Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 10:30 am  |  17 responses

Lawrence Frank Disagrees With Eddie Jordan’s Firing

by Marcel Mutoni

When a team loses ten of its first eleven games in the NBA, the general rule of thumb is that someone’s head has to roll. And that someone is usually the head coach. Eddie Jordan learned of this yesterday, and now we get to hear the reaction from some of his colleagues around the L.

Lawrence Frank of the Nets – whose own job flirted with danger last season – didn’t mince words when asked about the firing. From the NY Post:

“It’s very disappointing,” Frank said. “To do what he did last year, where you could’ve made an easy argument he should’ve been coach of the year. To come in this year with no Gilbert Arenas, no Brendan Haywood, a hurt Antonio Daniels, a banged-up DeShawn Stevenson.

“It wasn’t like they were losing by 40 points a game, so he was doing a hell of a job and it’s very, very disappointing that he won’t be able to finish out what he started.”

All solid points; it wasn’t entirely Eddie’s fault that his team played such an awful brand of basketball to start the season.

Injuries were certainly a factor, but more than anything else, it was their defensive apathy that did them in. And guess what? Someone’s gotta take the blame for that.

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  • jay Posted: Nov.25 at 10:32 am
    how about firing the bronnie-stopper. after all, he failed misserably at his job. I guess he was overrated.

  • KulchaKris Posted: Nov.25 at 10:37 am
    I live in the DC metro area, so this development is of personal interest. My question is, how does firing Eddie mid-season improve matters? Is Tapscott the answer to the teams defensive woes?

  • Jolst Posted: Nov.25 at 10:37 am
    I agree with Frank. This is just stupid.

  • Ken Posted: Nov.25 at 10:43 am
    Actually, Eddie Jordan was the surgeon’s assistant during Gil’s knee surgery, and his medical incompetence led to Gil needing another surgery. So really, Jordan had it coming.

  • Benoit Benjamin Posted: Nov.25 at 10:53 am
    Well Ken, let’s hope he wasn’t the surgeon’s assistant for Etan Thomas surgery then.

  • Gerard Himself Posted: Nov.25 at 10:59 am
    Also interesting that his top assistent, Mike O’Koren, was fired too. Both part of the Nets’ coaching staff in ’02 and ’03, O’Koren came along with Eddie Jordan when he was hired in 2003. Too bad they didn’t give O’Koren a chance here. I totally agree with Lawrence Frank. Yes, the Wizards are bad defensively, and I understand how the NBA works, but I can’t imagine them being a better team whoever coaches them.

  • TADOne Posted: Nov.25 at 11:27 am
    Defensive apathy, actually.

  • BETCATS Posted: Nov.25 at 11:29 am
    if the world was a fair place, Eddie Jordan would be coaching and Frank would join Jeff Van Gundy as the 2 headed-idiot monster on ESPN.

  • riggs Posted: Nov.25 at 11:46 am
    they need to fire lawrence frank instead.

  • Nguni Posted: Nov.25 at 11:57 am
    i’m with you Lawrence. Jordan has been great. Unfortunately you don’t get judged on past accolades in the win now NBA.

  • Keith Posted: Nov.25 at 11:57 am
    Near coach of the year to second firing of the season. Gotta be difficult to take.

  • Jess Posted: Nov.25 at 12:34 pm
    I agree with Lawrence Frank….

  • Gerard Himself Posted: Nov.25 at 1:00 pm
    now as a Nets fan, I sometimes wonder if Lawrence Frank is the right guy for the job. I would prefer Eddie Jordan, but then again, the Nets are 6-6 right now (probably 6-10 or 6-9 in a few days), and wit our current roster, you can’t expect more than that. The Nets aren’t supposed to be a playoff team this year anyway, so why fire Frank? Will that make the Nets a better team? No. At this moment, we’ll see how it goes. However, if the Nets are really, really in trouble come February, maybe a change should be made. But firing Frank right now is ridiculous, you can’t argue with that.

  • mike Posted: Nov.25 at 1:43 pm
    blame mj and make kwame brown the scapegoat

  • witness Posted: Nov.25 at 3:50 pm
    tom thibadeau to the wizards. and obama is gonna be gm.

  • riggs Posted: Nov.25 at 3:54 pm
    @Gerard: because frank is falsely credited for bringing the team to the playoffs after byron left (only because they stayed with scotts playbook and mentality) but soon after that year they werent as good because frank started using HIS methods, imo they were subpar ever since.

  • Gerard Himself Posted: Nov.25 at 7:36 pm
    true, true. But firing him now would still be not the right thing to do. The team is performing nicely as of right now (ask me again after I see the boxscore against the Lakers tomorrow, haha)

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