Posted 1/25 at 2:57 PM
Pete Pranica is the Grizzlies television play-by-play announcer. He and Sean Tuohy make up the broadcast team that hosts Grizzlies Tonight! before each home game.
Lionel Hollins’ introductory press conference revealed a calm, cool, collected and committed man taking the reins of the Grizzlies.
I was asked early and often if I was surprised by last Thursday’s ouster of Marc Iavaroni as Grizzlies head coach. The short answer is “no.” Above and beyond the (few) wins and (many) losses, you could see that the players simply had stopped responding to their head coach. Postgame interviews that were short on answers beyond “we gotta play better” indicated to me that there wasn’t a strong comprehension of what was going wrong and, lacking that comprehension, problems weren’t being corrected. Toss blame wherever you wish, but ultimately, the head coach pays the price.
Iavaroni is bright man with a sharp intellect and will eventually find his way back into the NBA, but his hiring points out the incredible uncertainty in hiring a head coach in the NBA (or in any sport for that matter).
Remember how for a time Iavaroni’s name was attached to most every opening? He was the “hot” assistant with a “hot” team and as such, he was a surefire winner as a head coach. That was Jerry West‘s assessment and he wasn’t alone in his thinking.
So, now that Lionel Hollins has been signed, sealed and delivered, the criticism has been raised about his unremarkable 18-46 record in two interim stints with the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies.
Sure, Avery Johnson would have been the sexy pick. The Little General burst on the scene and took Don Nelson‘s Mavericks further than they had gone before. And then they fell further than they had before, losing their apparent sure grip on the Larry O’Brien Trophy against Miami and then getting eliminated by eight-seed Golden State. Johnson got sideways with his owner and his players and, despite all the team success, the majority of players wanted to see nothing more than the back of Johnson’s impeccably tailored suits.
In Hollins, the Grizzlies get someone familiar with the organization and its home base. Despite taking an assistant’s job with Milwaukee, Hollins never relinquished his residence in Memphis and was a frequent contributor to community and charitable endeavors in Memphis.
Consider also this: Hollins’ first interim stint in Vancouver (18-42) was with a team that featured Obinna Ekezie, Cherokee Parks, Milt Palacio, Felipe Lopez and Brent Price. Yes, they also had Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Mike Bibby, but you get the idea. With that crew, Hollins won 30% of his games. Next season, Sidney Lowe took over and won at a 28% clip.
But, let’s turn to another franchise to add a little perspective about coaching records. In the 1998-99 season, shortened to just 50 games, the Denver Nuggets gave a young, talented assistant a shot to coach a team with Nick Van Exel, Antonio McDyess, Chauncey Billups and Danny Fortson. The team didn’t really respond and the young assistant-turned-head-coach was thrown out on his duffel after posting a 14-36 record.
Anybody remember this guy? Ever wonder what became of him?
Mike D’Antoni.
Yeah, the same guy who turned Phoenix from a 29-win team into a 62-win juggernaut and a two-time conference finalist.
No, it’s not fair to expect Lionel Hollins to work the same type of magic in Memphis, but it’s equally unfair to assume that he can’t because of 60 games almost 10 years ago with a roster studded with answers to NBA trivia questions.
Posted 1/25 at 2:57 PM
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ok,but the last time hollins was her he did no better.all this organization has done is blame everybody else and make excuses.i like him as a person,but if they were’nt going to stay with iavaroni’than they need to go like d’antoni or johnson.we have gone from a playoff team to a time that cant win. so is it realy the coaches or mangment.
D’Antoni was a Phoenix assistant with that 14-36 record and Johnson was an assistant with ZERO head coaching experience. Jerry West was a sexy hire and it got the Grizzlies into the playoffs (moreso due to Hubie I think), but Jerry’s philosophy put the Grizzlies over the cap and in financial jeopardy. He also got us in the “rent-a-veteran” business (Eddie Jones, Chucky Atkins, Bobby Jackson) which didn’t help much. Hiring a “name” isn’t always the answer.