https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/623...red-grizzlies/
But when it came to Taylor Jenkins and his future in “Grind City,” the writing was on the wall last summer. And it was written in tears.
In early July, three months after a disastrous, injury-riddled 27-55 season had come to an end, the Grizzlies front office, led by executive vice president of basketball operations Zach Kleiman, made the unilateral choice to swap out five members of Jenkins’ coaching staff.
While Jenkins consulted with the front-office on the hires for six replacements to his staff, those final interactions between Jenkins and the assistants he was forced to fire, league sources say, would set an uneasy tone for the season to come. As some close to the Grizzlies saw the situation, it was only a matter of time before Jenkins would be gone, too.
Former assistant Tuomas Iisalo, whom the Grizzlies hired before this season, will take over as interim head coach, the team announced. He and fellow newcomer assistant Nate LaRoche were driving forces behind Memphis implementing a renovated, motion offense this season, which lifted the Grizzlies to sixth in points per possession, an adjustment the front office encouraged. On Friday, Memphis also fired LaRoche, as well as Patrick St. Andrews, another assistant hired before the season, a league source confirmed. In the end, it’s clear Jenkins’ diminished organizational support coupled with the Grizzlies’ decline over the past two months did him in.
In large part because of its first-year assistants, Memphis has revamped an offense that formerly struggled in the halfcourt. Once reliant on pick-and-rolls, it now leans on clever cutting and off-ball movement. The Grizzlies set fewer screens than any other NBA team. This philosophical shift was a point of contention as this season progressed.
League sources say Morant, in particular, was upset that last summer the team let go of one assistant with whom he was particularly close, Ahearn, who worked with the two-time All-Star more than anyone on staff. This season, Morant worked most commonly with LaRoche, a former trainer with individual players who was in his first season as an NBA assistant and, like Iisalo, played a pivotal part in implementing the new offensive system.
Morant played his entire career for Jenkins and remained supportive of the coach up to the end, a league source said. Morant did not, however, like the new offense. He has played in just 43 games this season, missing this most recent stretch because of a hamstring injury while also dealing with right shoulder soreness. But when he’s been on the court, according to a league source, Morant has complained about the new scheme, which takes the ball out of his hands and removes the screens he likes to use as a ball handler to make plays.
One league source who has seen Morant work out with the Grizzlies recently said, “Some days he looks like he’s ready to play, and some days he looks like he doesn’t want to be there … because he hates the offense.”
Jenkins had begun to reinstall some of the plays Morant likes, a league source said, reimplementing the pick-and-roll and other plays involving screens Morant could use to break free. If doing so angered Kleiman and played a role in Jenkins’ firing, one could understand, but LaRoche was the driving force behind the Grizzlies going away from ball screens to begin with — and he’s gone too.
I'm pretty sure that's Memphis GM Zach Kleiman, not Zach Edey...firing him over Zach Edey
Edey has been about as expected. effective scorer when on the court. cant stay on the court as much as they'd like because he's just too slow. and you arent paying Ja/Bane/JJJ et al to run your offense through Edey
Yeah firing Jenkins assistants and then picking them for him was the end. Dude was basically fired in July, everything else is just severance.
Not sure how implementing an office that runs counter intuitive to your franchise players top skills helps them in the long run. Even funnier when you consider that in the playoffs, lots of games just devolve to pick and roll / iso fest because when you are into game 3 against the same team with a good coaching staff they have sniffed out and neutered lots of your off ball actions.
Organization that never one anything making decisions that show why they never won anything.
Will be interesting to see if they move Ja, it honestly seems like the right move.
Undersized, not a good shooter (on the court
Two years left on his deal, perfect time to move him.
I don’t think we should move with Mitch going forward. Wemby will be starting his 3rd year. We can’t afford to waste anymore years with being mediocre. Hire the best possible coach and go from there.
One note, Ja has three years left on his rookie extension, not two. Souldn't be too hard to move him though if they wanted.Will be interesting to see if they move Ja, it honestly seems like the right move.
Undersized, not a good shooter (on the court
Two years left on his deal, perfect time to move him.
One major benefit of hiring Jenkins would be that we'd become far less likely to continually get cucked by Memphis
No way they're not moving Ja, he hates Iisalo's offense.
Why draft Edey if your not going to use him to set screens
If it’s a “players league” shouldn’t he be the one held responsible for their playoff flameouts?
Not a Glitch fan, I just see the writing on the wall. Obviously, Wemby can try to force his pick, but I don’t think he will.
Reading reddit, the spin job is hilarious from Memphis fans. "Coming off an injury riddled season, we forced the coach to fire a bunch of assistants and bring in new ones. Our offense wasn't good enough, we had to move away from PnR action. But also, our best player is a ball dominant athletic PG and we drafted a giant dude with a lottery pick to help set screens. We brought in 2 new assistants to design the offense(LaRoche and Iisalo) but they apparently have conflicting ideas on what that offense should look like, where LaRoche wanted a motion offense and Iisalo liked PnR. None of this really meshed so we fired the HC with like a week remaining in the regular season. That is long enough to figure out if we like Iisalo or not. This definitely is what needed to be done and not a sign of horrible dysfunction."
Dallas and Memphis have some geniuses running things
Grizzlies did the right thing. Ja is next out the door. There is dysfunction there. Tear it down.
If Jenkins doesn’t sit out next season - the Kings seem like the type of team to hire him.
Dallas should have got way more for Luka but they weren’t wrong about his fat ass.Dallas and Memphis have some geniuses running things
the Kings, Spurs should hire him.
Ja Morant is a much better candidate than Doncic was for the shock treatment of a major trade. Even putting his maturity & behavioral issues aside, I'd be nervous about maxing out and giving the franchise player le to an undersized guy with shooting, turnover, defense, and availability issues. Ja's supposed advantages remind me a lot of Iverson's back in the day, more street cred & highlight reel hype than objective impact. Taylor Jenkins will probably look back at this firing someday as a blessing.
Please note that you are using the words shooting and firing in the same post as Ja. These words could have double meanings.
it wouldn't be fair to me, I deserve to go out on my own terms
Why hasn't there been any rumors linking him to the Spurs yet smh?
It's such an obvious choice, it makes me fear Spurs wanna keep Mitch "learning the job" Johnson for another season at least (as a Pop backup?)
Man, I hope the Spurs don't pass up any legitimate candidates to wait around for nothing.
You can't even wipe your own ass
Jenkins is a "good" coach based on what? If it's because they won a lot of games, so have punching bags Brown, Williams, etc.
If it's because of supposed x and o a en, what is it he was supposedly doing that others weren't?
He's another that seemingly lacks presence, which is the same thing Johnson lacks and the number one quality they should be prioritizing.
Got what I wanted!!
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