Jax backs Jason in Frank mess
IN HIS complicated and nasty saga with Lawrence Frank, Jason Kidd has a staunch supporter in Warriors coach Mark Jackson.
The two coaches with similar backgrounds turned their pregame interviews into a lovefest for one another, but Jackson changed the mood when asked about Kidd cutting off his lead assistant.
“To me, I think too much was made of it. I think it’s clownish,” Jackson said Wednesday before his Warriors saw their 10-game winning get snapped against the Nets at Barclays Center. “There’s no difference of opinions with my staff and I. They give suggestions. Some I go with. Some I don’t. But at the end of the day, it’s my decision and we are united in whichever way we decide to go. If you have a problem with that, you should not be my assistant coach. That’s the way I feel about it.
“I’m not saying that happened here, but wherever it happens, it shouldn’t take place. So just disappointed in the way it was handled and how much credit is given to a head coach and how much fault is given. It’s a no-lose situation if I get credit when we win. But when we lose, Jason can’t coach a lick. He’s a Hall of Fame basketball player. He’s an all-time great. He’s going to be a heck of a basketball coach.”
Kidd “reassigned” Frank last month to writing daily reports, citing philosophical differences as the reason for the change. He also reportedly cursed out Frank in a coaches meeting at the beginning of the season.
It has been an ugly fallout, with Frank hiring high-powered attorney David Cornwell presumably to negotiate a buyout from his sixyear contract.
Jackson can probably understand Kidd’s situation better than anybody. Like Kidd, he got his gig without any coaching experience, in 2011. When the Warriors were successful last season, much of the credit was given to Jackson’s top assistant, Michael Malone, who became the head coach of the Kings before this season.
Jackson, the former Knick and St. John’s point guard, was a Nets TV analyst from 2005-08, when Kidd was the point guard and Frank was the head coach.
“I cannot speak about Jason Kidd and Lawrence Frank because I do not know it,” said Jackson, who said he still speaks with Kidd. “But everybody has to know who is in charge, and that’s the head coach. He’s the guy calling the shots. I’ve never seen any of the Pips trying to lead. That’s Gladys’ role. Let Gladys (Knight) be Gladys.”