The Memphis Grizzlies moved on from Dave Joerger this summer after a disappointing and injury-riddled summer. They found their next head coach in former Miami Heat assistant David Fizdale.
Despite questions about the age and durability of the roster, the Grizzlies are looking to contend this season. They re-signed Mike Conley and added Chandler Parsons in free agency. Marc Gasol is coming back from his foot injury.
According to Fizdale, the willingness to continue to win now is what allowed him to accept the job. That’s what he told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe:
“That was the only way I wanted it, to be honest with you,” Fizdale said. “I didn’t want to take over a restart. I’m not afraid to coach guys. But I am going to coach them to win and I am going to hold them to a high standard. I was OK with that. If I don’t have any other strength, I’m pretty good at building relationships. I don’t know if people were looking at that Memphis job the way it should have been looked at. A lot of guys in my situation very rarely get a situation with this many proven players.
“I saw an opportunity to take a team from being good to great. If I could have any situation, that was the one I wanted.”
This is somewhat surprising. For a lot of first-time head coaches, leading a rebuild is the ideal case. It allows them to get experience and learn the tricks of the trade with minor consequences if they lose.
That said, David Fizdale has been an assistant for years now. He already has plenty of experience and seemingly has the confidence to lead a team wanting to win. Whether he will have success or not is another question, but failure will not be for lack of trying.
