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[av_heading heading=’FEEL THE GAME BOBBY MOTUS’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]
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Another one bites the dust
THE Memphis Grizzlies started strong when the season opened, but with an Achilles injury to star guard Mike Conley, they recently fell to the Brooklyn Nets for their eighth straight loss. That loss became controversial when their franchise player Marc Gasol was benched in the fourth quarter.
Here comes Memphis GM Chris Wallace with this statement: “After a thorough evaluation, I decided a change in course was necessary to move forward and provide the team and organization its best chance at success this season and beyond.” And after a few obligatory well wishes and other related crap, they kicked second year Coach David Fizdale out of Memphis.
Was it coincidence that after Gasol was benched they shipped Fizdale out? Conley and Gasol had been the faces of the Grizzlies for a long time and there could be a relation on Fizdale’s firing. Sources close to the team say that there already was conflict between the two for quite a while. Fizdale and Gasol reportedly were not in good terms and even had some confrontations during practice.
Conley probably had gotten along well with Fizdale as he had been very productive prior to his injury. He even praised his coaching style because he had posted his career best in Fizdale’s system. But things had been opposite in the case of Gasol.
It’s time for the Grizzlies to choose who to say goodbye to and the choice was simple. Memphis couldn’t find another big man of Gasol’s talent in the immediate future or a team willing to risk on a player about three years gone from his prime. On the other hand, there are a good number of capable coaches who need jobs in the NBA. The reality is that coaches are a much more dispensable commodity than franchise players.
Fizdale had been one of the more able assistant coaches prior to being hired to a head coaching position. He had been an assistant to Miami and Atlanta before the Memphis assignment. He brought the Grizzlies to the seventh spot in last year’s playoffs and forced San Antonio to a six-game series.
At 33 years old, Gasol will be valuable to Memphis only in the short term and with his contract ending by 2019, he could opt out and be playing with another team. Their other star Conley is having health issues and the team is in dire need of young talent to bring them to the next level. His firing won’t be solving the issue of losing.
Memphis sits at 12 in the Western Conference with a 7-12 win-loss record. They sit above Phoenix, Sacramento and Dallas. Since the Suns already fired their coach a few games into the season, will the Kings and the Mavericks give the pink slips to Dave Joerger and Rick Carlisle? Atlanta and Chicago are swimming in mud and the survival of coaches Mike Budenholzer and Fred Hoiberg are also in peril.
Sitting as interim head coach for Memphis for the second time in his career is JB Bickerstaff. He was Houston’s OIC when the Rockets fired Kevin McHale./PN
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