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Nets finally begin to think long-term

Before Lawrence Frank succeeded Byron Scott as the Nets' head coach last January, Frank admitted he did not think much about ever being a head coach in the NBA.

"I just didn't see it," said Frank, who spent three and a half seasons as an assistant with the Nets under Scott. "My goal was to see if I could stay in the league as an assistant. I thought that was the greatest job there was."

But now he knows different. At a news conference Thursday morning, the Nets announced that Frank had signed a long-term contract extension that one league official with knowledge of the terms said was guaranteed for three years at roughly US$2.5 million a season. The Nets have an option for a fourth year.

When asked if he still thought being an assistant was the greatest job there was, Frank did not hesitate to answer.

"This tops it," said Frank, who at 34 is not only the youngest coach in the 30-team NBA but is also the youngest coach in any of the four major professional team sports, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Frank's contract extension was only the latest in a series of moves by the Nets, who are trying to solidify what is left of a team that won three consecutive Atlantic Division titles. After a new Nets ownership traded away Kenyon Martin and Kerry Kittles during the off-season, greatly diminishing the team's talent, the Nets did sign Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins to contract extensions of six and four years.

Rod Thorn, the team's president and the architect of the Nets' emergence as an NBA power, was awarded a five-year contract extension during the preseason. Frank said he signed his new deal Wednesday afternoon, hours before the Nets' opened their regular season with a disheartening 100-77 loss to the Miami Heat.

The lopsided defeat did not shake Thorn's confidence in Frank.

"I feel very strongly that Lawrence is a coach who will get us back to where we would like to be," Thorn said. "We'll never have to worry whether this team will be prepared."

When he took over the Nets last season as the interim head coach, Frank immediately guided the Nets to 13 consecutive victories and established an NBA record for a rookie coach.

Frank was named the Nets' full-time head coach on June 21. He now has the contract extension to go with it. But he also has a weakened team that was embarrassed by Miami on Wednesday night, even though Shaquille O'Neal was held to 16 points in his Heat debut.

The Nets' next game is against the Bulls in Chicago.

The NBA returned to Charlotte on Thursday after a two-year absence, but the expansion Bobcats opened their inaugural season with a 103-96 loss to the Washington Wizards.

Replacing the Hornets after they moved to New Orleans in 2002, the Bobcats are expected to struggle mightily this season. Still, they were in this one late as they tried to become the third consecutive expansion team to win its NBA debut, following Vancouver and Toronto (1995).

Charlotte fell short because of youth and inexperience. The game was tied at 85 midway through the fourth quarter when turnovers and poor shot selection allowed the Wizards to go on a decisive 9-0 run.

"We showed our stuff. We showed we're going to fight and play hard and try to win every night," said Emeka Okafor, the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft.

Antawn Jamison, a Charlotte native, led Washington with 24 points. Okafor, paced the Bobcats with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

"They played really hard and have a lot of key components -- it was kind of hard to call them an expansion team," said Jamison. "They've got some talented guys ... they will get a lot of upsets."

Unlike the Hornets' first game in 1988, when they received a standing ovation after a 40-point loss, most of the sellout crowd of 23,319 was long gone by the end. Even NBA commissioner David Stern filed out before the final buzzer. And not everything went smoothly during the opener.

The sound system in the aging Charlotte Coliseum -- where the Bobcats will play this year as their new US$265 million arena is being finished -- wasn't sharp, making team owner Bob Johnson's pregame speech to the crowd difficult to hear.

Heat 92, Cavaliers 86

In Miami, Shaquille O'Neal had 17 points and nine rebounds in his home debut for his new team and Dwyane Wade scored 28 points as Miami beat Cleveland before 20,235 Shaq-crazed fans -- the largest crowd to see a Heat home game.

Coming off Wednesday's 23-point win at New Jersey, the Heat never trailed and improved to 2-0 for the fourth time in their 17-year history.

Drew Gooden scored 24 points and LeBron James had 21 points and eight rebounds for Cleveland (0-2).

Showing no ill effects of the strained left hamstring that bothered him throughout training camp, O'Neal played 32 minutes and shot 7-of-17 from the floor.

Nuggets 94, Timberwolves 92, OT

In Denver, Earl Boykins hit a jumper with 6.8 seconds left in overtime and Carmelo Anthony had 19 points and 14 rebounds to help Denver beat Minnesota.

Denver had trouble shooting in its first game without Voshon Lenard, who tore his Achilles' tendon in Tuesday night's season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Nuggets got 18 points and 13 rebounds from Kenyon Martin in his home debut with Denver, and 19 points from Andre Miller.

Kevin Garnett had 25 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists and five blocked shots, but he couldn't come through on Minnesota's final shot. Last year's NBA most valuable player was short on a turnaround jumper after tying the game at 88 on a jump hook with 10.5 seconds left in regulation.

Latrell Sprewell of the Minnesota Timberwolves says he was treated unfairly by a police officer during a traffic stop this week.

Minneapolis police Lieutenant Lee Edwards said the department's internal affairs unit met with Sprewell and is investigating his charge, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported Friday. The Timberwolves' swingman said he had a previous encounter with the same officer, Edwards told the daily.

Sprewell received a misdemeanor citation Tuesday after arguing with the officer. He was riding in a vehicle that was stopped in downtown Minneapolis about 6pm local time, and Sprewell spoke up while the driver was being questioned about licensing and insurance.

He was told not to interfere and was ticketed for failing to obey the lawful order of a police officer.

Sprewell was given a form on Wednesday to detail his allegations.

The 34-year-old Sprewell recently demanded that the Timberwolves either extend his contract or trade him, saying he was "insulted" by the club's last contract offer of US$10 million per season for the next three years.

"I've got my family to feed," he said, comments that drew criticism from NBA commissioner David Stern.

Sprewell will make US$14.6 million this season.
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