The Grizzlies Have Shockingly Decided To Fire Taylor Jenkins Right Before The Start Of The Playoffs

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Memphis GM Zach Kleiman: “I’m genuinely appreciative of Taylor’s contributions to this team and this city over the past six seasons. This was a difficult decision given the consistent and tangible development of our players and overall success under Taylor’s leadership. I wish Taylor the very best going forward.”

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what??????

My first thought once those tweets hit my timeline is something non-basketball related had to have gone down here. As of today, the Grizzlies are still in contention for a top 4 seed in the West. You could make a case that a top 3 seed isn't totally out of the question either, an with the playoffs only a stone's throw away, you just don't see a team in that position fire their coach out of nowhere like this. 

Sure, it's true that lately there's been some underachievement by the Grizzlies. They've lost 4 of their last 5 and are just 8-11 since the All Star Break, but I'm not sure how much of that is Taylor Jenkin's coaching and how much of that is their injury situation. Ja Morant can't stay on the floor, and that's completely changed the outlook of their season. A total of 28-15 with him and just 16-14 without. Add in the season ending injuries to Brandon Clarke, and you could make the case that the Grizzlies still being where they are in the standings is actually somewhat impressive.

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But they're also a bad stretch away from the Play In, so who the hell knows.

Considering there are only 9 games left in the regular season and then the playoffs, you just don't really see a team the Grizzlies' position fire their head coach like this. Even if Grizzlies fans may have some complaints about his system or his coaching ability, it's not as if this team is in the Lottery. They have the 2nd best point differential in the entire Western Conference! They've been one of the best offenses in the league this year, despite not really shooting 3s! 

That's what makes me think there has to be more to this story, which I'm sure will come out in the next few days. How could it be possible that before this little mini-skid, the team was fine with Jenkins, but now he's out? If you didn't want him to coach, why wait like this? The facts that we know as of now don't really pass the smell test, which leads you to believe there's more going on here. 

Year after year the Grizzlies seem to find themselves at the top of the West, and really the only time we see them drop is when their entire roster gets hurt. Shouldn't that lead you to believe the coaching is pretty good? There were people saying Jenkins was robbed of Coach Of The Year a few times while in MEM, and it'll be no surprise when he gets a new job in about two seconds. I feel like you can do much worse when it comes to head coaching choices, so this whole thing is a little bizarre.

Who knew that trading Marcus Smart really would be the downfall of this organization? Was he actually the glue that was keeping everything together? I mean, look at the Wizards since Smart got there. They're actually winning on occasion! The Grizzlies? Everything since the trade deadline has been a bit of a disaster for them, so it really makes you think

There were already enough juicy storylines heading into the playoffs when it came to the Western Conference, but I'm not sure it gets crazier than a potential top 3 seeded team firing their coach right before their playoff run. To me as an outsider, that seems like the opposite of what you want to do to keep everyone in the right spirits before a playoff run.

That's why there has to be more to the story here. Something happened. It cannot just be a little skid in the fakest month of the NBA calendar. That would be insane.