SubscribeBeing Frank about the Nets situation
It stinks.
Farewell to Larry Frank, coach of the as-yet-winless New Jersey Nets. The last straw came before last night’s 106-87 beat-down at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Frank had been the head coach since 2003, when he took over the team from Byron Scott halfway through the season. He posted a 25-15 record the rest of the way as the Nets made it to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Nets would return to the post-season in each of the next three seasons, but never made it past the semis.
Perhaps the Nets wanted to save the 39-year-old native of Teaneck, NJ, the embarrassment of setting the all-time mark for losses at the beginning of a season.
In an email to the Korner, Ian Eagle, who has been handling the Nets play-by-play for a dozen years, called Frank “an excellent coach, adding that Frank is a “very good friend– and a very good man. When the smoke clears he’ll be fine.”
For more on Frank’s dismissal, see here and here.
This was a tough one, not only because I enjoy following fellow MOTs as a die-hard sports fan, but also bc I happen to be a Nets fan (or perhaps used to be).
I think Frank in many ways got a raw deal. If you weren’t a Nets or basketball fan and just opened up the newspaper to glance at the won-loss record, you would think an 0-16 coach being fired would be justified, but believe it or not in this case it wasn’t, unless you look at it as a mercy firing doing him a favor.
It was really a perfect storm against the Nets and Coach Frank this season. Start with a gutted payroll to save for next season and a new incoming owner, throw in Frank being a lame duck with only a year left on his deal, and a top it off a ton of injuries, the likes of which I’ve never seen before as a sports fan. He really never had a shot.
Hopefully, true sports fans and basketball execs realize this and it does not tarnish Frank’s rep as a bright young basketball coach. I can only hope he lands on his feet with another HC job very soon, hopefully as early as this coming summer.