New Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd played some of his best years under Lawrence Frank. Now the future Hall-of-Famer is asking the former Detroit Pistons coach to be his assistant, according to ESPN.com.
"The invitation is out there, so it's up to him," Kidd said Friday on ESPN Radio morning show "Mike & Mike." “He's in a special situation. He's at home, his wife is sick, so I understand coming off of coaching [the Detroit Pistons] and [possibly] wanting a year off with his family, so I respect that. The big thing is he knows how much I love him and how much I need him, but family comes first, and I respect that."
Frank’s wife is going through an illness that has not been disclosed to the press and required surgery in March. According to Frank she will be on a prolonged road to recovery.
Kidd said he is currently scouting for his coaching staff.
"There's a lot of people that have come out publicly saying that I need to get a seasoned staff, and that's what I'm looking at, people who maybe have been head coaches in this league or have been assistants and understand what it take to have some success so I can learn on the job," he said. "One of those candidates is Lawrence Frank that I'm trying to get because we get along well, I trust him and I think he understands what it takes to have some success in this league."
"Jason and I are going to be going through and talking to potential candidates for an assistant coaching job," said Nets general manager Billy King on New York Sports radio station WFAN. "There are guys that we've targeted and we're going to reach out to them and talk to them. It's interesting now a lot of names are out there. Some are true, some are false. But we're gonna try to move as quickly as we can and get a staff in place for him that can assist him and help him and compliment his positive attributes and the areas where he's weak."
Kidd got the job only 10 days after he announced his retirement. He shot down any speculation that he would be a player-coach.
"No, there will be no uniform under my suit," he said.
Kidd will get his first stint on the bench, as a coach, when the Nets begin their summer league games in Orlando, Florida, according to King’s interview on WFAN.
