Nets President Rod Thorn met with the local media Wednesday and couldn’t say for sure if head coach Lawrence Frank (above) would be returning to the Swamp next Autumn, a non-announcment the Newark Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro considers the start of “a silly, Dolanesque phase, the one where his boss needs to sit in a dark room and ruminate for a while…you just had 82 games to decide whether Frank is the right guy for this team, and you’re still not sure?”
Thorn was pleased with the way the four (FOUR) key young guys developed. … fine with the way the coach managed Yi’s minutes. … delirious with the seasons the coach coaxed out of three of the veterans (Keyon/Jarvis/Bobby). … and now Thorn thinks they all may need a new voice?
Cognitive dissonance, anyone?
Make no mistake, the three main things that give him pause all have some legitimacy. He just doesn’t want to say it. He’s worried about this coach being able to coax another big year out of Carter, and push Harris one more step beyond his current (flawed) level. And he’s wondering whether a new guy can imbue a team-wide defensive mindset that these players obviously don’t have.
Thorn, we surmise, went into a Tuesday night meeting expecting this to be a formality and took hits left and right. They must have really beaten him up — investors, business folks, maybe even a basketball person. And to appease them — or because they actually brought up a reasonable arguments amid the rancor — he said he’ll sleep on it. For two weeks or so.