The Memphis Grizzlies are in a big slump and everybody knows it. Despite that J.B. Bickerstaff’s job is safe and will be for the rest of the season.
The Memphis Grizzlies have been struggling recently and yes J.B. Bickerstaff deserves a lot of the blame but despite that, he is nowhere near being on the hot seat.
Last season he took over after David Fizdale had been fired and the team was in full-blown tank mode. Mike Conley was out for the season and they had no chance at making the playoffs.
Fizdale and Marc Gasol had their infamous feud and the team chose Gasol. Fizdale may have eventually been on the way out anyway but they opted to keep their longtime center happy rather than keeping Fizdale as their head coach.
Bickerstaff had been a longtime NBA assistant coach since the 2004-05 season when he was just 25 years old.
After stops in Charlotte and Minnesota, he ended up in Houston where he would eventually become the interim head coach during the 2015-16 season.
He led the team to the playoffs that season where they lost in the first round but he would not be retained the following season.
He then came over to Memphis to be the associate head coach below Fizdale. Then after just 101 games in that position, he was named interim head coach and would be named the head coach for the future this past summer.
He wasn’t able to coach exactly how he wanted last year. They were playing mainly young players to get them the experience they needed and so they could evaluate guys who could potentially be a part of the teams future.
Last season Bickerstaff wasn’t necessarily coaching to win games. They wanted to secure as high of a draft pick as possible.
They would end up selecting Jaren Jackson Jr. with the 4th overall pick and so far that seems to have been a great selection.
There have been some issues where he can’t stay out of foul trouble and he isn’t in at the end of games but when he has been on the floor he has made a big impact.
This has been one of the fans main issues with Bickerstaff as he has often opted to play the veterans down the stretch of games rather than player the younger, more talented players.
Some games he hasn’t had much of a choice but far too often he has opted to play Shelvin Mack and or JaMychal Green down the stretch of games.
General Manager Chris Wallace has shown he is willing to fire a coach sooner than many other franchises would.
Dave Joerger made the playoffs in each of his three seasons with the team with a record of 147-99 but that still wasn’t enough to keep him around.
And then with Fizdale’s quick firing, it’s possible that Wallace could make another surprisingly fast coaching change.
As of now, Bickerstaff is not anywhere near the hot seat and likely won’t ever end up on it during this season. But we all know that can change in a hurry so if the team keeps losing it’s something worth monitoring.