Detroit Pistons' Coach Lawrence Frank Says Team Is 'Careless'

Detroit Pistons coach Lawrence Frank admits that there’s nothing complex about why his team is struggling in recent games and is off to a 5-12 start.

It’s simply a matter of being careless, plain and simple.

That’s all he could say on Friday after a 90-78 NBA loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on the road.

Some would suggest the Grizzlies played excellent defense. But Frank begs to differ.

“It wasn’t disruptive, frenzied pressure,” he said. “Not to take anything away from them (Grizzlies) but we blew pick and rolls on the side and saw them up top. We just didn’t work the game enough.

“We rushed and we sped up too quickly. We didn’t have the spacing that we’ve had in some of our prior games. Obviously, I give them credit but it wasn’t traps. Some of it was flat out careless.”

The Pistons have not been guarding the post well defensively although Frank has liked some things he has seen, especially the aggressive defensive play underneath of Jason Maxiell.

“The thing is this: we wanted to take away their triggerman,” Frank said. “That was a big part of it. When you front the post, you can’t allow high post action. It’s a major point of emphasis. We got (Zach) Randolph and gifted him six points by not denying the high post pass. In a possession game, that’s points.

“We adjusted and didn’t front the post in the second half. We tried mixing some different double teams. We just fought a whole lot harder. I felt Jason Maxiell’s effort was off the charts. For us, it’s disappointing because if we had been a bit sharper with the ball we obviously would have given ourselves a better chance. “