Detroit Pistons coach Lawrence Frank hails rookie point guard Brandon Knight – NBA News
Detroit Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank recently paid tribute to the team’s rookie point guard Brandon Knight.
Knight was an early first round draft pick in the 2011 Draft for the Detroit Pistons. After regular starter Rodney Stuckey got injured and was sidelined, the starting guard position came to Knight, who took full
advantage of the opportunity.
Knight started 60 of the 66 games he played this season, and averaged 12.8 points and 3.8 assists per night. He also finished at 8th place in this year’s Rookie of the Year title race.
In a radio interview with Jim Rome, Frank said:
“Brandon came in, his work ethic -- I would say both he and Ben Wallace are consistently our two hardest workers. He just had a great aptitude and just soaked everything in. He just earned it”
“He didn't start the first six games. We started Rodney Stuckey and Ben Gordon. Rodney got hurt, and really from that point on, Brandon had the keys. He learned through trial and error but continued with his
work ethic and his preparation” added Frank.
Detroit started the season with a 4-20 win record and then went 21-21 to finish the season with a 25-41 record. The turnaround is worth appreciating, even though the Pistons have a great deal of work ahead of
them.
Frank said that he was happy with the way his team fought throughout the season particularly after injury to Stuckey and a poor start. He was also very pleased with the performance of Knight, but also added that
this was just the first step and there was a lot of work to be done before Detroit could start challenging some of the stronger teams in the NBA.
“Considering the really tough start and just dealing with all the things everyone deals with and just to see the growth, you saw the potential. To go .500 after a 4-20 start, there's definitely some positives
with it” added the coach
The Pistons were once one of the best teams in the NBA back in the days of Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace and Richard Hamilton. They had many successful playoff runs, including two trips to the NBA Finals and
one NBA championship. That Piston team also holds the unique record of having all five of their starters being named as All Stars that year. They have since then fallen down but a return to their glory days is awaited and if ever there was a man to architect
that, it is Frank.
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