Lawrence Frank

Lawrence Adam Frank (born August 23, 1970)[1][2] is an American basketball coach who is currently working as the President of Basketball Operations for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He formerly served as head coach of the Detroit Pistons and the New Jersey Nets, and has been an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics and the Nets.

For the American social scientist, see Lawrence K. Frank.
Lawrence Frank
Lawrence Frank in 2012 as Detroit Pistons head coach
Los Angeles Clippers
PositionPresident of Basketball Operations
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1970-08-23) August 23, 1970
New York City, New York
NationalityAmerican
Career information
High schoolTeaneck (Teaneck, New Jersey)
CollegeIndiana
Coaching career1992–2016
Career history
As coach:
1992–1994Marquette (assistant)
1994–1997Tennessee (assistant)
1997–2000Vancouver Grizzlies (assistant)
2000–2004New Jersey Nets (assistant)
2004–2010New Jersey Nets
2010–2011Boston Celtics (assistant)
2011–2013Detroit Pistons
2013Brooklyn Nets (assistant)
2014–2016Los Angeles Clippers (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
As executive:

Early life and education

Frank was born in New York City, and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey. He graduated from Teaneck High School in 1989, but he never made the school's basketball team.[3] He attended Camp Greylock for Boys, a sports camp in the Berkshires. He played for a Jewish Community Center team and was also a player-coach for a Catholic Youth Organization team.[4]

He earned his B.S. in education from Indiana University in 1992, where he spent four seasons as a manager for the Hoosier basketball team coached by Bob Knight. During his time at Indiana the Hoosiers won the Big Ten Conference championship twice, once in the 1988–1989 season and again in the 1990-91 season. His senior year, during the 1991–92 season, Indiana reached the 1992 NCAA Final Four, but fell to Duke in a foul-plagued game in Minneapolis.

Frank has frequently cited Knight as a role model and mentor.[5] Asked what he learned most of Knight, he said, "It's more of what he stood for. If you work hard and are trustworthy it will carry you a long way. Master your subject matter, have confidence, be reliable and sincere. He is a great mentor and teacher to have at age 18. With him you started at the bottom and were given nothing. Everything you got, you earned—sweat equity."[5]

Coaching career

Assistant coach

Frank served as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee for three seasons under Head coach Kevin O'Neill. Frank first worked with O'Neill as a staff assistant at Marquette University in 1992 and during his tenure, helped lead the Marquette Warriors to two NCAA tournament berths and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1994.[6]

Frank then spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Vancouver Grizzlies under Brian Hill. Hill would later serve as Frank's assistant with the New Jersey Nets.[6] His responsibilities with the Grizzlies included scouting upcoming opponents as well as practice and bench coaching duties.

Head coach

Frank became the interim head coach of the New Jersey Nets on January 26, 2004, succeeding Byron Scott, after serving as an assistant coach with the team since the 2000–01 season. He officially became the head coach of the Nets on June 21, 2004.

Frank began his NBA head coaching career by achieving a 13–0 record from January 27 to February 24, 2004, setting a new NBA record for the most consecutive wins by a rookie NBA head coach. The 13-game winning streak was also the longest winning streak of a rookie head coach in any of North America's four major professional sports leagues. During this streak, the Nets won six consecutive games on the road, giving Frank the mark for the most road-game wins by a rookie head coach.

The Nets picked up the extension option in Lawrence's contract on June 6, 2006, and added a two-year extension on July 23, 2007. However, Frank's tenure as Nets head coach ended on November 29, 2009, after the Nets began the season with an 0–16 record.[7] This streak was ongoing at the time of his dismissal and continued afterwards. Frank was the only coach ever in the NBA to start and end his tenure with a team with a double-digit winning streak and losing streak. Following his firing, Frank worked as an analyst for NBATV. On July 15, 2010, Frank was hired by the Boston Celtics, replacing Tom Thibodeau as the lead assistant coach on Doc Rivers' coaching staff.

On August 3, 2011, Frank was introduced as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons.[8]

After a loss to Oklahoma City Thunder on November 12, 2012, the Pistons fell to 0–8. This made Frank the third coach in the history of the NBA to start at least 0–8 with two separate franchises.

On April 18, 2013, Frank was fired by the Pistons after going 54–94 in two seasons.[9]

On June 28, 2013, he gave in to rookie coach Jason Kidd's rather public recruiting efforts to make Frank (who had coached Kidd when he played for the Nets) his lead assistant coach on the now-Brooklyn Nets. Frank's contract made him the highest-paid assistant coach in the NBA at the time (approximately $6 million over 6 years). Preferring to delegate his authority, Kidd stated that Frank's role would be to run the team's defense, while being Kidd's head-coaching mentor. Kidd placed another assistant coach, John Welch, in charge of the team's offense.[10][11]

On December 3, 2013, Frank was demoted—relegated by Nets head coach Jason Kidd to merely filing team evaluation reports. This so-called "re-assignment" meant that Frank would be banned from being on the bench during games and from even attending team practices. This resulted from escalating tensions and squabbling between the two over the 'right' coaching philosophies, strategies, and tactics for the team.[12]

On September 26, 2014, Frank negotiated a buyout from the Nets and began talks to join the Clippers staff.[13]

Executive career

On June 30, 2016, the Clippers promoted him to Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.[14]

On August 4, 2017, Frank was promoted to President for Basketball Operations, replacing Doc Rivers. Clippers chairman Steve Ballmer removed Rivers from his position as team president to focus on his role as head coach.

Personal life

Frank has a wife and two daughters (Dillon and Catie) and lives in New Jersey during the offseason.[15]

In addition to his degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Frank also holds an M.S. in education administration from Marquette University.

Head coaching record
Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
New Jersey 2003–04 402515.6251st in Atlantic1174.636 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
New Jersey 2004–05 824240.5123rd in Atlantic404.000 Lost in First Round
New Jersey 2005–06 824933.5981st in Atlantic1156.455 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
New Jersey 2006–07 824141.5002nd in Atlantic1266.500 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
New Jersey 2007–08 823448.4154th in Atlantic———— Missed Playoffs
New Jersey 2008–09 823448.4154th in Atlantic———— Missed Playoffs
New Jersey 2009–10 16016.000(fired)————  —
Detroit 2011–12 662541.3794th in Central———— Missed Playoffs
Detroit 2012–13 822953.3544th in Central———— Missed Playoffs
Career 614279335.454381820.474

References
  1. Araton, Harvey (July 22, 2005). "Bench Battle of 2 Lawrences Taking Shape". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 17, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  2. "Lawrence Frank". The Sports Network. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  3. Popper, Steve. "A Coach in Training, Even as a Teenager", The New York Times, January 28, 2004. Accessed March 28, 2008. "Almost 20 years ago, Bruce Frank was the starting point guard for the Teaneck High School team, playing alongside the future N.B.A. player Tony Campbell. Frank was good enough to dream of playing in the NBA himself someday and to earn a place in Howie Garfinkel's Five-Star Basketball Camp. The camp also held interest for Bruce Frank's younger brother, Lawrence, a 16-year-old who had been cut from the same Teaneck High team."
  4. Ira Berkow. "The Improbable World of Lawrence Frank". The New York Times. February 18, 2004. Retrieved on November 29, 2009.
  5. Lamb, Kevin. "Meet Lawrence Frank, Detroit's new basketball coach – Q&A". Sportz Detroit Magazine. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  6. Rhoden, William C. (April 20, 2005). "Sports of The Times; A New Day for Frank, And a New Opportunity". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2013.
  7. Dave D'Alessandro. "New Jersey Nets Fire Lawrence Frank". The Star-Ledger. November 29, 2009. Retrieved on November 29, 2009.
  8. https://www.espn.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4686056
  9. "Detroit Pistons fire coach Lawrence Frank". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  10. Nets Agree to Terms with Assistants Frank, Rogers, Hughes
  11. https://www.espn.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/10075019
  12. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24337763/report-lawrence-frank-retaining-legal-counsel-to-work-on-buyout-with-nets
  13. https://www.espn.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11586219
  14. "Press Release: LA Clippers Name Lawrence Frank Executive Vice President Of Basketball Operations". NBA.com. June 30, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2013-01-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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