Lawrence Frank BADLY outcoached Mike Woodson last night...BADLY. His substitution patterns and overall strategy was as important as anything else in that game. At the end of the game, the Hawks were exhausted. Nets scored 64 points in the second half, 42 in the final quarter and 20 in the final five minutes. What should that tell you? Even WOODSON admitted it after the game, talking about how well Frank had prepared the Nets.
I keep asking this simple question: What young players has Frank supposedly destroyed? What players has he ruined that have gone on to greater glory in the NBA, players who "fans" have claimed would thrive if they had a better coach? Tamar Slay? Zoran Planinic? Antoine Wright? Mile Ilic? Marcus Williams? Hassan Adams? Three of those great, hyped picks are not in the NBA and the other three cannot get off the bench in Dallas, in Golden State and in Toronto.
And yet, NO ONE gives him credit for the players he did develop, including two taken in the mid-20's: Nenad Krstic and Josh Boone and two young players who the Nets acquired in trades and who have done much better in New Jersey: Devin Harris and (so far) Yi Jianlian. In the case of Krstic and Boone, he brought them along slowly, just as he is with Lopez and Anderson, and wound up with two solid NBA players. In the case of Harris and Yi, he gave them free rein, Harris to run the team and Yi to shoot whenever he is open. Lopez and Anderson have had one good NBA game. I hope it continues but no one is going make major judgments on their career development based on last night. It's silly to suggest otherwise. (And by the way, did Frank repeatedly run plays for Lopez in the first quarter to get him into the game, to get him acclimated.)
Sean Williams' future is uncertain, but I do not see teams beating down the Nets door to get him. We know of one offer: Matt Carroll and his four year $22 million contract for Williams and Hassell. That's a salary dump...and the Nets turned it down. Williams started playing organized basketball the summer before his senior year in high school. He had played 100 games of organized ball in high school and college before being drafted. That's it. He may be a special talent, but he needs a lot of development and it may take years.
Frank may have his faults...like not putting in a simple enough offense, but as the record CLEARLY shows, he has not yet blown the career of any young player...period.