After eight bankruptcies at a time, David Fizdale had to take his hat off to the Memphis Grizzlies. But it was probably the Benching of Marc Gasol in the fourth quarter against the Brooklyn Nets that caused him to die. The grizzlies are in free fall – and the next few weeks could provide information about the future direction of the franchise.
“I don’t know why,”said Marc Gasol after losing to Brooklyn Nets. The Spaniard had to watch the entire fourth quarter – even though he was top scorer with 18 points and didn’t decide the game at all.”I don’t know anything like that and I can tell you: I didn’t like it at all.”
The front office in Tennessee shared the center’s opinion. Less than 24 hours later, head coach David Fizdale was dismissed. Assistant J. B. Bickerstaff, the temporary head coach of Houston Rockets two years ago, will take over on an interim basis.
“After a thorough evaluation, I decided that a change of course was needed to look ahead and give the team and organization the best chance of success this season and beyond,”General Manager Chris Wallace said in a statement.
Of course, this raises a lot of questions. According to ESPN’s internal sources, a meeting of the players took place on Monday, in which the team argued against Fizdale. Other voices surrounding the franchise said that there have been tensions between Gasol and the coach for two years. That makes it all the more pungent that owner Robert Pera and the Spaniard are said to have a friendly relationship.
After the match, Fizdale justified his fatal decision by saying that he had tried to win the game and that the reservists had done a good job beforehand. However, Fizdale already suspected that this could still be a source of trouble,”Sometimes it makes players angry. I have my reasons. Winning is the only priority for me,”he continued to justify himself.
“We’ll talk about it if we have to, but it was a very simple decision. Gasol apparently saw this differently:” If I am not on the field, I am not valuable. I think the coaches knew this would hurt me,”he said.
However, Fizdale is said to have sat firmly in the saddle at the weekend. This was reported at least by Roland Tillery of the Memphis-based Commercial Appeal. Due to injuries like Mike Conley’s, the management wanted to wait and see how the troop would fight in full strength. After the Gasol incident on Sunday, however, this was no longer the case. According to insider Adrian Wojnarowski, however, the Spaniard is said not to have called for the head of the coach and was not involved.
Within the league, there was a lot of criticism of the Grizzlies’ decision. Ex-heat players LeBron James and Dwyane Wade wanted answers as to why Erik Spoelstra’s former heat assistant received the papers. Portland coach Terry Stotts and Cavs coach Ty Lue were also critical and spoke of a wrong decision,”Many thought he did a good job. The fact that he has now been released is simply not right,”Lue said eagerly.
However, it is also a fact that the grizzlies lost eight games in a row after a good start with victories against Golden State and Houston. In the past six games, however, Fizdale had to give up Conley, who still has problems with his Achilles tendon and will probably not be able to intervene again for another week at the earliest. Mario Chalmers or Andrew Harrison could never replace the star.
Injuries are not unknown in Memphis. At almost no time during his reign in the south of the USA, Fizdale had his entire squad at his disposal. Gasol, Conley or Chandler Parsons always struggled with smaller and bigger aches and pains. Every team in the league would have a hard time if the three top earners had to pause again and again.
That’s where the Crux lies. Gasol turns 33 in January, Conley often has to cope with the Achilles tendon and is only in the second year of his $150 million contract. The fact that the Parsons deal is an absolute disaster on top of it should be known to anyone who deals with the NBA. Together, the trio will eat around 80 million per season by 2020.
The question must therefore be asked as to which direction Memphis is heading. After Zach Randolph and Tony Allen, the fathers of the Grit’ n’ Grind era, have already been bid farewell, a rebuild, ergo a trade of Conley and/or Gasol, is close, but it seems that those in charge are (still) afraid to go this way.
As ESPN reported in the summer, grizzlies suffered significant losses last season, although the team once again made the playoffs. It’s hard to imagine what would happen if there were a rebuild and far fewer viewers would visit the FedEx Forum.
Even if all key players should be fit: the grizzlies would probably not be more than a mediocre playoff team. Though they made a coup with Tyreke Evans’ commitment and his surprisingly good performances, there are still too many players in rotation who are not able to play important minutes.
Nevertheless, Memphis was competitive in most games. The playoffs are also still possible, as there is already a gap after seventh place (New Orleans). On Utah, who are currently eighth, the backlog of grizzlies is only two wins. So the next few games could set the tone for the Griz. In the next four games, the San Antonio Spurs will play twice before the team travels to Cleveland for a home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
At the latest after that you will know in Memphis whether this team has a future for the season. The dismissal of Fizdale should show what the team is made of. Gasol in particular will be under special scrutiny. No matter how often it will be emphasized that he is not to blame for the dismissal, the label of the coach-killer will stick to him for a while.’ Take that for data’, Marc!