Lawrence Frank gets Bzdelik'd...
For his second franchise in a row, Kiki Vandeweghe has firebombed the roster, sacked a decent coach with the carnage and prayed for some luck with the draft and free agency. It worked for the Nuggets, but will it work for the Nets in New Jersey/Brooklyn?
Let's take a quick trip back to 2002. The Nuggets are floundering with a losing record, a coach/team president that calls a Hispanic fan a "Mexican piece of shit" and an expensive, relatively worthless roster featuring the likes of draft busts Raef LaFrentz and Tariq "Don't Call Me Olivier St. Jean" Abdul-Wahad, the mercurial Nick Van Exel and the grossly overpaid Avery Johnson. In comes Kiki Vandeweghe - a former Nuggets star who had been mentored by the Nelsons in the Mavericks front office - as the new G.M. Vandeweghe's first act, a bold and swift one, is to deal away LaFrentz, Abdul-Wahad, Van Exel and Johnson to his former team, take back some expiring contracts, suck for a season-and-a-half and hope for the best with free agency and the draft.
The huge - and in my opinion, unforgivable - misstep of drafting all-time bust (and Denver Stiffs Hall of Famer) Nikoloz Tskitishvili aside, Vandeweghe's gamble worked. As part of the plan, Vandeweghe brought in a young, hard-working coach in Jeff Bzdelik to change the culture on the floor and the Nuggets remarkably won 17 more games than they should have in the 2002-03 season. 17 wins was low enough, however, for the Nuggets to score Carmelo Anthony in the 2003 draft and by parting with those heavy contracts, the Nuggets had enough cap room to sign Voshon Lenard, Andre Miller and my all-time favorite one-season Nugget, Jon Barry.
Years later and in a new geographical location, Vandeweghe is doing very similar things in New Jersey under the tutelage of Rod Thorn (who in the ironies or ironies swindled Vandeweghe into trading three number one picks for Kenyon Martin in 2004). Hired in late 2007 as a "Special Assistant" to Thorn, Vandeweghe became the Nets G.M. in May of 2008.
During Vandeweghe's tenure with the Nets, the franchise has dealt the aging, overpaid Jason Kidd to Dallas for Devin Harris and several soon-to-be-expiring contracts including Trenton Hassell's, sent the overpaid Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee for Yi Jianlin and Bobby Simmons' soon-to-be-expiring contract and recently traded another max player, Vince Carter, to Orlando for the expiring contracts of Rafer Alston and Tony Battie.
Left in the wake of all these deals is the 26th lowest payroll in the NBA with the salaries of Simmons, Alston, Battie, Hassell, Keyon Dooling and Jarvis Hayes coming off the books in 2010. Plus, the Nets have one of the better young point guards in the NBA in Devin Harris, a solid center in Brook Lopez (even though my Uncle Marty claims he's a Stiff after watching him up close against the Nuggets last week), a good swingman in Chris Douglas-Roberts and even Yi was playing well before going down with another injury. Oh, and the Nets have their own lottery pick plus the Mavericks' first round pick in 2010.
But also left in the wake is a lost season that head coach Lawrence Frank - whom Vandeweghe inherited - is about to take the fall for. Saddled with a gutted-out, injury-riddled roster Frank is being Bzdelik'd. And it's not fair. Lest we forget that Frank won his first 13 games in a row when he took over the Nets for Byron Scott several seasons ago. But life's not fair (Frank does make - gasp - $4 million a year, so I don't feel that bad for him) and unlike Bzdelik's amazing performance in 2002-03, Frank's team is losing all the games they're supposed to lose.
Similar to the situation for Bzdelik in Denver, Vandeweghe won't stand up for Frank (even though this is clearly Vandeweghe's plan) and is just buying time before he can hire a big name coach to right the ship when LeBron James and/or other free agents and a top draft pick join the franchise next summer. Different from what happened in Denver, though, is that Vandeweghe is rumored to take over as head coach. I guess the bottom line is that when you lose your first 16 games (about to be 18), no matter how bad your roster/injury situation is your job isn't salvageable. Good bye, Lawrence Frank.
How's this for a far-fetched prediction moving forward? Vandeweghe takes over as coach for the remainder of the season and - a la Kevin McHale in Minnesota - the Nets beat up on some equally bad teams en route to winning about 15-18 games with a spirited effort on the floor. Then, the Nets score LeBron in the 2010 free agent sweepstakes (I really don't think LBJ is leaving Cleveland, but if he does it's to the Nets who have the best surrounding cast plus cap space to offer him) and none other than current Nuggets coach George Karl takes over as head coach when the Nuggets fail to offer Karl an extension. (On a side note, I used to think that Karl was imposed on Vandeweghe by Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke in 2005 but have since learned that Karl and Vandeweghe have a friendly relationship and get along great, so I'm just connecting the dots here.)
With Karl overseeing a roster featuring Harris at point guard, Courtney Lee or CDR at shooting guard, LBJ at small forward, (enter free agent here) at power forward and Lopez at center, the Nets move into their shiny, new Brooklyn confines in 2011 with the support of their Russian billionaire owner as a championship contender.
Frank might be getting Bzdelik'd right before our eyes, but sunny days are ahead for the Nets and Kiki knows it.
Photo courtesy of AP Photos: Bill Kostroun
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Comments
Over at ESPN they hinted that Kiki might be a GM-Head Coach combo
In other words, the Mike Dunleavy of the Eastern Conference.
I’m still mad at Kiki for trading Jameer Nelson for a draft pick that became Julius Hodge. I’m also mad at him for taking Julius Hodge and Linas Kleiza over David Lee, Monta Ellis, and Louie Williams.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious." - Charles Shackleford
"If the NBA were on channel 5 and a bunch of frogs making love were on channel 4, I'd watch the frogs, even if they were coming in fuzzy." - Bobby Knight
"We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors." - Weldon Drew
by LACK on Nov 29, 2009 12:33 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
NJ still has their 1st round draft pick, if I'm correct
If they do, they could tank, pick up John Wall, trade Devin Harris and Yi Jianlian to Mike Dunleavy for Blake Griffin, and go on to make the playoffs.
George Karl will stay here…I just know it. The only way he doesn’t is if the team drastically falls.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious." - Charles Shackleford
"If the NBA were on channel 5 and a bunch of frogs making love were on channel 4, I'd watch the frogs, even if they were coming in fuzzy." - Bobby Knight
"We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors." - Weldon Drew
by LACK on Nov 29, 2009 12:41 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
Kiki as Coach?
If kiki becomes coach, my assumption is that he will ultimately be sacrificed with Frank. It’s too bad because Frank seems like a solid coach and his teams play hard. He just does not have the horses this year. Kiki made a few bad moves, but he was ultimately the one responsible for stabilizing the franchise and setting the table for today’s success. I still think how cool it would be to have Amare and Nene, but things have worked out ok in large part due to Kiki’s moves.
by ACEIII on Nov 29, 2009 2:17 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
No, some assistant
Tom B-something. Don’t remember his exact name. Read it at NBA fanhouse
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious." - Charles Shackleford
"If the NBA were on channel 5 and a bunch of frogs making love were on channel 4, I'd watch the frogs, even if they were coming in fuzzy." - Bobby Knight
"We have a great bunch of outside shooters. Unfortunately, all our games are played indoors." - Weldon Drew
by LACK on Nov 29, 2009 3:08 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
Pete Newell called the step back jumper "the kiki move."
With the Kiki move I always thought ….this is a guy who hates to lose and will find a way to win. did he have all star talent ? No, This is a guy who just finds a way to compete and win, at UCLA, in the NBA and now as a GM type guy…Want to bet against him and Russian billions? Kiki found a move that would work on the court – a step back and a step back hesitation then drive… All kids are taught those moves now…. Sorry Coach Frank the pros in the locker room knew what was coming…. They will play now or be gone…. this was a great article…about the “new Kiki move.”
by 3for5spotshooter on Nov 29, 2009 2:31 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
kinki vandewedge
bzdelik became coach by default. he was coaching the summer league team. nobody wanted to coach denver’s impending disaster. kinki kept coach buzz on because he could not find anyone else. boston coach doc rivers was in charge for the franchise record 18 game losing streak. i give danny ainge all the credit in the world for sticking with rivers. the next season boston takes the nba championship. kinki always got too much credit through out his career. frank’s firing was a totally guttless move on vandewedge’s part. he should have been a stand up guy and reminded the world of the boston situation. rod thorn should make kinki the clown coach that team then fire his ass.
pick up a calf every day pretty soon you will be picking up a cow
by nohoops4u on Nov 29, 2009 4:27 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
Kiki is going to be the coach according to ESPN
But Andy, how in the world do you think that IF LeBron jumps ship that the Nets have the best supporting cast? If that’s the case, there’s no reason to leave Cleveland because A) they have a better supporting cast there already and B) Cleveland can give him an extra year of the max than any other team if I’m not mistaken.
by stiffy on Nov 30, 2009 5:01 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
Let me clarify...
I meant among the teams that will woo LBJ sans Cleveland, the Nets have the best supporting cast. It really comes down to Knicks vs. Nets, and the Knicks supporting cast is garbage compared to the Nets despite their records right now…
Andrew Feinstein | DenverStiffs.com | denverstiffs@gmail.com
by Andrew Feinstein on Nov 30, 2009 5:13 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
What about Simmons' case that the Clippers may try to woo LeBron? Not a bad supporting cast there ...
Denver Stiffs.com: Defending the sovereignty of Nuggets Nation.
by Nate Timmons on Dec 1, 2009 8:37 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

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