Pistons officially hire Lawrence Frank as coach

[Tahoe]

My NBA Package renews automatically, so I def need to remember to cancel it.

[Vinny]

WATCH THIS VIDEO

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/67...etroit-pistons

Who thought posting this on ESPN.com was a good idea?

Kept expecting a "Boom goes the dynamite!"

[Uncle Mxy]

I often wonder if the Pistons could possibly make me less enthused about the team, and time and time again they answer the question with a resounding "YES!".

I guess he's an upgrade over the last couple coaches, but I think if he takes the Stones to the playoffs in 2 years, he will have plateaued and it's time to look again. 8th seed in 2 years, that's doable by Frank, right?

I'm glad that Frank is not part of Joe Dumars' Google+ circle. This move makes sense if there's other moves to follow. But I don't know if those moves are gonna happen. We've had way too much "justifiable" paralysis, and the lockout is just more of the same. I just hope Frank will turn Knight or Stuckey into something more than the second coming of Devin Harris.

There's only a few 'rock star' coaches out there who may get more out of the roster than what it's capable of, and I doubt any of them are interested in being Pistons. I think the only way we get a special coach is to build a better roster and foundation. Until then, we have Frank. Maybe Frank has evolved through adversity. Prick Carlisle did. We'll see how it goes.

[Glenn]

I'm glad that Frank is not part of Joe Dumars' Google+ circle. This move makes sense if there's other moves to follow. But I don't know if those moves are gonna happen. We've had way too much "justifiable" paralysis, and the lockout is just more of the same. I just hope Frank will turn Knight or Stuckey into something more than the second coming of Devin Harris.

There's only a few 'rock star' coaches out there who may get more out of the roster than what it's capable of, and I doubt any of them are interested in being Pistons. I think the only way we get a special coach is to build a better roster and foundation. Until then, we have Frank. Maybe Frank has evolved through adversity. Prick Carlisle did. We'll see how it goes.

Excellent.


Except for the Stuckey part.

[Uncle Mxy]

I only mentioned Stuckey because I want to see Knight actually perform in the NBA before I heave too many expectations on him.

Ideally, I want to see Stuckey perform at a great level so we can trade his ass.

[Glenn]

freepsports
@Rosenberg_Mike: Lawrence Frank not popular or easy, just right for #Pistons http://bit.ly/qTpgT7

[Joe Asberry]

Tom Gores, for an NBA neophyte, has put his stamp on the Pistons quickly. The new owner correctly gave Joe Dumars some short-leash time to rebuild a diminished roster after firing Kuester. The team searched deliberately for seven weeks while the hiring rumors churned, which is one advantage of the lockout.

In the end, the Pistons didn’t have to choose between youth and experience.

They got both.

The Frank hiring is somewhat reminiscent of when the Pistons hired Flip Saunders in 2005, with the obvious exception of that being a much more competitive team. Saunders didn’t work out as well as hoped, though he also faced much greater expectations than Frank will, but the visions of coaching exuberance, experience and long-term stability in one package are similar.

If Gores is wrong, so be it, but when asked who I thought the Pistons should hire in the aftermath of the Kuester firing, the first name I said was Lawrence Frank. He’s the most proven young coach in the NBA who wasn’t already in a head-coaching job, and it has been clear he deserved another chance since the day he was run out of New Jersey because the Nets were up for sale and gradually traded away Jason Kidd, then Richard Jefferson, then Vince Carter.
What was left, when Mikhail Prokhorov bought the team, were castoffs who Frank coudn’t coach to a victory. The 2009-10 Nets were 0-16 when Frank was fired. They hit 0-18 before ending the longest losing streak to begin an NBA season.

Even for a franchise that once forfeited an ABA playoff game to the Kentucky Colonels because a circus had a preexisting reservation in its home arena, those Nets were quite the sideshow.

Lost in that impossible situation is that Frank’s New Jersey teams generally overachieved. Kidd, Jefferson and Carter weren’t often healthy at the same time. Even when they were, the Nets didn’t have much around them. They also had the misfortune of playoff run-ins with the Miami Heat at the peak of Dwyane Wade’s union with Shaquille O’Neal, and the Cleveland Cavaliers during the LeBron James years.

The Nets went 13-0 immediately after Frank replaced Byron Scott in the middle of the 2003-04 season, the best record to start any NBA coaching career. They gave the eventual champion Pistons a good playoff run, including winning a memorable triple-overtime game at The Palace after Chauncey Billups hit a halfcourt shot at the end of the regulation.

So Frank’s time in New Jersey was far more than its piteous ending, and those 2004 Nets had players. They just needed a new voice.

These Pistons have a new voice. They need new ears.

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.s...one_right.html

Frank the tank is the right choice

As for the Pistons, they're getting a spark plug of a coach. After Rivers underwent a throat procedure during the 2010-11 preseason, he let Frank run an open practice at the TD Garden. Frank never quite stopped screaming from the sideline from that point forward. Overseeing the defense, Frank's voice could be heard shouting out instructions and assignments as he inched near midcourt at times (only to stomp back to his seat after the opposing team scored at the opposite end). Frank commanded immediate respect in the Boston locker room and replacing Thibodeau was no easy task. What's more, Rivers leaned heavy on Frank as part of the All-Star festivities in Los Angeles, more invaluable experience for him this past season.

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celti...ank-to-detroit

Frank quickly proved his worth to then-Marquette coach Kevin O'Neill.
"He's a detail guy, nobody works harder, nobody prepares better," O'Neill said. "His team will be a blue-collar team. They will defend first and be well-schooled offensively."
O'Neill took Frank with him to Tennessee when he became coach of the Volunteers in 1994 — before the NBA came calling.
Frank then spent three seasons as a Grizzlies assistant under Brian Hill.
He compiled scouting reports and pored over hours of game film for the Grizzlies, hardly the glamorous life.
With the Grizzlies, it wasn't uncommon for Frank to be in the gym during the wee hours of the night, fetching balls for Shareef Abdur-Rahim, then the franchise's best player.
"Shareef told me at the draft, two in the morning, three in the morning, Lawrence was there for him," Abunassar said. "When you're around someone who wants so much for you, they respect it."


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110723/...#ixzz1T8TpwXoX

nice background article from det news

[Pharaoh]

Here's hoping Joe can fix the roster.

I don't care who you have as Coach because this roster is fucked.

Rip, BG, Stuckey, Knight, Bynum = too many guards that need to play

Up front we don't have enough to worry anyone.

The brightside is that Monroe, Jerebko, Daye and Knight all have potential to be very good players. Surrounding them with the right mix is going to be a tough job in the short term and I wonder how long Joe has got to do something significant.

Here's hoping for an amnesty clause

[Hermy]

LOL @ surrounding Jerebko and Daye with "a mix". Let's replace them with "players".

[Pharaoh]

LOL @ surrounding Jerebko and Daye with "a mix". Let's replace them with "players".

Do you not think JJ and Daye have potential to be "players"?