Greg Monroe, Charlie Villanueva are gametime decisions tonight; Lawrence Frank is out
Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News tweeted a couple items related to tonight’s game:
L. Frank (personal matter) out. Brian Hill coaching tonight. Monroe tweaked ankle, gametime decision. CV (sore left hamstring) gametime
— Vincent Goodwill (@vgoodwill) March 6, 2013
If Monroe is out, Maxiell will start at Center and Jerebko at power forward. #Pistons
— Vincent Goodwill (@vgoodwill) March 6, 2013
So many questions. Did the Pistons finally figure out how to tank correctly? Will Maxiell playing center instead of power forward impact his ability to launch jumpers? Will Pistons fans still demand that Frank get an ‘F’ in the game recap grades even though he wasn’t there?
Posted in Notes • 20 Comments
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Mar 6, 2013 • 12:55 pm
by bball4224
Time to sign Ben Wallace!
Mar 6, 2013 • 1:34 pm
by MIKEYDE248
Now’s the time to see if Brian Hill will make a good interim coach.
Mar 6, 2013 • 1:47 pm
by Brandon Knight
Exactly! Someone’s comment on Bleacher Report. #FireFrank
“1) No head coach in the NBA has lost more double digit leads … (2) Starts Singler at SG? (3) Gives up on making Knight a PG? (4) but starts 6-5 Max at PF? Over Drummond, the 11th highest rated player in the NBA in PER, (5) Virtually no position is settled after 2 seasons, and that includes back ups (6) Routinely blames the players without taking any blame himself, (7) regularly gets out-coached in match ups by opposing head coach, and (8) cannot figure out when to call a time out nor what to tell his players coming out of the time out!” – Robert Bayer – Bleacher Report.
Mar 6, 2013 • 2:02 pm
by Chris N
“routinely blames the players without taking any blame himself”
Wow. Never takes any blame himself? Lawrence Frank may have a lot of shortcomings as a coach, but that’s one criticism that doesn’t hold water.
“Virtually no position is settled after 2 seasons, and that includes back ups”
This one’s funny too. One of the most consistent criticisms I’ve seen of Frank (on this site at least) is that Frank is too rigid in his rotations. Love them or hate them, his starting lineups have been pretty consistent.
“Gives up on making Knight a PG”
Seriously? A better option exists and someone is up in arms about it.
Compelling arguments exist for why Lawrence Frank might not be the best fit as coach for the Pistons and I think some of the technical mistakes and, of course, the record can speak to that. But in my opinion, they lose some of their validity when coupled with some of the criticisms above.
Mar 6, 2013 • 2:08 pm
by Patrick Hayes
Very much this. Thanks for being a voice of reason.
Mar 6, 2013 • 3:34 pm
by G
I don’t like Frank as a coach but think the hate has gone too far. He’s not a disaster, just not a very good coach. There are quite a few of those around the league, and we would do well to remember that the Pistons can do worse (and have!).
Mar 6, 2013 • 3:41 pm
by Patrick Hayes
Exactly. Frank is a run of the mill below average NBA coach. There is nothing spectacularly bad about him. Your last line is 100 percent correct.
Mar 7, 2013 • 10:14 am
by T Casey
If getting off to our worst start in franchise history, losing more games than anyone after having a 10+ point lead, and having more blowout losses than our record would typically dictate isn’t a disaster, I’m not sure what would classify as disastrous then. Is it all his fault? No. The players take blame too for not executing plays and matching their opponents intensity every night. However, Frank is the one guy on the team with a big role who has a history of this kind of perfomances. His last season in NJ he coached them to an even worse start and their worst in franchise history and his teams are never known for playing to their potential or exceeding expectations.
Can someone explain to me why his performance as head coach here hasn’t been disaster because it seems like one in almost every way to me.
Mar 6, 2013 • 1:48 pm
by Mongo Slade
They probably would be better off trying to tank against a team like sacramento the Knicks who could probably beat us without Carmelo with are team fully healthy.
Mar 6, 2013 • 1:59 pm
by DasMark
tank! tank! tank!
There’s nothing left to play for. Call it a season and let English and Middleton play 40 minutes a night.
Mar 6, 2013 • 2:04 pm
by Chris N
Does that mean shutting Andre Drummond down for the rest of the season?
Mar 6, 2013 • 2:03 pm
by Tom Y.
Bit of an overkill to tank against the Knicks when we can’t compete with them even when we’re trying to win.
Mar 6, 2013 • 2:19 pm
by danny
I’d say we have a slightly better chance of winning tonight’s game with frank out. Yes that is even without our best player in monroe. The only reason i can think of is we are trying to tank so we give away our pick this year since the draft is weak.
Mar 6, 2013 • 3:32 pm
by G
I’d still rather have the #6 pick than the #9 pick. Tanking is worth it, and even in weak drafts there are good players. DON’T GIVE PICKS AWAY
Mar 6, 2013 • 3:38 pm
by tarsier
Not a Frank fan, but I’m readying myself for soooo many over the top Frank-bashing comments if the Pistons look good tonight.
Mar 6, 2013 • 4:02 pm
by mixmasta
I am betting on this too tarsier. I might as well skip reading the comments after this game.
Mar 6, 2013 • 4:07 pm
by G
I wouldn’t be worried. Monroe’s probably sitting, Charlie V’s out… We’ll be getting a steady diet of Middleton & Slava, Stuckey playing the 3. This could be a 70 point loss.
Mar 6, 2013 • 6:58 pm
by frankie d
it will be ugly. you can count on that.
woodson is a good defensive coach. i am sure he will come up with something that will compensate for melo’s absence and exploit detroit’s obvious holes.
Mar 6, 2013 • 8:12 pm
by gmehl
Hey i am available to play if they need 6 good hard fouls
Mar 6, 2013 • 10:08 pm
by Anthony
Loved seeing Brian Hill coaching tonight. If only he had a complete team. I’m still glad that the Pistons played hard despite having a mediocre frontcourt tonight (especially with undersized Jmax guarding the 7 foot Chandler lol)