Memphis Grizzlies Fire Coach Taylor Jenkins

Stannis · Post #41 » by **Stannis** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:45 pm

NZB2323 wrote:They’re tied for the 4th seed and have the 2nd best point differential in the West despite Ja only playing 43 games.

It seems like the Clips, Warriors, and Wolvers are right below them though and are smelling blood.

This will either be a really dumb decision by the Grizzlies or they will look like geniuses lol

MemphisX · Post #42 » by **MemphisX** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:47 pm

Jenkins has been horrible. But most do not watch the Grizz.

xxSnEaKyPxx · Post #43 » by **xxSnEaKyPxx** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:47 pm

What a horrid decision.

Is something else going on here? Some kind of legal trouble about to come out?

May end up being the Lakers coach next season if not.

EmpireFalls · Post #44 » by **EmpireFalls** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:47 pm

MemphisX wrote:Jenkins has been horrible. But most do not watch the Grizz.

Explain why? Aren’t they 4th in net rating?

xxSnEaKyPxx · Post #45 » by **xxSnEaKyPxx** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:48 pm

MemphisX wrote:Jenkins has been horrible. But most do not watch the Grizz.

How good do you believe the Grizzlies roster is?

DusterBuster · Post #46 » by **DusterBuster** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:49 pm

Wow, I don't recall ever seeing a playoff team fire their coach this late in the season.

cgf · Post #47 » by **cgf** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:49 pm

MemphisX wrote:Jenkins has been horrible. But most do not watch the Grizz.

Could you explain for those of us who don't watch them often what's been going wrong? Seems like he's been getting great results from his roster.

wco81 · Post #48 » by **wco81** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:50 pm

Tor_Raps wrote:Wtf? He's been making that team overachieve and has had to deal with a lot of crap.

Some serious stuff behind the scenes must have been going down.

HotelVitale wrote:??? I thought he'd been kinda killing it with a weird often-injured roster for years now. Seems like that'd be enough to buy enough good will to get through a shaky time now. Must be some personality business behind the scenes.

They have a pretty good roster, Ja and JJJ are high-lotto picks who have already been all-NBA and DPOY. Bane is all-star level.

They've been killing it with late first round and second round picks who turn into very good rotation players.

If anything, they are playing poorly, especially lately. Though Ja isn't anything like he was a couple of seasons ago, before the guns thing.

I don't know if his injuries have been that bad or they've just been load managing him to make sure he's healthy for the playoffs. But he still seems unstoppable at end of game situations when he's going downhill.

DusterBuster · Post #49 » by **DusterBuster** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:50 pm

EmpireFalls wrote:
MemphisX wrote:Jenkins has been horrible. But most do not watch the Grizz.

Explain why? Aren’t they 4th in net rating?

I would like some context as well. It does seem as though he's lost the lockerroom tho based on some of the body language and in-fighting on the team. If you lose a lockerroom, there's no point in letting you stay as coach.

Stannis · Post #50 » by **Stannis** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:50 pm

meekrab wrote:
Stannis wrote:
The High Cyde wrote:Wow right before the playoffs? I’ve been out of the loop with Memphis, it was that bad?

It's not great. But odd timing for sure.

He already missed last night's game due to a death in the family. And then this morning he is fired. Two months before playoffs. 5th in the West, 60% W

5-5 in L10 games. Seed 6-8 (Clips, Warriors, and Wolves) look like they are catching up. So the only thing I can think of is ownership was feeling the pressure that they might potentially miss the playoffs or have to do the play-in.

It still doesn't add up to me unless Grizzlies have a replacement in mind, and so far, I don't think they do. Seems like they are just gambling on the "new coach effect".

Was it someone particularly close to him? Maybe he asked for some extended time away and they said "how does forever sound?"

I'm not sure. No details disclosed. I hate to accuse somebody of using family death as an excuse.... but wondering if there was tensions behind the scenes and Coach Jenkins really needed a day off to let off some steam. Or maybe it was just a made up excuse/cover up because Taylor was a no-show.

This local article on him missing the game just seems "odd" to me. It seems like they were pumping up Tuomas Iisalo before the actual firing.

https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/nba/grizzlies/2024/11/06/memphis-grizzlies-taylor-jenkins-los-angeles-lakers/76093348007/

Yoshun · Post #51 » by **Yoshun** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:51 pm

There's obviously something behind this. Memphis have been great this year and in spite of Morant missing a bunch of games.

Big J · Post #52 » by **Big J** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:52 pm

If you watch the Grizz you’d know why they fired him. His rotations and coaching decisions are terrible. Smart move IMO.

kingr · Post #53 » by **kingr** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:53 pm

1.5 games back from 3rd in the wild west.... With Ja Morant constantly injured, players in and out of the lineup etc... He's done a great job. Has to be non-basketball related.

kcktiny · Post #54 » by **kcktiny** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:56 pm

Shoulda played Zach Edey more.

azcatz11 · Post #55 » by **azcatz11** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:57 pm

Big J wrote:If you watch the Grizz you’d know why they fired him. His rotations and coaching decisions are terrible. Smart move IMO.

?

He’s turned cam Spencer into a budding star. He turned JJJ into one of the most dominating players in the league. Look at their record last year with everyone out. He got complete bums to win on random nights. This is a Kenny Atkinson situation all over again. Jenkins will go to the Magic and possibly win a championship

Stannis · Post #56 » by **Stannis** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:57 pm

Tuomas Iisalo likely to be the new head coach.

The French Connection

Grizzlies obviously making a push for Wemba

ItsDanger · Post #57 » by **ItsDanger** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:57 pm

He was gone after this season unless they made the Finals. The way he manages the roster is idiotic. OKC cooking them repeatedly was final straw.

Post #58 » by **bisme37** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:58 pm

azcatz11 wrote:
Big J wrote:If you watch the Grizz you’d know why they fired him. His rotations and coaching decisions are terrible. Smart move IMO.

?

He’s turned cam Spencer into a budding star. He turned JJJ into one of the most dominating players in the league. Look at their record last year with everyone out. He got complete bums to win on random nights. This is a Kenny Atkinson situation all over again. Jenkins will go to the Magic and possibly win a championship

Plus the Grizz are about to start the playoffs in 2 weeks. Even if the guy sucked, which he didn't, the timing is bizarre.

Slacktard · Post #59 » by **Slacktard** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:59 pm

Did the Grizzlies GM go the Lou Lamoriello (New Jersey Devils GM) school of GMing? Lamoriello twice fired a head coach with less than 10 games remaining in a season and approaching a playoffs. The first time was with 9 games left in the season and like top-4 in their conference (they ended up winning the Stanley Cup) then a few years later he fired another head coach with 3 games left in the season and the 2nd best record in the conference.

OriAr · Post #60 » by **OriAr** » Fri Mar 28, 2025 5:00 pm

Something must have happened behind the scenes... Even if you think he was bad surely you wait until the end of the season if it's basketball related.
Not much to salvage from a coaching change now if it's about basketball.