The Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins with nine games left in the regular season. They fired him one day before they will host the Los Angeles Lakers, who have an identical record and, if the playoffs started today, would meet them in the first round.
To some observers, this was a stunning decision. To others, the timing was the only odd thing about it. This is because both of the following are true:
- Jenkins’ Grizzlies were successful, both in his six-year run and this season specifically. Under his watch, they developed a long list of players, many of whom were not lottery picks, and they developed an identity based on pushing the pace and dominating the possession game. This season, despite Ja Morant missing 30 games, they’re sixth in offensive efficiency and fourth in point differential.
- You wouldn’t guess that Memphis is fourth in point differential based on how it has been playing lately. Morant has missed its last six games, but that’s no excuse for the team ranking 19th in defense since the All-Star break, a stretch in which it went 8-11. On the season, the Grizzlies are 11-20 against above-.500 teams, and they are 9-18 against the other nine teams in the Western Conference’s top 10, so it’s not as if the little slide they’re on now — they’ve lost four of five — is the only evidence that a deep playoff run is unlikely.
I found Memphis’ new offensive system interesting enough to write a feature about it. Even now, its halfcourt offense efficiency is above average, which represents a significant improvement over the rest of the Jenkins era. Nonetheless, the Grizzles have reportedly fired not only Jenkins and assistant coach Patrick St. Andrews (who worked with Jenkins at two previous stops), but Noah LaRoche, the assistant coach who is one of the architects of the offense that was first implemented at Division III St. Joseph’s College of Maine in 2018. (The other architect, then-St. Joe’s head coach Rob Sanicola, is an assistant coach for the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate.)
Does interim coach Tuomas Lisalo, who used similar concepts in a more pick-and-roll-heavy system at Paris Basketball last season and Telekom Baskets Bonn before that, have a chance to stick around past this season? Can he guide them through the tough stretch of schedule that is directly in front of them? (After the Lakers visit Memphis, the Boston Celtics will be there on Monday, the Golden State Warriors the next night.) I am curious to find out. This late in the season, though, there is no perfect analog for the situation he’s walking into.
In recent NBA history, the closest comparison I can come up with is the Cleveland Cavaliers firing David Blatt and promoting Tyronn Lue in January of 2016. It was exactly halfway through the regular season, and the Cavs were 30-11, No. 1 in the Eastern Conference. They ranked third offensively, 10th defensively and, like these Grizzlies, fourth in point differential. In explaining the decision, then-Cleveland GM David Griffin told reporters that he was “measuring more than wins and losses.” He said he couldn’t accept the team’s “lack of spirit and connectedness,” and that he felt that it needed to “buy into a set of values and principles that we believe in.” Even after wins, he said, he could sense that the Cavs’ commitment was regressing.
“I’ve done this for a long time, and I know what it’s supposed to feel like,” he said.
Griffin was vindicated that June when Cleveland came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Warriors in the NBA Finals. For Memphis, that should not be the bar. That situation reminds me of this one, though, because the best way to explain it is that the team hasn’t had the same spirit lately. Maybe the writing was on the wall for Jenkins when the team turned over most of its coaching staff, but I suspect he’d at least have had the opportunity to finish the season if the Grizzlies’ collective vibes had been better on their recent road trip. They essentially fell apart in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers and the fourth quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder. During a timeout in their game against the Utah Jazz, a game they went on to win by 37 points, Desmond Bane shoved Santi Aldama on the sideline.
Even more than usual, you can expect NBA coaches to rally around Jenkins in the coming days, pointing to his track record, the fact that Memphis isn’t a superteam and the various setbacks Jenkins faced. (In addition to the Morant injury, Jaren Jackson Jr. missed five games earlier this month, and last week the Grizzlies lost Brandon Clarke to a season-ending knee injury.) I can already hear the outrage: If winning 60% of your games doesn’t protect you, what does?
This type of reaction is understandable. Sometimes, though, the decision to fire a coach is not strictly about wins and losses, and it’s not about track record, either. Sometimes, the front office simply feels that something is off, that there is a disconnect, and that the current coach is not the guy to fix it.
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