Nets' wins leader had his contract extended this summer By Al Iannazzone / Special to YESNetwork.com Lawrence Frank's off-season is winding down, one that has been longer than he had hoped. But it gave the Nets coach more time to prepare for the 2007-08 season and suffice it to say he's ready. "Oh, we're looking forward to it," Frank said. "Hey, let's go." When this conversation was had, it was three weeks before the official start of training camp, not long after Frank returned from seeing a private workout with Allan Houston. The coach saw enough to inform management that they should take a shot at the onetime Knicks' guard. Houston is said to be considering his options at this time. But it's all part of the off-season for Frank, the Nets' NBA wins' leader whose contract was extended this summer. Aside from some family trips, Frank worked on ways to improve the team from outside or within. Frank was involved in the recruiting of James Posey, who nearly signed with the Nets before spurning them for more green and Celtic green. Frank has watched tape of every Nets' game last season as well as those of other teams. He has no qualms admitting he'll steal ideas or plays from anyone. "That's the nature of it," Frank said. "As Coach Knight told me a long time ago, 'There's only one guy who's ever invented anything and that's Mr. Naismith.' "I may watch end-of-game execution, what they do in the last six minutes of games, what they do off of missed baskets versus made baskets, see how they adjust their defense. You're constantly trying to learn and evaluate." Frank also performed clinics, where he talked to other coaches and exchanges ideas. But his prep is not just relegated to the NBA or sports. He's spoken to college coaches, international coaches, leaders in business and sports psychologists. This is all prompted by having the season end before the calendar turns to June for the fourth straight year, which doesn't sit well with Frank. "You watch the teams playing and you wish you were still part of the process, but you're not," Frank said. "So it just kind of fuels your fire more to figure out things you can do better and differently in order to be one of the last teams standing." "The bottom line is if you always do what you've done you're always going to get what you got. So we all have to do the ordinary things better and we all have to be willing to adapt to different things. And it all starts with me." Frank's players have put in the time, too. Jason Kidd has been a fixture at the practice facility when he wasn't with team USA, golfing or vacationing. Vince Carter has been in and out of New Jersey. Richard Jefferson worked out in Vegas and has been in East Rutherford recently. And everyone has raved about what Bostjan Nachbar, Antoine Wright and Marcus Williams have done. Right now, most of the young guys - Wright, Marcus Williams, Sean Williams - are in working on individual stuff, playing pick up games with Malik Allen, Robert Hite and some training camp invitees such as Mateen Cleaves, Rod Benson and Eddie Gill. In less than three weeks, camp will begin and everyone will be there, listening to Frank and his staff preaching some of the old, but adding some new. "We do some different things so everyone starts on equal ground," Frank said. "We may put in some new stuff to start camp so everyone is on equal footing. It's not veteran guys saying, 'Oh we know this,' and they subconsciously get to a lower gear. "Yet we have guys who are winners and winners understand that training camp is the breeding ground and the building blocks to developing a highly competitive team." The changes you can expect will be on offense, where Frank promises the Nets will be more motioned oriented. Of course, he also wants to see more of a level of commitment on defense, which the Nets didn't show until the latter stages of last season. "When we defended well -- look at the playoffs -- we put ourselves in position to win virtually every game we played," Frank said. "So to me it's common sense." "[Offensively], Vince obviously is a special player. But at the same time we want to spread the burden around. With us being more movement oriented, it gives us more balance and it's a little bit less predictable." Frank is sitting in his office, ready to finish his next project when the call ends. Whether it's tweaking the playbook, meeting with his staff or going over some of the offensive defensive sets, the coach, known for his preparation, is just about done with his. Training camp is less than three weeks away and Frank doesn't want a fifth straight May exit from the postseason. Frank will be ready. He would be if camp started today. Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.). http://0rz.tw/b7347 --

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