Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 3:03 pm  |  27 responses

Memphis Grizzlies coaching update, anyone?

When they lost the lottery, they won their dignity

By Sam Rubenstein

So yeah, KOBE has been the big story to steal from the actual Conference Finals games featuring the Spurs and Pistons among others. Why, this reminds me of every year around this time when other headline seekers use the NBA spotlight to hype up their name and value. Phil Jackson announced his return from sabbatical, for example. The coach of the Pistons at the time, who had his team playing in the Finals, may or may not have been ready to assume the title of Cleveland Cavaliers team president.

And now look at those greedy Memphis Grizzlies. MARC IAVARONI is going to coach the MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES!!! Come on, let LeBron play without stealing his spotlight. The same goes for the rest of the Cavs and Pistons. There will be NBA action on TV tonight, and that means at the very least there will be a short blurb about the Grizzlies new coach. So greedy, Memphis. Let someone else have the spotlight for once.

Now, I am of the belief that had Memphis not fallen out of the top two when beautiful lottery justice struck, they would have hired a certain former Knicks, Pistons, Sixers, Nets, Kansas, etc. coach to feel the praise when Oden/Durant turned the team around. Since there will be no Durant/Oden in Memphis, there will be no savior coach.

Therefore, it is still possible to cheer for the Memphis Grizzlies, or at least not have any more hostility towards them than you would any team you don’t care about either way. Good luck to Marc. He comes from the D’Antoni system and he’s replacing Toney Barone. Anything less than 120 ppg next season is a disappointment. Wins/losses? Eh, young coach, young team, loaded Western Conference.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

  • cavs-mavs fan Posted: May.31 at 3:13 pm
    grizzlies suck!!!

  • Blinguo Posted: May.31 at 3:26 pm
    ^^^^That guy above, most adamant “first(!)” ever. But I haven’t read all those sneaker topics.

  • Redrum Posted: May.31 at 3:28 pm
    great… another “run for your lives” coach… listen people.. this is basketball… not athletics… I dont know, maybe I am a bball purist, but I love watching ball movement, players knowing to move without the ball, nice shooting, of course the occasional back door dunk.. but seriously, I find the Suns game boring… yeap, I said it. I cannot watch that style for more than a quarter.

  • dpak Posted: May.31 at 3:52 pm
    Iavaroni was the Suns’ defensive couch tho…

  • dpak Posted: May.31 at 3:53 pm
    woops. coach. although associating couch with suns’ defense is funny in its own right.

  • illydiva Posted: May.31 at 4:00 pm
    Is Jim O’Brien coaching the Pacers?

  • Cub Buenning Posted: May.31 at 4:02 pm
    Ivaroni was an awesome role player with those Sixer teams of the 80s.
    MO, Andrew Toney, Doc, Moses/Chocolate Thunder, Bobby Jones, etc…..
    I use the term ‘awesome’ loosely here. Redrum, you can’t stand watching the Suns??!?!? Did you also hate the UNLV teams of the late80s/early 90s?

  • Danny W UK Posted: May.31 at 4:40 pm
    I read about Larry Brown possibly coaching the Kings, anyone know anything about it? Personally I can’t see it happening, no miracles there, just slow rebuilding.

  • Ryan Jones Posted: May.31 at 4:45 pm
    Sam,
    Will Billy Donovan’s any-minute-now acceptance of the Orlando Magic’s head coaching job get its own post as well?
    Ryan

  • Sam Rubenstein Posted: May.31 at 4:59 pm
    We’ll deal with Billy Donovan tomorrow. I just found out my afternoon snack spot was shut down by the board of health. Disgusted.

  • Myung Posted: May.31 at 5:07 pm
    the three closest teams to atlanta, geographically speaking (charlotte, memphis, orlando), all changed head coaches in the last week. i don’t know what to expect from sam vincent, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say he’s an upgrade. why, oh why, can’t hawks ownership follow suit? ugh.

  • Myung Posted: May.31 at 5:09 pm
    as a proud UGA alum, i think dononvan leave UF is a good thing. =) we’re a better team already.

  • Ryan Jones Posted: May.31 at 5:29 pm
    Is there a restaurant that HASN’T been shut down by NY health inspectors. Bloomberg is not f*cking around.

  • ikemob22 Posted: May.31 at 5:30 pm
    Who are the grizzlies? much Pun intended!!

  • Cub Buenning Posted: May.31 at 6:15 pm
    It’s official, the entire Florida basketball program to enter the NBA Draft!
    6 Mil? He can always go back to college if it doesn’t work out. Just ask Pitino, Floyd, or Calipari….

  • Tommy Patron Posted: May.31 at 6:21 pm
    When Sam Vincent was on the Bulls there was a commercial (I think it was for Sportschannel, which became Comcast Sportsnet) which featured Vincent in a dress and wig going by MJ for a dunk. I believe he was supposed to be Mike’s mom or something. Couldn’t find it on youtube, though.

  • Dennard Posted: May.31 at 7:31 pm
    Bloomberg is f*cking up!!!

  • Russ Bengtson Posted: May.31 at 8:03 pm
    That photo is gonna give me nightmares.

  • Chukaz Posted: May.31 at 8:43 pm
    What happened to JKidd going to L.A for the fat kid. Is Vince going to Orlando?

  • gabriel Posted: May.31 at 9:16 pm
    why are you making articles about the grizzes man they are the worst team and who cares about there gm ? you should talk about raptors gm bryan c he got the excutive of da year

  • Russ Bengtson Posted: May.31 at 9:48 pm
    Jim O’Brien got the Pacers job. Will Rick Carlisle take his spot on ESPN.com?

  • RedRum Posted: May.31 at 11:45 pm
    I like the Suns when they play half-court… this behind the back pass that Nash does all the time is genius… he finds the open man without looking, breaks down the offense brilliantly. but no… the non-stop run and gun bores me. I have not watched the UNVL teams, we did not have college games in Greece

  • hartadi Posted: Jun.1 at 12:01 am
    THIS IS A WRONG SPOT TO WRITE THIS BUT IM AM A WITNESS OF LEBRONS FINAL STRAIGHT 25 POINTS FOR WINNING DOUBLE OVERTIME IN DETROIT PLEASE EVERYBODY JUST SUPPORT CLEVELAND’S FINAL GAME ….LEBRON DESERVE TO GET THE RING……

  • Co Co Posted: Jun.1 at 12:45 am
    Lebron aint getting a ring this year, but he does deserve the chance to get smacked around by the Spurs

  • illydiva Posted: Jun.1 at 10:21 am
    How come Mark Jackson can’t get a coaching gig? In Indy? Jim O’Brien? WTF?

  • bigmike407 Posted: Jun.1 at 10:58 am
    What are you doing Slam? No coverage of the Donovan hire to the Magic? This, along with the Game 5 performace of LBJ last night, has swung the NBA momentum away from the Western Conference. Cryin’ Bryant and the bitching & moaning about Oden and Durant going to the Pacific NW have worn my nerves too thin. I love it!!!!

  • Stuie Posted: Jun.1 at 11:27 pm
    Larry Brown is a good coach. When a team fires their coach you would think he would be a Prime canadate. So is the problem him not wanting the job or are the organizations stupid.

Comments




The comments section is a place to further discuss the topics in this post. Commenters who seek to accomplish any of the following may be banned: - Personally attack other commenters. - Make derogatory comments regarding race, ethnicity, language, gender, sexual orientation or religion. - Troll, or comment with the intention of creating problems. Trolling includes, but isn't limited to, baiting people to flame at you, encouraging people to leave the site, spamming and using alternate IDs.