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Lionel is an average coach. He keeps the team playing together, but he has no signature and no style.

I thought he messed up Mayo.

Since the Grizzlies are finally spending some money, why not get a better coach?

They have one of the best lineups in the NBA if they resign Marc Gasol, but I do not see the Grizzlies becoming a legit contender with Lionel remaining the head coach.

What do you guys think?

Yeah - right. The team is where it is in large part due to Hollins. If you're an OJ fan, rejoice in the fact that he gets a fresh start. Hollins is the right man for the job.

GrizzledGrizzFan wrote:Yeah - right. The team is where it is in large part due to Hollins. If you're an OJ fan, rejoice in the fact that he gets a fresh start. Hollins is the right man for the job.

I disagree.

I think the Grizzlies finally started making some noise because Micheal Heisley finally decided to start spending some money, and Chris Wallace made some good moves.

Shpati21 wrote:I disagree.

I think the Grizzlies finally started making some noise because Micheal Heisley finally decided to start spending some money, and Chris Wallace made some good moves.

The TA and ZBo signings were a big part of it, but look at the way Rudy, Conley, Marc (and even ZBo) have progressed into real (all-around basketball) players under Hollins. It would be absolutely stupid to get rid of him now. He's built a culture of success and hard-nosed (and fun to watch) basketball. There's absolutely no reason to fck with that continuity right now. Yes, I think GaZBo has panned out brilliantly in anchoring our team's offense and you obviously have to give Wallace credit for that. But Hollins has done a great job really emphasizing team chemistry, defensive-mindedness, toughness and maturity into his team.

And no offense, but you sound suspiciously like one of these obnoxious player-fans we tend to see around this forum; they blame Hollins for "holding Mayo back," or like to complain about him "playing favorites" with Mike Conley. Anyone with some sense and a pair of eyes knows exactly why OJ put up the numbers he did under Iavaroni, and it's no coincidence that team sucked ballz. Let's be real, OJ is a nice player, and decent scorer but he has been consistently bad (inefficient) as the primary ball handler, both as a distributor and as a scorer.

Incidentally, Hollins is the one starting Tony Allen (and sometimes Young) over Mayo. And it was a successful decision during the course of the regular season and the playoffs. So if you want to give Wallace credit for the free-agent signings of Allen and Battier that's totally fine, but I think it's only fair Hollins is given props for using them wisely (ie playing Allen and Young instead of OJ).

mid-post wrote:

Shpati21 wrote:I disagree.

I think the Grizzlies finally started making some noise because Micheal Heisley finally decided to start spending some money, and Chris Wallace made some good moves.

The TA and ZBo signings were a big part of it, but look at the way Rudy, Conley, Marc (and even ZBo) have progressed into real (all-around basketball) players under Hollins. It would be absolutely stupid to get rid of him now. He's built a culture of success and hard-nosed (and fun to watch) basketball. There's absolutely no reason to fck with that continuity right now. Yes, I think GaZBo has panned out brilliantly in anchoring our team's offense and you obviously have to give Wallace credit for that. But Hollins has done a great job really emphasizing team chemistry, defensive-mindedness, toughness and maturity into his team.

And no offense, but you sound suspiciously like one of these obnoxious player-fans we tend to see around this forum; they blame Hollins for "holding Mayo back," or like to complain about him "playing favorites" with Mike Conley. Anyone with some sense and a pair of eyes knows exactly why OJ put up the numbers he did under Iavaroni, and it's no coincidence that team sucked ballz. Let's be real, OJ is a nice player, and decent scorer but he has been consistently bad (inefficient) as the primary ball handler, both as a distributor and as a scorer.

Incidentally, Hollins is the one starting Tony Allen (and sometimes Young) over Mayo. And it was a successful decision during the course of the regular season and the playoffs. So if you want to give Wallace credit for the free-agent signings of Allen and Battier that's totally fine, but I think it's only fair Hollins is given props for using them wisely (ie playing Allen and Young instead of OJ).

Well we see this season.

I apologize, I did not mean "fire Hollins now". Without question he should remain the coach for now. I meant to say in the future (next 3-4 years), I see the Grizzlies remaining in the same state, where the only room for improvement is a new coach.

If the Grizzlies match Gasol's offer, I do not see a reason this team cannot be at least a 4th seed.

Shpati21 wrote:I apologize, I did not mean "fire Hollins now". Without question he should remain the coach for now. I meant to say in the future (next 3-4 years), I see the Grizzlies remaining in the same state, where the only room for improvement is a new coach.

If the Grizzlies match Gasol's offer, I do not see a reason this team cannot be at least a 4th seed.

Oh, I thought you meant just dump Hollins now, which is why I got all defensive of him (I love Liono!).

Yeah, I could see a situation where maybe if the teams starts to underperform or tune Hollins out then you look for a more experienced coach. But I'm a really big Hollins fan and I think the Grizz need to take the culture they've started to build with him at the helm and really run with it, meaning keep familiar faces around the organization, good continuity, all that.

mid-post wrote:

Shpati21 wrote:I apologize, I did not mean "fire Hollins now". Without question he should remain the coach for now. I meant to say in the future (next 3-4 years), I see the Grizzlies remaining in the same state, where the only room for improvement is a new coach.

If the Grizzlies match Gasol's offer, I do not see a reason this team cannot be at least a 4th seed.

Oh, I thought you meant just dump Hollins now, which is why I got all defensive of him (I love Liono!).

Yeah, I could see a situation where maybe if the teams starts to underperform or tune Hollins out then you look for a more experienced coach. But I'm a really big Hollins fan and I think the Grizz need to take the culture they've started to build with him at the helm and really run with it, meaning keep familiar faces around the organization, good continuity, all that.

I like Hollins too. But after watching the Grizzlies for the past couple of seasons, I do not think he has the creativity and knowledge to achieve what it is all about.

He did bring on a revolution and developed his players, which is why I think Michael Heisley finally decided to start spending some money.

I just think for a championship contending team, he would be a assistant coach.

I still give credit to Hollins

EDIT: I hope I am wrong though. I would love to see Hollins get it done.

Wow. At this point, Hollins would probably be first coach ever canned for overseeing his team improve.

Don't need that now. Ride the momentum they started.

I could see it in perhaps 2 years.

For instance if we keep getting fairly deep into the playoffs but can't quite beat the elite teams like the Thunder.

The Pistons made a move like that a few years back when they were coming off a trip to the Eastern Conference finals under Rick Carlisle, but fired him and replaced him with Larry Brown, winning the NBA finals the following season (of course, I think they also added Rasheed Wallace during that season).

I think it would have to be a clear upgrade for us to do that though.