here you go SHUGES
Nets won't go outside organization if they fire Frank
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5:18 PM, November 25, 2009 ι By FRED KERBER
PORTLAND - Someone, somewhere -- no doubt in the bowels of the Andrea Doria or something -- once claimed that often you have to go to Hell and make a U-Turnbefore a situation gets better.
So the Nets have to be well past half-way to Hades, right? Something has to give, right?
For the moment, nothing is planned. No head will roll. For the moment.
"I don't anticipate anything," said team president Rod Thorn who is holding out the slimmest of hope that the flood waters suddenly will recede.
The coach Lawrence Frank, who was handed an inadequate roster to start with, has watched as his every plan has gone up in a shower of splints, braces, ankletape, pain killers and whatever else is kept before closed athletic trainer doors. Frank wanted to run and be exciting. But both his guards, Devin Harris andCourtney Lee, suffered groin strains. So they had to slow the game down.
Guess what? The Nets' best halfcourt player in recent memory was traded to Orlando.
And remember what Frank proclaimed throughout pre-season? "None of us is strong as all of us." Well, the next time he gets to see "all ofus" will be the first time. Quick, name one other team that lost four starters at once? And the only help brought in was, maybe, a doctor.
So Frank is left to answer virtually every day questions about how he can remain so gosh-darn peppy when the executioner is around the corner. And with theNets making national news as they approach the dubious 0-17 start achieved by an expansion team (Heat, '88-89) and the Nets West (Clippers, '98-99),the coaching death watch is on.
Names have floated. But make no mistake. The same organization that required workers to take Fridays off in the summer to save money is not going outside. IfFrank is canned, one of the current staff or GM Kiki Vandeweghe (whose name pops up in discussions more and more) will likely take over. Forget experience. Allthose candidates have one major requirement on the resume.
They're already on the payroll.
So the Nets will go against the up-and-coming Blazers tonight, probably lose and then have their Super Bowl on Friday in Sacramento. That is their hope toavoid infamy. That is their call from the governor for Frank. Players have given support for Frank ("I'm in his corner, period," ChrisDouglas-Roberts said). Is everyone? Of course not. But Frank has not stopped working, has not stopped dishing out the belief it will get better.
It's going to be increasingly hard to do. After Tuesday's debacle in Denver, the lockerroom was as gloomy as it has been. Before the game, there weresmiles, laughter, a good feeling. Afterwards, there was a frustration level that, in Harris words, ran "pretty high."
This, at least from here, was the most down, most depressed post-game setting to date.
And there's no sign of things getting better. Yes, more bodies are coming back. But how long before they gel? And who will be coaching?
But so what? They're going to Brooklyn! The courts said New York State can kick out residents and businesses to develop Atlantic Yards. Supposedly, someonein the Nets hierarchy proclaimed Tuesday the greatest day in franchise history.
And that's all you need to know. Frank, Thorn, Vandeweghe, players and fans have been hung out to dry and die in New Jersey. What matters is two years downthe road. In Brooklyn.
And from here, we'll vote for the night Jason Kidd hoisted the Eastern Conference trophy over his head in the lockerroom in Boston in 2002, sending theNets to the Finals for the first time in their history as the greatest moment ever for the franchise.
Yeah, even over the drafting of Christian Drejer.
