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…
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