Tonight, at 9:30 pm EST, the New Jersey Nets will be competing for history. Or rather, competing against history, when they face the Los Angeles Lakers to try and avoid starting the season with 17 losses, which would tie an NBA record held by the 1988 Miami Heat and the 1999 Los Angeles Clippers. And while the team's been missing several key players at various points throughout the losing streak, ultimately, the responsibilty still falls on the head coach, Lawrence Frank.
Nets’ Frank On The Brink? Head Coach Will Reportedly Be Fired Within Days
So it’s no surprise, then, that Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski has several sources suggesting that a dismissal for Frank is imminent, and could come as soon as Monday. From Yahoo:
The plan is for Nets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe to take over as interim coach, but there is still some support within the organization for veteran assistant John Loyer. The new coach is expected to be on the bench when the Nets play host to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night in New Jersey, sources said. The Nets could set an NBA record for futility with an 18th straight loss against the Mavs.
Vandeweghe has been on the Nets’ Western trip, studying the team’s personnel and formulating a plan to coach the team. Vandeweghe has wanted to dismiss Frank as far back as last season, sources say, but Thorn has resisted until now.
Sources say Nets management has come to believe that Frank has lost much of the team, a fact that has played out in losses to Denver and Sacramento in the past week. Once the Nets played so poorly against the Kings – believed to be the most winnable game on the trip – management decided it could no longer go on with Frank as coach.
Lawrence Frank is the longest tenured coach in the Eastern Conference, and indeed, thought to be one of the better basketball minds the league’s coaching ranks has to offer. He’ll likely work again. The reality is that in some cases, this is just the way the league works. It’s not a reflection on someone like Frank, but when things go bad, players tend to tune out the man in charge, and management tends to hold that person responsible.
Not necessarily fair, but certainly not surprising. And Frank would know this better than most--he took over the head coaching job back in January of 2004, when Byron Scott was unceremoniously dismissed amidst a rough stretch of his own. Now, the coaching carousel continues on...
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