Memphis Grizzlies: Predicting the Franchise’s Tolerance for J.B. Bickerstaff

The Memphis Grizzlies are spiraling out of control and a lot of fingers are being pointed at J.B. Bickerstaff. How safe is his position?

Friday’s 102-99 road loss to the Sacramento Kings is the latest stepping stone in the free fall being demonstrated by J.B. Bickerstaff and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Not only did Memphis blow a 19-point lead after clearly displaying that they were the better ball club. The Grizzlies’ head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, continues to show total ignorance in substitutions, lineups, and the full rotation itself. It has left Grizz Nation scratching their heads day-in and day-out.

For instance, rookie Jaren Jackson Jr. has displayed potential of a future NBA All-Star in the making. Though he has endured issues surrounding foul trouble, the only real “rookie wall” he has encountered through 32 games is his own head coach.

Jackson Jr. has fouled out in just three games this season. He has picked up five of the allotted six fouls in nine games. Seven occasions he has been tagged with four personals, and so on. The point is this. How will Jaren learn to play defense without fouling if he is not playing?

With Marc Gasol suffering from major offensive woes in December, Jaren Jackson Jr. has been the top offensive option within the Memphis Grizzlies’ frontcourt on most nights. As scoring continues to be the team’s top deficiency, it would only make sense to feed the rock through Jaren, which would also allow pressure to be taken off of Mike Conley.

In speaking of offense, there has been zero consistency with MarShon Brooks’ minutes. The more offensively efficient minutes Brooks contributes, the less playing time he receives beyond that initial opportunity.

Following a positive game by MarShon Brooks, J.B. Bickerstaff has occasionally elected to not insert MarShon into the lineup during the next game. This does not make any sense.

Then you look at Shelvin Mack. The backup point guard’s play has quickly declined since the opening of December’s slate of games. He has provided poor defense and very inefficient shooting.

In November, Shelvin was a spark plug that earned the team victories. Those days feel like forever ago. Mack has collected a negative +/- rating in nine of 11 December contests, including a -23 in Wednesday’s road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

It took until the Memphis Grizzlies’ 29th game to see regular season minutes by rookie Jevon Carter. In that debut, he was stellar. He nearly earned a comeback victory for the Grizz based upon his stifling defense on the electrifying Houston Rockets backcourt.

That strong debut has only earned him spot minutes since. Shelvin Mack — the veteran — continues to be Bickerstaff’s guy, while playing very weak defense. For instance, the Sacramento Kings were scoring at will in the second half due to Mack’s effort on defense (or lack thereof).

Another huge item on the table is Marc Gasol’s slate of minutes. With the addition of Joakim Noah, the possibility of lessening Gasol’s workload was viable. This plan worked initially, but now Joakim is sidelined with a minor injury. This should have opened a great window of opportunity for sophomore Ivan Rabb. Well, think again.

Rabb has only appeared in three games in December, and did not check into Friday’s matcup against the Kings. When he received 10 minutes of action this past Wednesday in Portland, Ivan snagged seven rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. He shot 100% from the field and free-throw line in earning eight points to his name.

Surely this large sum of production in just a short amount of time would open additional chances at cracking the rotation. However, with J.B. Bickerstaff at the helm of the Memphis Grizzlies’ ship, this has not been the case. Gasol continues to log some of the largest minutes he has endured this season — over 36 minutes in each of the past two games.

At this rate, Marc Gasol will be run into the ground by the time the postseason arrives, if the Grizzlies are even in playoff contention by April. They will not be at this rate, where Bickerstaff and Memphis has placed themselves on a league-worst five-game losing streak by the conclusion of Friday’s NBA schedule.

The 2018-19 season has the feeling of a last “go-around” for the core of Gasol and Conley. It is a transition year, too, with the addition of Jaren Jackson Jr. and other young guys deserving of minutes. Still, the young guys are not being favored, and it is killing this team’s record that was the best in the Western Conference not too many weeks ago.

These losses — mostly from blown leads in the second half — have infuriated much of Grizz Nation. Surely the Front Office and majority owner Robert Pera are taking notice, too.

On Friday, Pera was in attendance, which is a rare occasion, though he has vowed to be move involved with the Memphis Grizzlies moving forward. Was this a random visit to watch his team in an evenly-matched outing against Sacramento? Or was this more of an in-person assessment of J.B. Bickerstaff?

Only time will tell, and there may not be much time left on the shot clock for Bickerstaff. Though he is just 32 games into his full-time tenure as the Grizzlies’ head coach, Memphis has been an organization that does not tolerate losing and/or nonsensical lineups and rotations for very long. It would not be a total shock to see J.B. ousted if Memphis continues to string together losses in very winnable games.

Just last season, David Fizdale was relieved of his head coaching duties on Beale Street after a losing streak reached eight games. The 2017-18 Grizzly squad started with a league-best record through the first couple of weeks, but quickly hit rock bottom. Fizdale coached just 101 games and earned a postseason appearance in his only eligible season.

Prior to “Coach Fizz” was Dave Joerger. He, too, had a successful run littered with playoff appearances. Joerger achieved a 59.8% winning mark over the course of 246 regular season contests with the Memphis Grizzlies. Dave’s philosophy was to be veteran-savvy, and to this day that is causing a rift between him and his Front Office in Sacramento. J.B. Bickerstaff is behaving much like Joerger in favoring veterans over well-deserving youths.

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Even before Dave Joerger taking over head coaching duties was Lionel Hollins, who earned a franchise-best run in reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2013. Immediately after the Grizzlies lost to the San Antonio Spurs in that playoff round, Hollins’ contract was not renewed. Jerryd Bayless — a role player for that squad — had butted heads with Coach Hollins, so ties were severed.

Hollins was all about discipline. That is obviously easier when you have dedicated, tough-nosed veteran players on your roster. Memphis has not been as successful since Hollins left the Grindhouse, and they really need that disciplined mentality again. Hollins had substitution issues much like Bickerstaff is demonstrating, but even so, it demonstrates that nobody’s job is safe in Memphis whether you are winning or losing.

Would the Memphis Grizzlies seriously fire J.B. Bickerstaff before the halfway point in the season? It would definitely not be the first time something of this manner has happened so soon to an NBA head coach. Plus, the Grizzlies are accustomed to toss away the head coach when they have upset players, a long losing streak, or poor substitution trends.

If Bickerstaff would be let go prior to Sunday’s matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, he would be the third shortest-tenured full-time head coach in NBA history. J.B. would fall behind Bob Weiss (30 games) and Jerry Tarkanian (20 games). Including his interim status of 2017-18, J.B. has officially led 95 games for the Grizz.

All in all, it would not be shocking to see Memphis give up on Bickerstaff before the New Year, but it will likely take additional consecutive losses and/or a major rift in the locker room to generate that type of reaction by the Grizzlies’ Front Office.

Given the Memphis Grizzlies’ head coaching history, a couple nails already seem placed, but it is up to J.B. Bickerstaff to improve these conditions as soon as possible and get his club back into the thick of the Western Conference standings.