Though the NBA Finals are now tied 1-1, a former Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach — Jerry Stackhouse — deserves a lot of credit for their play thus far.
Many may be wondering how a former Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach has anything to do with the Toronto Raptors’ tremendous level of success this season — an NBA Finals run, no less. However, Jerry Stackhouse played a huge role for the Raptors in two very big ways.
Jerry Stackhouse’s most noticeable impact is that of the success of Pascal Siakam. For those that do not know, Siakam and Stackhouse won a championship together on the professional level. Jerry Stackhouse was the head coach of Raptors 905, which is the G-League affiliate of the Toronto Raptors.
This championship squad consisted of a young, less popular Pascal Siakam. While with Raptors 905, Siakam averaged 18.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.2 steals per game. Because of this whopping production line, he was named the G- League Finals MVP of 2017.
This is no stat sheet to look over. Siakam has been one of the best two-way players that has played with any G-League team. His success and how his game has been chiseled can be seen as a direct relation to his former head coach Jerry Stackhouse.
Stackhouse knows defense, knows the X’s and O’s, and knows how to develop players on the professional level. That is why it did not take long for him to find an NBA coaching position with the Memphis Grizzlies, which has most recently led him to becoming the head coach of Vanderbilt men’s basketball in the NCAA ranks.
The Stackhouse-Gasol Effect
Since Marc Gasol is a veteran of the NBA, his game was well-developed before Jerry Stackhouse joined the Memphis Grizzlies and called Beale Street his home. This being said, Stackhouse made a huge impact on the Memphis legend’s game.
This season, Gasol has been more of a playmaker than in previous seasons. He has cared less about stats and has been integrated into the Toronto Raptors culture seamlessly ever since the February trade went down.
With the struggles in Memphis, Jerry Stackhouse focused on the development of the younger core. To do this, he, along with J.B. Bickerstaff, used Marc Gasol as the anchor for the team. This “anchor” mentality is why you are seeing offensively explosive nights in Toronto, as well as nights where he is more of a playmaker.
Though this is nothing new in Gasol’s game, the way Stackhouse rotated him in Memphis at the beginning of the season has directly related to his impact with Toronto.
As can be seen in these statements, we cannot forget that there is more than just one way the Memphis Grizzlies are impacting this NBA Finals series. Stackhouse helped build Toronto to get them to where they are today.