The Grizzlies will look a lot different this year than in years past as they enter their first season since Ja Morant's rookie year (2019-2020) without Desmond Bane and Taylor Jenkins. The organization drafted Bane in the 2020 NBA Draft, and he quickly became the team's starting shooting guard during his sophomore season in the 2021-22 season.
Taylor Jenkins got his start as head coach with the organization the same year that Morant was drafted in 2019, and his tenure ended with a 250-214 record (259-228 including playoffs) when he was fired in late March. Their interim head coach, Tuomas Iisalo, took over the reins with nine games remaining in the regular season, and despite a 5-10 finish to the season (1-5 postseason record), his interim tag was removed soon after their season ended.
After struggling with injuries and gaining a rhythm for most of the season, Ja Morant played his best stretch of basketball under Iisalo's tutelage. His resurgence is what the team and fans are betting on for the team to make a return to the top of the West standings moving forward.
Isalo's system is made for a Ja Morant-led team
ESPN's Brian Windhorst mentioned on a recent episode of The Hoop Collective that an NBA assistant coach visited colleges to study their coaching methods. The unnamed coach said that most of the places he visited saw the college coaches studying Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo's offensive sets from Paris Basketball.
A significant reason former coach Taylor Jenkins was fired was the new offense he implemented last season, which eliminated Ja Morant's strength: the pick-and-roll. While the team benefited as a whole from it, their best player was neutralized, and when they played other good teams, the offense wasn't as effective without their best player being himself.
In seven regular-season games under Iisalo, Morant averaged 28.4 points on 48% shooting and nearly 38% shooting from three. His career-highs in a season are 27.4 points on 49.3% shooting and 34.4% from three during the 2021-22 campaign that saw him garner MVP votes. This came with Iisalo not being able to implement his system, which has college coaches studying fully.
Much has been said about whether Ja Morant is capable of returning to the player that was taking the NBA by storm just three seasons ago. Albeit a small sample size, Tuomas Iisalo might bring the best out of Morant at a time when the team needs it the most to be competitive in the Western Conference.