With nine games remaining in the regular season, the Memphis Grizzlies decided to fire former head coach Taylor Jenkins in the middle of a slide that dropped them from the two seed to the eight seed in the Western Conference standings. The decision sent shockwaves throughout the entire NBA until the Denver Nuggets did the same thing with four games remaining in the regular season.
Tuomas Iisalo was inserted as the interim head coach with hardly any time to implement his system, and the team continued to spiral as injuries piled up. However, Iisalo showed enough for general manager Zach Kleiman to promote him to head coach without a coaching search to the dismay of a lot of the fanbase.
The truth in all of this was Zach Kleiman hired his new head coach last year when he brought Iisalo over to join Taylor Jenkins' staff. He was even the team's acting head coach for a December game that Jenkins missed due to a family emergency.
While the writing was on the wall for Iisalo to become the Grizzlies' new head coach, the NBA summer league provides him with his first real chance at operating the system that made him a great coach in Paris Basketball.
Iisalo's system plays to the strengths of the young guys
Two summer league games are a small sample size to know how the regular season team will operate, but the Grizzlies are playing the style of basketball that Isalo likes to run. He was tasked with coaching the summer league team to begin installation of his heavy pick-and-roll and point of attack defensive style to expedite the process come training camp time.
The Grizzlies' offseason roster moves have catered to what Iisalo likes to do too as the Jay Huff trade followed by the Jock Landale signing showed he likes his centers to set screens and attack the basket. Another style the summer league team is showing is that IIisalo welcomes the mid-range shot if that is what the defense gives you.
Grizzlies' teams of the past promoted pace and space, which was hit or miss based on their roster construction. GG Jackson II struggled coming off his foot injury last season, but has had a resurgence in his first two summer league games under Iisalo. He is primarily playing power forward and attacking the basket relentlessly to impose his will on the defense.
Only time will tell if the gamble of hiring Iisalo to become the head coach will pay dividends for the team's goal of becoming a championship contender. But the start of him implementing the things he wants to do is encouraging for the team as he enters his first full season as an NBA head coach.