Regime Change Bound To Happen For Nets

Nets basketball boss Rod Thorn fired Lawrence Frank as the coach yesterday morning prior to their game against the Lakers. It was long-time coming, and it was an easy move for Thorn to make.

Frank lasted longer than he deserved. He should have been fired couple of years ago when the team underachieved by not playing defense and losing games to inferior teams they had no business losing to. So let's save that sympathy about him being fired despite having nothing to work with.

In the NBA, no coach survives a winless start after sixteen or seventeen games, especially when it's hard to go through that type of stretch in a league that features a plethora of talent.

The Teaneck native will manage to earn another head coaching job one day because he posted some playoff appearances on his resume and earned respect from his players, so he will be fine.

Frank's firing is nothing more than Thorn trying to save his own job by holding out hope that Kiki Vandeweghe will develop his players better and win games in the process after hiring him this afternoon to be the coach for the rest of this season.

This is a lost cause for David Stern's former deputy.

Nets new owner Mikhail Prokhorov barely knows Thorn to the point that he has never met the guy. It can't be a good thing for Thorn's job security.

The firing of the head coach is only the beginning for this franchise. With Prokhorov waiting for his sale to be approved, expect more moves to be made like a new guy running the basketball operations.

It's been rumored that the Russian billionaire wants his own guys in Russia to run this franchise, and that's his right as the owner of this team. When an owner buys a franchise for the money he paid for, there's no need for him to be loyal to guys that worked for a long time as cruel as it sounds.

Changes can be good sometimes, and now is the right time. As great as Thorn and Kiki Vandeweghe has done in rebuilding this team, this franchise might be better off with an international guy that has new ideas.

The NBA features guys playing from overseas, and it's important the coaches relate to those type of guys so it makes sense for the new owner to go to that direction. It's also a safe bet the new owner wants to draft guys from Russia, which is why it's good to hire his people from there.

The franchise peaked under the Thorn administration, and it's hard to believe it will get any better.

With this team on its way to Brooklyn, it's imperative that the Nets become a playoff team when they play in their new arena so it's smart to make this move when it happens.

The last thing the team needs is a new arena with empty seats. Sure they will sell out for Opening Night and maybe the first five or six games, but New Yorkers demand a winner so it would behoove this franchise to be in this type of situation they are currently in when it comes to 2012.

If Prokhorov had his way, his people would be in already, but this transaction takes a long time to be approved for whatever reason.

It does not make sense for them to come in now with several months to go.

The team is terrible so there's no point for those guys to have their losses on their resume right away when they can absorb them for next year.

Let them get a shot of getting a top pick and go from there.

Thorn and Vandeweghe deserved the right to finish out the year anyway especially for giving the new guys a chance to succeed right away.

Even if they know they are going to be fired, they will show their professionalism by displaying a good work ethic and doing what it takes to make sure there is talent in this organization just like what Frank tried to do in getting his team in a position to win some games even if it was a lost cause.

There's no need to be sad about this and throw a pity party. These guys have nothing to be ashamed of, and they are going to be fine.

What's going to happen is something to be excited about.