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Jonathan Givony: NBA owners (Joe Lacob), coaches (Carlisle, L. Frank) GMs and execs (too many to count) here at the #NetsCombine. Big time opportunity. Twitter

Lawrence Frank, Joe Lacob, Rick Carlisle 

Given some past performances by NBA players in the Olympics, it's not always the case that players are truly focused on the same goal. Sometimes players' own agendas can be an issue. Pistons coach Lawrence Frank was asked this week in a radio interview with Jim Rome whether that could be a concern with this summer's U.S. team in London. "It depends on the fabric of your team," Frank said. "It starts with your best player. Many times if your best player is your hardest worker, he's your most unselfish player and his heart is for the team, the rest of the guys are going to fall in line. If your best player is opposite of that, it's, as we say in the coaching business, rent don't buy." Detroit Free Press

Detroit Pistons, USA Basketball, Lawrence Frank 

This summer's team will be coached by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who led the 2008 team to Olympic gold and was an assistant to Chuck Daly on the 1992 Dream Team that also won. Rome asked Frank why NBA players respect Krzyzewski so much. "He's a transcendent figure in basketball," Frank said. "His success, his class, his professionalism -- everything he stands for is obviously Hall of Fame worthy." Detroit Free Press

Detroit Pistons, USA Basketball, Lawrence Frank, Mike Krzyzewski, Hall of Fame, Chuck Daly 

Gores said there are “no barriers” in communication between himself, Dumars and Frank, and that the on-the-court turnaround in midseason bolstered his faith in Frank's coaching ability. “I had confidence in Lawrence when we hired him,” Gores said. “I have even more confidence in him now because he stays the course. He's about work ethic, dedication, and he wants a team. So the team, as an example, has an amazing chemistry – different chemistry than we had at the beginning of the season; you know, we had a tough year last year in terms of that – and so Lawrence has delivered in all of that.” Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Coaching, Lawrence Frank 

Still, Gores said he was “proud of the effort” the Pistons displayed in bouncing back from a 4-20 start which could have sent the season into a mid-year whirlpool, and confident that with minor adjustments, the Pistons should return to the playoffs next year. “When Coach Lawrence came in, as a new guy, he had to teach everybody a new system,” Gores said. “And the 4-20 start was very difficult. But I'm proud of the fact that they came back and they did their thing. They worked hard. They did all the things that Detroit stands for, hard work. The culture was reset this year.” Gores, a Michigan native who owns Los Angeles-based Platinum Equity, said he thought the Pistons “made a lot of progress” that didn't always translate in the win-loss record. “But it wasn't about even the playoffs this year,” he said. “It was about doing the right thing. We have to represent a quality product in Detroit. We have to represent what we stand for in Detroit. And I think we did this year. We had toughness, we had a work ethic, the players worked very hard this year.” Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Coaching, Lawrence Frank 

Detroit Pistons coach Lawrence Frank tinkered with his lineup this week, with extraordinarily mixed results. When it flopped badly in a season-worst loss Wednesday to the Atlanta Hawks, he was less mad scientist, and more just mad. Frank turned virtually monosyllabic after the Pistons' 116-84 loss. He refused to address any individual performances. Given the opportunity to chalk up the loss to roster tweaks, including starting Austin Daye and sitting out Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace, Frank declined. “No excuse, no excuse,” Frank said. “It doesn't matter. This has nothing to do about experimentation. No excuse.” Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Lawrence Frank 

Frank said he would “keep it in the locker room” when asked what he said to his team. He called the game “very disconcerting,” and when asked which aspect troubled him most, he replied, hyperbolically, “Seventy-two points in the first half, giving up 200 points in a game – it's hard.” Daye missed his first eight shots from the field, finished with four points on 1-of-11 shooting, and said it felt “like we were running uphill the whole game” after the Hawks scored 50 points in the paint and 27 on fast breaks. “They're an aggressive team on the fast break at home,” Daye said. “We knew that coming in. We just didn't really focus enough to get back on defense as quickly as we should.” Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Lawrence Frank 

The Detroit Pistons, even at their lowest early-season points, never looked like a team looking forward to the offseason. That all changed in two losses in Florida the last two days, by a combined 53 points, including a season-worst blowout Monday which left head coach Lawrence Frank at his own personal low point. Frank called the 119-89 loss to the Orlando Magic “embarrassing” and “humiliating.” Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Lawrence Frank 

And he made it clear, with nine games left, that the Pistons have to choose their direction. “The bottom line is there's a fork in the road and we've got to make a decision,” Frank said. “Do we want to be the group that started the season, or do we want to be the group that played the next couple months of the season?” Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Lawrence Frank 

Had Lawrence Frank accepted the Knicks’ assistant coach job in the offseason, it’s possible he would be the team’s head coach. The Pistons head coach — and former Nets head man — is in his first season in Detroit, having passed on the Knicks’ offseason offer of a defensive assistant position. The Knicks chose Mike Woodson, who is now the interim head coach after Mike D’Antoni’s resignation. “I’m happy where I’m at,” Frank said. “I just wish them all the best.” New York Post

Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Mike Woodson, Coaching, Lawrence Frank 

Pistons coach Lawrence Frank was asked after practice Tuesday at the Franklin Covey Wellness Center whether anything was brewing on the trade front. The NBA trade deadline is 3 p.m. Thursday. "I can tell you with a straight face that there's nothing to tell you," he said, just before the team left for Sacramento to face the Kings tonight. So unlike past years, when the Pistons were part of many trade rumors, this year brings silence. Detroit Free Press

Detroit Pistons, Trade, Lawrence Frank 

Frank promised to be upfront with players whenever trade reports start to swirl. "With everything, I've always been very straight-forward with that. ... We've all been through it, and I think the best way is just to be honest," Frank said. "But that's handled by Joe (Dumars) and his group, but when there's times as a coach you just state it as it is. I don't think you ever B.S. anyone about anything." It's doubtful there will be a major shakeup with the Pistons. But they would love to trade one of their underperforming players with a big contract -- Ben Gordon is owed $25 million over the next two seasons and Charlie Villanueva $16 million over the next two -- for a draft pick. Detroit Free Press

Detroit Pistons, Trade, Lawrence Frank 

If Pistons coach Lawrence Frank had a vote, he wouldn't hesitate voting Ben Wallace into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Frank's endorsement Tuesday came about 90 minutes before Wallace set an NBA record for games played by an undrafted player (1,055). "Oh, yeah," Frank said. "Who knows in terms of the voting? But (from my perspective), without a doubt (Wallace is in). "You look at what he's done — he's a champion, four-time defensive player of the year. I think without a doubt he has credentials to be Hall of Fame-worthy." Detroit News

Detroit Pistons, Ben Wallace, Lawrence Frank, Hall of Fame 

On Wednesday, Frank returns to New Jersey to coach against his old team for the first time. “No hard feelings,” he said. “Hey look, I was there for 10 years. I loved it there. We all move on.” New York Daily News

Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets, Coaching, Lawrence Frank 

Former Pistons coach Flip Saunders was the second coaching casualty of the season, fired Tuesday by the Washington Wizards after a 2-15 start. Paul Westphal was the first to get canned, relieved by the Sacramento Kings after a 2-5 start and a feud with DeMarcus Cousins. As one of six first- year coaches, Lawrence Frank of the Pistons doesn't have to worry about such a fate for now, despite the team's 4-15 start. But he knows coaches are ultimately judged on wins and losses, and if there isn't enough winning, you know what's going to happen. "All of us in coaching understand it's a results-oriented business," Frank said at the Wednesday morning shoot-around before the Pistons lost to the Heat, 101-98, at the Palace. "I don't take the fatalistic approach that you're hired to be fired, but we all know that if you don't get the job done you get let go. It's no different than the real world." Detroit Free Press

Detroit Pistons, Coaching, Lawrence Frank 

Lawrence Frank discussed all the minutiae that built into a 17-point loss, then synopsized it in one sentence. "I’m tired of making excuses, we’ve just got to find a way to play better," he said. Ben Gordon, asked if the Pistons’ record is reflective of their real identity, didn’t bite at the cop-out opportunity to say they aren’t really the NBA’s second-worst team. "I wouldn’t say talent-wise," Gordon said. "But we are what we are right now. We can’t just change our record because we think we’re better than we are. So yeah, we’re a 3-13 team and, until we prove otherwise, we have to just keep trying to muster that effort that it takes to win an NBA game, and we haven’t been doing that." Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Lawrence Frank, Ben Gordon 

“He's the right coach,” Dumars said. “Lawrence does a great job. He's a workaholic. He'll get the best out of all of our guys. I think it's been 40 days that he's been with these guys. "So, 40 days is ... not a lot of time. We're having to do everything on the fly with a quick turnaround in terms of training camp and two preseason games. He's doing as good a job as you could possibly do in such a short period of time.” Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Coaching, Lawrence Frank 

It was just another ordinary flight for the Pistons on Monday afternoon. That is until as the team plane taxied down the runway at Hobby International and passengers noticed emergency vehicles following beside the plane. Even then players didn't realize a minor occurrence became big news when a local television station reported a hydraulic issue forced emergency personnel to greet the plane. Basically the plane flew fine and landed smoothly. The problem was the plane couldn't turn right, so the pilot alerted the ground. Austin Daye says he didn't know it was news until he was in the chair at a Houston barbershop. "Quite frankly, we were all shocked," coach Lawrence Frank said. "We all got a hundred texts asking were we all right, but no one knew." Detroit Free Press

Detroit Pistons, Lawrence Frank, Austin Daye 

“If you disrespect any team in this league, you will get disrespected,” Frank said. “We're not losing just because we're playing quality teams. We're losing because we don't deserve to win right now. “By no means are we disillusioned to think that because we're not playing the reigning NBA champs, that all of a sudden … no, no, no. It is very hard to win in this league. Trust me, I know. It's very hard to win in this league. You've got to earn it.” Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Lawrence Frank 

With the Detroit Pistons in a historic stretch of losses, and the schedule and injuries conspiring against quick recovery, coach Lawrence Frank used an earthy cliche to describe his team’s tenuous state. "Not to be insensitive, everyone wants a baby, few want to go through the pregnancy," Frank said. "Guess what, this is going to be hard." His politically correct side caught him for a moment. "I’ve got the utmost respect for women, OK?" Frank said, to the only laughter at his post-game press conference. "But my point is, these are going to be labor pains." The Detroit Pistons, after a 100-86 loss Tuesday night to the reigning NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, are consumed by the ache. Booth Newspapers

Detroit Pistons, Lawrence Frank