to the Yi is tired story.

aymesq Says:

“There is no question that the Nets team defense is markedly better than last year.”

2008-09 opponent FG% 46.2 this year it’s 45.1%. Opponents hit 19 FT this year and last year it was 21. Opponents shot attempts were 77.86 last year up to 78.26 this year. We are down from 100.5 to 95.3 pts allowed. Believe it or not I chalk the reason up to the coach playing bigger this year than last. Remember Boone and Swat played about 5 minutes at PF last year and a lot more this year with no Yi.
The rebounding is better this year 44.2 compared to 41.4 per game last year. Ditto for the reason.
Now the offense. Last year we had VC and Harris, this year neither for most of the year. Last year Simmons and Hayes were good offensively. This year Simmons stinks, Hayes is out and TWill can’t shoot. Bottom line is we’re down from 98.1 pg to 84.9. While this is primarily the reason why we are winless your talking about a team that can’t compete for many reasons but “it is absurd to place the blame on the coach this year” is not true. Imo we will never be good with this coach and depending on the roster it’s just a matter of how bad we’ll be. He is a big problem and this year we have a lot of others.