Lawrence Frank hasn’t been wanted lately.
First, the Pistons fired him. Then, Jason Kidd used him and humiliated him. Lionel Hollins, hired by the Nets to replace Kidd, had no place for him, either.
But Doc Rivers wanted Frank, and now the Clippers have him.
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... -clippers/
Frank took over the Celtics defense after Tom T, and while he is not the level of head coach, or as good a defensive mind, he's a very good one, and Doc trusts him.
“Lawrence has been terrific. He is such an attention to detail coach. He’s funny as hell. He’s been great for the staff. He has done a spectacular job,” Rivers said, noting the difficulty Frank faced at first. “He comes in here and our defense has been set, we have a bunch of veterans who are set in their ways — ‘We do it this way’ — and then he comes in. And for him, he had to make sure we kept doing that. Then improve it. And Lawrence did that. As much as you say about our defense, our numbers are better than last year. Lawrence Frank is the reason.”
http://nypost.com/2011/04/22/frank-ly-f ... h-celtics/
Clippers biggest playoff need is still defense. These are the Ortg of the teams the Clippers have lost to since CP3 joined:
SA Spurs 11-12:
113.7 Ortg
MEM Grizzlies 12-13:
114.6 Ortg (still mind boggling that anyone let Memphis be that efficient over 6 games)
OKC Thunder:
112.9 Ortg
I'm not saying teams should be shut down, but this team has given up basically about 113-115 Ortg in their playoff losses each of the last three seasons, that's a lot to be giving up on offense, and that's puts WAY too much pressure on offensive production to win in the playoffs.
