Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins and Ja Morant
Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Last week, the Grizzlies left plenty of NBA fans scratching their heads after firing head coach Mike Jenkins with a playoff run on the immediate horizon. It wasn’t entirely clear why the franchise decided to go that route, but a new report has shed some light on the rationale behind the decision.
In 2019, Taylor Jenkins was tapped to replace J.B. Bickerstaff as the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies ahead of the season where Ja Morant would announce his arrival with a bang by winning Rookie of the Year honors.
The ensuing campaign marked the first of three consecutive playoff appearances as Morant emerged as a superstar who helped the Grizzlies finish at the top of their division in 2022 and 2023, although two one-and-done postseason runs sandwiched another where they were eliminated in the second round.
Memphis took a step back last season thanks in no small part to the suspension and injury that limited Morant to just nine games. However, the Grizzlies returned with a vengeance and had all but secured a trip to the playoffs with the 44-29 record the team boasted last Friday when we learned the franchise had decided to part ways with Jenkins with nine games left in the regular season.
It would have easily been the most surprising move of the year if the Mavericks hadn’t traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers, and the team declined to offer a ton of insight into the motivations behind the firing of a man who posted a 250-214 record during his time at the helm.
However, we now have a bit more courtesy of ESPN, which took a look under the hood to diagnose the change that seemingly stemmed from the institution of a new offensive philosophy that ultimately led to Jenkins’ demise.
As the outlet notes, Jenkins orchestrated a retool ahead of the current season that led to him firing a number of assistant coaches while tapping two new ones, Tuomas Iisalo and Noah LaRoche, who helped install an offensive scheme that places a heavy emphasis on spacing and frequent movement to create shot opportunities.
It initially had some success, but it didn’t take long for better teams to adjust to the confusion as Memphis began to grapple with one of the most notable downsides: the scheme clashed with the style of play that’s made Morant one of the best players in the league, and he wasn’t exactly shy about voicing his displeasure with the pivot.
Jenkins and his assistants attempted to recalibrate to cater to Morant, and while the Grizzlies were able to put together a solid record, those adjustments simply complicated a “muddled” system that had an indelibly negative impact on the team’s chemistry.
That reality reportedly led to GM Zach Kleiman pulling the plug on the head coach and tapping Iisalo to step into the interim role to tackle the “clarity of direction” he alluded to while explaining why Jenkins had been let go.
The Grizzlies are currently sitting in fifth place in the Western Conference with seven games to go and will look to stop a three-game skid that’s contributed to losses in six of their last seven contests when they face off against the Warriors on Tuesday night.