Alston’s take from Yahoo Sports:

“I’m excited not only to be with the Nets but to be able to play in front of family and friends, and also the opportunity to help a franchise turn things around,” Alston told Yahoo Sports. “I know we have a lot of young athletic guys. That’s one thing I stressed to Kiki (general manager Vandeweghe) and Rod (team president Thorn) is that I’m very excited to be on the court with a lot of young athletic guys, although I’m getting old.

“Most people get down about a trade. I had the opportunity to get traded from a contending team to another contender. Now I have a chance to help a team turn things around,” concluded Alston.

My Thoughts: He could have been shocked, but the guy is obviously adept at handling the media and is ready to play this upcoming season. While his role will most likely be smaller, Alston did a good job here of playing his cool and giving cliché answers. Nevertheless, he should be a good option off the bench.

Lee’s take from Yahoo Sports:
“Going all the way to the Finals on a good team, just expecting to regroup for next year and make it back to the playoffs again, and to get the news that you’ve been traded—it definitely was a shock but it’s one I have to live with,” said Lee.

My Thoughts: He was honest. Most young players say things like this and when they get older, they learn to keep quiet. Overall, I think it was more of the media trying to look for a story here. On my depth chart, Lee looks to get big minutes and while Orlando was the better team, he will have an opportunity to be a better player in New Jersey. After the first few games, he’ll understand that too.

Missing the playoffs and winning just 34-games for the second consecutive season, the Nets brass still have faith in Frank’s ability as a coach.

“If you get rid of a good coach, you have to get a good coach,” Thorn told the Associated Press. “In my mind he is a good coach, he has done a good job here. I think this past year most people didn’t think we would do well and we did better than expected. Our younger players got better for the most part and my feeling is we are on the right road.”

While Thorn has a point that Frank exceeded expectations with a team that many predicted to be around the 25-win mark, the team played horribly during the second half, winning only four games in March and failing to capitalize on the momentum they had during the first 35 or so games of the season.

Nonetheless, the Nets have a plethora of youngsters on the team that will get better in time and if Frank can find a way to get them the playing time they need, while not being forced to play veterans that can’t get the job done, this team may be in much better shape than the rest of the league thinks.

Knowing this, Frank must find a way to stay firm and put his best lineup on the court every night. Perhaps he’s learned his lesson from keeping Jason Collins in the Nets rotation for so long over the years, especially when the team had other players that could pick up the slack in his place. However, even if the Yi Jianlian situation that started at the end of this season begins again with another player, Frank owes it to the organization to let his youngsters develop and earn their bumps and bruises.

Nothing against Collins, but he never had the potential of guys like Chris Douglas-Roberts, Ryan Anderson, Brook Lopez and Devin Harris. Those guys need every opportunity to prove they belong and can thrive in this league. Playing guys like Eduardo Najera and Bobby Simmons in crucial game situations won;t help the Nets next season and won’t help them in the future as well.

As well, the Nets have to address their needs via free agency and the draft this summer, or else, regardless of what Frank does, this team will revel in mediocrity once again.

That’s something Frank can’t be responsible for, but will have to make the most of.

Battling injuries to key players and inconsistency from their bench and several young players, the Nets indeed have a plethora of work ahead of them before they’ll be a playoff team once again.

“It’s very disappointing,” Nets head coach Lawrence Frank told the Burlington County Times last week. “It hurts. It hurts not being able to participate in the playoffs. We’re a 34-win team. Is that acceptable? No. We want to put ourselves in position to be a playoff team. It you’re not in the postseason, then you should be disappointed.”

Earlier in the season, many felt that Frank was in danger of losing his job. However, it appears for the time being that the young coach has a home for at least one more season.

A season that will either cement his reputation in the league or force him to attempt to find a new home to do his job.

“I have always liked Lawrence as a coach and been supportive of Lawrence,” Thorn told the Associated Press a few days ago. “I know a lot of good things he does as a coach, it’s part of it. We’ve won a certain number of games two years in a row and it’s natural we sit down, we always sit down at the end of the year and talk about players, coaches and this is part of it.”

While Frank and the organization feel a bit more pessimistic about the team’s current situation, the team itself has a few ideas on how to make sure they don’t miss the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

“We’re just a couple of pieces away,” Vince Carter insisted to Yahoo Sports. “Rebounding, that’s what we need. We just need a guy who cleans up the glass. We have a lot of scoring. We have a lot of shooters. We have guys who can just get a bucket when you need it.”

While Brooks Robinson was no slouch on the boards this season, Carter definitely has the right idea here. A player that could help out on the boards at the power forward position could be a huge step in the right direction for this team, especially considering how inconsistent Yi Jianlian was last season.

Photo by Bill Menzel.