According to Mark Berman of FOX 26, the Rockets met yesterday with Boston Celtics assistant coach Lawrence Frank for a second interview. Frank is one of three finalists for the job, along with Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Dwane Casey and TNT Analyst Kevin McHale.
Frank coached the Nets for portions of seven seasons during the late Jason Kidd era and an ugly decline phase once he was dealt to Dallas. The Nets played tough without Kidd, but eventually the rest of the roster was also scattered as Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson, and others found themselves on new teams as well. Frank was fired after starting the 2009-2010 season off with sixteen straight losses.
Frank is very similar to Casey in terms of what he’d bring to the table. A young assistant with NBA head coaching experience and a penchant for getting the best out of his players defensively. While it seems to be common to anoint Casey as the front runner because of the Mavericks recent playoff success, there probably wouldn’t be much of a dropoff in going to Frank, and Frank actually got his teams to the playoffs when he coached them.