Detroit Pistons Players Unhappy With Lawrence Frank’s Rotations and Schemes

Head coach Lawrence Frank is coming under fire from some of his players, who have begun to publicly gripe about him as the Detroit Pistons continue to stumble at 2-10. Frank blames the Pistons’ struggles on a lack of energy, but his players aren’t pleased with the in-game adjustments. Per the Detroit News and Free Press: “After a second straight loss to a Magic team that doesn’t feature two players as talented as either Greg Monroe or Rodney Stuckey, you have to wonder if the players are beginning to lose faith in Frank’s abilities to make the proper adjustments during crucial moments. First-year Magic coach Jacque Vaughn made in-game alterations to his plan that the Pistons didn’t counter in either meeting in the past five days — moves that can’t be as easily explained by a lack of energy, although it could be a factor. Tayshaun Prince didn’t buy the lack of energy argument from Frank, and hasn’t been afraid to say when energy has been the case. ‘Energy ain’t the only thing,’ said Prince, noting the poor possessions to begin quarters that plague this team. ‘That isn’t my decision but we need to figure out some things to do when teams are making runs to get us a good opportunity at the rim or the foul line.’ Prince wished all five players hadn’t been subbed en masse, considering it puts the second unit in an unfamiliar position to come in cold against a team riding the wave of momentum. But how many times at the NBA level has such a drastic act worked to the tune of a win? ‘If I was Coach, I would’ve made a decision sooner than he did,’ Prince said. ‘A 6-0 run, call a timeout. Bam-bam, we come back out, nothing happens, bam (make a substitution). If you gotta make a choice, you have to make a choice. (He) went too long.’ […] After saying he wished (Kyle) Singler were still on the second unit because he enjoyed playing with him, (Will) Bynum said: ‘I’m having to adjust to everybody. I’m playing with so many different people. First I go from not playing with (Rodney) Stuckey to playing with Stuckey every day. I go from playing with Kyle all the time to never playing with Kyle. I’m playing with Tayshaun (Prince). Early on I was playing with Brandon (Knight) and I never played with him in two years since I’ve been here. It’s all over the place right now.’ Combine that comment with Prince questioning the substitution pattern and time-out usage of coach Lawrence Frank during the pathetic third quarter of Wednesday night’s 94-80 debacle against the Magic, and we have reached familiar territory when it comes to the Pistons. Things haven’t reached the point of no return, but it’s obvious as the losses mount that players are beginning to publicly question Frank’s decision-making process.”