The man who enthusiastically hired and then reluctantly fired Lawrence Frank from his Nets head coaching job yesterday gave Frank’s candidacy for the vacant Detroit Pistons position an overwhelming endorsement.
“I think it would be a great choice, really, a great choice,” Rod Thorn, now president of the Sixers said. “Lawrence is a terrific coach. I believe he and Joe (Dumars, Pistons president) would work really well together. I’m really happy for him and I think he would be a great choice.
“Lawrence will do really well. He knows what he is doing. No one ever outworks him. He always is prepared, has his team prepared for any scenario,” Thorn added. “The guy can coach.”
Though there was no formal offer made yesterday, league sources have maintained Frank is the leading choice to replace the fired John Kuester in Detroit. Those sources say it is only a matter of when Dumars makes a pitch for Frank, who served last season as Doc Rivers’ assistant in Boston, replacing Tom Thibodeau, who went on to earn Coach of the Year honors with the Bulls.
“Working with Doc was good for Lawrence,” Thorn said. “Doc is a terrific coach who knows the way of using the best parts of his assistants to get the most out of his staff.”
So every indication says the Pistons will present an offer soon. Frank was a candidate for two other head coaching openings this offseason: Houston, which went to Kevin McHale, and Toronto, where Dwane Casey was hired from the NBA champion Mavericks’ staff. Also, Frank was viewed very seriously as a possible addition to coach Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks staff. Frank is regarded league-wide as a solid defensive coach and he could only help upgrade the Knicks defense.
Frank succeeded Byron Scott with the Nets in January 2004, and promptly won his first 13 games, the most by any head coach starting out in any of the four major sports. He led the Nets to four playoff appearances, three times reaching the Eastern semifinals. And he won two Atlantic Division titles. But the end was even uglier than the glamour of his start. With a team that was a mess following cost-cutting moves which now seem laughable under a deep-pocketed owner like Mikhail Prokhorov, Frank suffered through an 0-16 start and was fired in November 2009.
“Lawrence did a really good job for us with the Nets,” Thorn said. “It was tough at the end but we really didn’t have any talent. You can’t blame him for that situation.”