National Basketball Association

Disappointing Nets reassign assistant coach Frank to non-bench role

Published Dec. 3, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

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The disappointing Brooklyn Nets shook up their coaching staff Tuesday, reassigning top assistant Lawrence Frank to a non-bench role.

Head coach Jason Kidd said Frank will not be at practices or games, and that he will be writing daily reports. He said the two had ''different philosophies.''

''This is a decision that I had to make and I made it and we move on,'' Kidd said.

Kidd played for Frank with the Nets and hired him when he became a first-time coach in June. Frank had spent the two previous seasons as coach of the Detroit Pistons, and earned a league-high 21.4 percent of the vote as best assistant by executives who voted in the preseason NBA.com GM survey.

Frank is the Nets' career leader in NBA wins with 225. He was expected to work mostly with the defense, but the Nets are near the bottom of the league in that category, allowing 102.4 points per game.

Kidd denied that the defensive struggles were behind his decision.

''Different philosophies and that's it,'' he said. ''We'll figure out how to stop people.''

Kidd said the rest of his staff would remain as is and there would be no new coaching hires.

The Nets brought a 5-12 record into their game Tuesday against Denver, which is coached by Brian Shaw, the other finalist for the Nets job that went to Kidd. Shaw, a longtime successful assistant before finally getting his first head coaching opportunity this season, interviewed just after Kidd and said he thought he had a ''pretty good chance'' to be the Nets' choice.

''Everything happens for a reason. I'm happy in the situation that I'm in,'' Shaw said.

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