Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.
As coach of the NJ Nets, Lawrence Frank, was already in the NBA record books for having the best start in NBA history as a head coach by going 13-0 as a replacement for the fired Byron Scott in the ’04 season. Nets management saved him the shame of also having the worst start for a team to start the season by firing the former longest tenured coach in the Eastern Conference before their game with the LA Lakers. The Nets were expected to loose their 17th straight game to start the season 0-17, to tie the record of futility with the ’88-’89 Heat and ’99 Clippers.
Frank leaves the franchise as the Nets winningest coach in franchise history with a record of 225-241, which included multiple runs deep into the Eastern Conference, but leaves without an NBA title. Assistant coach Tom Barrise will take over as interim coach until a permanent replacement is found.
Don’t blame Frank for the Nets now infamous beginning to this season, or their 34-48 identical records the past two seasons, since management has continually slashed payroll by trading former and current All Stars like Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson, and Vince Carter to contenders and getting little in return. All Star point guard Devin Harris has been the only key player received back for trading away talent in recent seasons.
The Nets have traded being very bad this season for becoming very good next year by hopefully landing one of the top free agents next Summer like Lebron James in addition to getting a top 5 draft pick. The lure for any free agent would be playing in one of the country’s biggest markets(NY/NJ) and all of the advertising and endorsement deals which come with it. The Nets are also hoping to move to their new arena being built in Brooklyn in the next few seasons as well. The down side is that it looks like the Nets won’t be very good for a few years with a roster so barren of experienced talent.
