Diagnosing the 3 biggest problems with the Grizzlies right now

Memphis Grizzlies Problem No. 1: Head Coach, Taylor Jenkins

I’m well aware that some fans don’t enjoy ragging on a coach this early in the year. To those fans, I say this: I don’t care.

Taylor Jenkins has not coached a good year of basketball by any stretch of the imagination thus far. This isn’t to say that he’s done nothing right — he arguably out-coached Steve Kerr when Memphis took on the Warriors — he’s just been wildly inconsistent.

We talk about a young team being inconsistent and having growing pains, but we’ve had front row seats to a young coach suffering from the same thing. That said, the more we see out of Taylor Jenkins, the less these seem like growing pains and the more they seem like coaching mishaps that may never go away.

Last year, we saw a heavy dose of this in late-game situations, where Jenkins would seem to ditch all offense at the end of crucial games and hope that Ja Morant can succeed with Isolation-ball in clutch situations. And while Morant is one of the most clutch players in the league, this is not a sustainable way to play the game.

This year, the Grizzlies have been getting blown out to the point where they’re not even competitive at the end of a handful of their games. Many of these situations have come as the result of Jenkins playing questionable lineups during key points in games.

I don’t think Jenkins is anywhere near the hot seat yet, but if he doesn’t take this team to the playoffs in 2021-22, questions will arise.