Nets demote assistant coach Lawrence Frank
By Ryan Donoho
When the Nets hired Jason Kidd to be their head coach, part of the agreement was that he would have a veteran staff who could help guide him in his first year of coaching. One of the main assistants that Kidd would choose was Lawrence Frank.
Frank had coached Kidd in New Jersey, and he had a lot of coaching experience. In all honesty, Kidd was the coaching figure, but Frank was doing most of the work. The Nets are an abysmal 5-12 on the season, and things are starting to get ugly. There were reports of an incident between Jason Kidd and Lawrence Frank, and it seemed as if that relationship was starting to strain.
Well, things finally elevated enough for Kidd to take action, and he has now demoted Frank to write reports, and he will not travel with the team, or be on the bench during games, reports Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. That basically means he is just another guy in that organization, and his voice no longer matters. Kidd stated a difference in philosophies as the reason why.
Honestly, Jason Kidd needs to look in the mirror. His team isn’t good, he is running a terrible offense, and most of the blame should be on him. He allowed Frank and others to run the team while he seemingly just stood there, and I don’t blame Frank for not getting along with him. If you recall, during the now infamous soda spill, Kidd walked away after the incident, and he had one of his assistants draw up the play while he walked around.
Marc Stein of ESPN reports that Kidd was angry because he wanted a guide, and not a boss when it came to Lawrence Frank’s role. The Nets’ struggles aren’t all on coaching, as they are battling injuries, and guys like Kevin Garnett have been less than stellar.
There needed to be a scapegoat in Brooklyn for their poor start, and it looks like Frank is the lucky one. If this team can get healthy, and start running a better system on offense, then Kidd will look like a genius, if not, he could be the next one to get a “demotion.” Frank will still make his money, which is a 6 year deal worth over 1 million dollars per year.