RealGM

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2017/11/27/memphis-grizzlies-fire-head-coach-david-fizdale/899281001/

More to come.

Bet our Grizzlies forum gets some extra traffic today haha.

My personal thoughts on the matter are that Gasol was upset with Fizz and actually was upset with him at times last season too. His outburst is understandable since we are losing and teams are doubling him every time he even looks at the ball. The FO however is using him as a scapegoat. They haven’t done anything to surround him and Conley and more importantly they alway kick out the coach if he challenges them. Hollins and Dave were both good coaches but they challenged the FO and their decisions and weren’t resigned. Fizz has challenged the FO publicly a couple times already with some not even being basketball related. They saw an opportunity to fire him and took it. Yes the product on the court was bad and not what we wanted, but Conley is out and we are have more G-league players getting time than one would want on a playoff team. That's why I think there was more to it.

Thoughts on him as a coach? Bucks can here hoping that Kidd gets fired. Would he be a good replacement for a bunch of young players?

It's hard to tell. He seems to lack strategy and his plays coming out of timeouts are not always the best, but he had guys doing things they normally hadn't done before. Conley was playing off the ball and Gasol was stepping out to the 3pt line. Most coaches may have done that though. Harrison improved some throughout the season but is still at best a 3rd string PG. The other young players didn't seem to develop much but the vets did so take that for what it's worth. Fizz brings energy and culture which may work better with young players than established vets.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/news/david-fizdale-fired-reaction-memphis-grizzlies-news-lebron-james-dwyane-wade-twitter/1b0vp46u3bjl41a2wzf5z7mxue

Here are my thoughts:

First off, David Fizdale is still a solid coach who will find another coaching position sometime next season. I feel that his firing was quick and unexpected in-spite of the current record. When Fizdale became the coach, he emphasis player development and accountability to his players. He also emphasized the change of direction to how the team needed to play the game of basketball. Going from the Grit-N-Grind Era to a new era of becoming more up-tempo. Unfortunately, that didn't work as predicted. The players on the roster didn't match up with the philosophy in Fizdale's mind. As the result, there was a difference of opinion between Fizdale and Marc Gasol, maybe others as well. We as fans won't know until the rest of the fallout happens in the next few days. Best of luck to David Fizdale on his next adventure.


To the rest of the Grizzlies organization, they failed themselves and Fizdale in terms of solidifying the correct course of direction the team needed to go. We all know that "Father Time" beats us all. They know the players were getting older and as a result, turnovers are inevitable. The Grizzlies have continued to welch on draft picks or trade away draft picks to stay in the pack of winning. This is what happens when you sacrifice your future for your present. What goes up, must come down. With the way this season has gone, I predict the Grizzlies season will be in the downward swing for the seeable future.

Now do you trade mike Conley as well do a rebuild ?

Ballerhogger wrote:Now do you trade mike Conley as well do a rebuild ?

I think we are not in a rebuild mode just yet. Once Conley gets back, our main goal is to squeeze into playoffs. regardless if it is de 8th or 7th position, they want to put up a fight. That would be a huge success this year.

0BobLobLaw0 wrote:Thoughts on him as a coach? Bucks can here hoping that Kidd gets fired. Would he be a good replacement for a bunch of young players?

As a coach, I believe he as an issue motivating players, a core of young players should be motivated enough but you never know. That "motivating issue" is because last year we won very good teams as the rockets, warriors, spurs, clippers but then, we failed against non-playoffs teams that were tanking or losing a lot at least: as the lakers, nets, kings, ...

In defense, he was ok when players motivated but on offense, we are one of the worst teams to watch. With close games, watching Gasol making screens for Andrew Harrison or Selden while evans and Conley are sitting on the corner is just painfull. 70% of our offense starts and ends with Gasol's screen on the three point line and fading instead of attacking the rim. If it didnt work, repeat till the clock runs out. Last year, he wanted to make us a three point team. Luckily Gasol started shooting with a very decent %. but other than that we just sucked. (insert names here like Parsons, Jarrell Martin or Jaymichael Green). You could see Troy Daniels running round and round the three point line and everybody looking for him. Yes, that Troy Daniels that got traded for nothing.

That being said, my point is Fizdale's offense strategy is just dumb.

This action was expected. No first time coach can get away with this and he had to know that. He took the gamble and lost. Do not be sad for Fizdale, as he will not miss a check and will probably end up back with the Miami Heat organization which his family prefers. He is culpable in the players not understanding their roles but not culpable in the players that are on the roster. The front office did him no favors with all this unproven talent on the roster.

I don't personally believe the media narrative that Gasol is the main man responsible for this firing. I think it was a knee jerk reaction from the front office.


From my post on the General Board:

Oh, indirectly he definitely had a lot to do with it in my view. I don't believe that he directly went to the front office after that game, but I could be wrong. I just believe that would be out of character for him. And if you read through his post game comments, they weren't particularly assertive and came off as rather hesitant.

If you read the reports by Givony and some others, the Gasol-Fiz tensions were a known commodity dating back to practices last season. If Marc had demanded the coach be fired, it would have made more logical sense to do so in the offseason. He's a competitor. This would have enabled them to find a better stylistic fit for their personnel. Marc wants to win - how does firing your coach part way through the season help your squad accomplish this?

I am sure Marc expressed his unhappiness with Fiz in the offseason, given the reports of tension. If he didn't believe they could coexist and wanted to strong arm the front office (given the pull he clearly has with the FO), this would have obviously happened in the offseason. I have a hard time believing Marc supports the timing of this firing no matter how disgruntled he was after last game.

These videos focus on the Fizdale dismissal.



The Grizzlies knew they were going to close the door on the Grit-N-Grind Era last season when they interviewed coaches and eventually hired David Fizdale as coach at the time. I'm sure he shared his objectives with the Grizzlies in terms of where he wanted to take the team. If they knew off the bat that his up-tempo objectives were going to be the theme for the new era Grizzlies, they why hire him when they still have half-court players on the roster?

I get the whole winning keeps fans in their seat theme. When the fans themselves see this team chances of going to the playoffs are slim to none, you have to know something lots of warning signs have been going off. The problem is that the Grizzlies have been too busy ignoring the signs. And now it looks like the wheels will be falling off near simultaneously.

Some quick points on the Griz firing Coach Fiz, and how we got to this point. Your point above SD is very valid - with the end of an era present, why did the FO not sign players that fit the new direction? Personally feel the FO has got off lightly for some of their recent decisions, particularly that Parsons contract.



Article is here if you're interested: https://thefourpointplay.blog/2017/11/29/memphis-grizzlies-fire-coach-david-fizdale/

Interesting youtube videos. In my opinion, lots of people talking but nobody know what is happening in there. Before the Nets game, I didnt even know there was a bad relationship and I have watched most games, postgames, forums and grizzlies related webpages bealestreetbears, grizzlybearblues, etc.

"A players coach" they say. Definetily thats what got him fired.