STORY OF THE DAY:
When Jason Kidd demoted Lawrence Frank from the assistant coach position, it was assumed that there was a rift between them. While that’s all but true, it appears there was tension between the two the moment Frank agreed to join the team. Tim Bontemps and Fred Kerber of New York Post detailed what went wrong from the jump:
One league source told The Post the Kidd-Lawrence union began on rocky footing. After Kidd’s very public courtship of Frank, when the former head coach called to accept the job, he began laying out plans for the team. Frank suggested film sessions immediately.
“I think Jason was like, ‘Whoa, slow down,’ ” the source said. “He had other things to do on summer weekends.”
Multiple reports said Frank took issue with the fact he — as the most experienced assistant on the staff and the only one with NBA head coaching experience — wasn’t tapped to coach the Nets in the opening two games of the season while Kidd served a two-game suspension for pleading guilty to driving while impaired during the summer of 2012.
“Lawrence is a very take-charge guy who works 30 hours a day and expects that of everyone around him,” the source said. “I’m not saying that’s bad, but everybody works differently. I think this dynamic was not good.”
In the wake of being officially “reassigned” by Kidd prior to Tuesday’s blowout loss to the Nuggets in Brooklyn, Frank is in the process of retaining “high-powered” legal counsel, presumably to settle a buyout with the franchise, a league source told The Post.
[…]
“It’s part of the job. He’s working. He’s giving his reports. … So do I miss him? No. He’s doing his job and what I’ve asked him to do.”
“It didn’t work out, … but things happen,” Kidd said. “You learn from them, and you try to get better from every experience and every situation, and that’s all I can go with.”
A former Nets team member said when Kidd played for Frank, “we did what Jason wanted” and that Kidd resented some of the long practice sessions.
Yikes. It doesn’t get much uglier than that. Their personalities appeared to have completely clashed, and the two clearly had some communication issues if Frank couldn’t even express how he felt about not being promoted as the replacement coach while Kidd was suspended, despite being the highest paid assistant in the league. It makes you wonder why Kidd ever wanted Frank alongside him so desperately over the summer, especially knowing exactly what kind of personality he was chasing after.
VIDEO OF THE DAY:
The Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs were in Mexico City to play on Wednesday. Their game, however, was postponed due to a smoke-filled arena. Ben Leibowitz of Bleacher Report has details on what went down. Here is a surreal video of how bad things looked in the arena:
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Carmelo Anthony openly admitted to knowing what the league and everyone watching thinks of the New York Knicks, from Al Iannazzone of Newsday:
Carmelo Anthony said, ” We are the laughingstock of the league right now. Do I like being laughed at? Hell no.”
— Al Iannazzone (@Al_Iannazzone) December 4, 2013
LATEST UPDATE ON KOBE BRYANT:
Bryant has pretty much been doing everything in practice, from facilitating to dunking. He appears to be ready to go, but not just yet, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA:
Kobe Bryant just told me that he is NOT going to be playing Friday against Sacramento. He is not ruling out Sunday against Toronto, however
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 5, 2013
The bottom line is, we will see him soon enough.
THE YEAR OF THE BROKEN HAND:
We’ve already seen several players get shelved due to a broken hand over the past week or so. Add Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to the list, from Rick Bonnell of Charlotte Observer:
The post-game chatter was as much about what the Charlotte Bobcats lost – small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – as how they lost in an 89-82 fall to the Dallas Mavericks.
For the second straight game they blew a double-digit second-half lead. More importantly going forward, they have likely lost Kidd-Gilchrist – arguably the best defender – probably for weeks.
Kidd-Gilchrist was diagnosed with a fractured left hand he suffered in the second half. He’ll be re-evaluated in Charlotte Wednesday, but he left American Airlines Center in a cast, his middle two fingers taped together.
OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE: