Around the Association

Around the Association takes a look at the weekly happenings around the NBA

- Well the New Jersey Nets dumped Lawrence Frank as their head coach, because you know it's his fault the team stinks. The Nets fired Frank after the team lost to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night to go to 0-16 for the year. Then the Nets hit an all-time low by tying the record for the worst start of a season by losing to Los Angeles and going to 0-17 on the year.

The Nets right now are a lame duck team. They may or may not be moving to Brooklyn and they have a new ownership group taking over soon. Someone had to be the scapegoat for the teams ugly start. They never considered the fact that New Jersey has been hit so hard by injuries, that a good college team probably could have beat them. All of that doesn't matter though, Frank was going to be the fall guy no matter what. But as Steve Politi of the the Newark Star-Ledger points out, firing Frank is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

"Firing Lawrence Frank now is like throwing the captain of the Titanic overboard after it hit the iceberg.

Why bother? To borrow the famous quote from Micheal Ray Richardson, the ship be sinking anyway.

The Nets kept the coach around this long for one reason: They were too cheap to hire his replacement, just like they were too cheap to keep this team from becoming a national joke.

The issue is not who replaces Frank short term ­— Red Auerbach and John Wooden combined couldn’t save the Nets from oblivion now. It’s who makes the decision on his long-term successor, since the same executive will be calling the shots on the other moves in this pivotal offseason.

Rod Thorn will not name a permanent replacement for Frank in part because of the timing, but also because the pending change in ownership makes it impossible for him to do so.

Thorn does not have a contract beyond this season. For the few remaining fans of this team, that’s a scarier prospect than an 0-17 record with Jason Kidd coming to town this week."

Terrific! Not only did the team have a lame duck coach, they might also have a lame duck team president. The 2008-2009 Sacramento Kings things this a bad situation. Are we sure LeBron wants to play for this team next season?

- Speaking of teams that are supposedly suppose to be making a run at LeBron in 2010, the New York Knicks haven't exactly been much better this season. The Knicks are 3-14 on the year and haven't looked like they have improved from the Isiah Thomas era. Now you can blame Isiah for hamstringing this team with bad contracts that they are still trying to get rid of. You can blame a lot of things, but why isn't coach Mike D'Antoni taking the same heat as his counterpart Lawrence Frank? He was suppose to be a small-ball savior for the Knicks, but the Knicks continue to get worse under D'Antoni. And it's clear the players don't like him. That is the only thing to explain Nate Robinson taking a shot at the wrong basket.



Are we sure LeBron wants to go to New York? For what? To play in that grease fire? The basketball in the greater New York area is in a complete mess. I don't know why any 2010 free agent would want to play in New York.

- One of the bigger surprises of the young NBA season has been the Sacramento Kings. The Kings are 8-8 on the season. Everyone is already talking about how they are scrappiest team in the league and that they won't be defeated easily. And this is without their two best players Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia. Who gets the credit for the Kings turnaround? Well you can give credit to both GM Geoff Petrie and coach Paul Westphal.

Petrie gets credit for drafting Tyreke Evans. The Kings right now are the only team that passed on Brandon Jennings that look smart. Evans has played up to his expectations and given a little more. Petrie also hit a home run by drafting Israeli player Omri Casspi and trading for Sergio Rodrigues and Jon Brockman. So Petrie was able to turn a team that was incredibly hard to root for last year, to a team that is contagious to watch. If you don't like watching the Kings this year, then your not a NBA fan. The Kings play the right way. They will probably not make the playoffs this season, but the future looks bright for them.

Credit for the Kings turnaround also should go to new coach Paul Westphal. In the offseason the Kings targeted two people who they wanted to fill in their coaching vacancy. Kurt Rambis and Eddie Jordan. Both said no and took other opportunities. In comes Westphal, who right now looks like the right choice and probably is. Who knows how well the Kings would have played under Rambis or Jordan. The Kings would have most likely struggled adapting to Rambis' Triangle offense like the Timberwolves have. And Eddie Jordan might not have had the patience to deal with a young team like the Kings. By the way, the Kings have a better record than both Minnesota and Philadelphia.

That's why Westphal has been a perfect coach so far in Sacramento. He has a young team buying into his philosophies and system and are winning right now. He was the perfect choice all along, even if the Kings didn't realize it right away. Westphal should get some NBA coach of the year love for the turnaround of the Kings.