It would be an extremely difficult year for Cleveland Cavaliers fans if they had hired James Borrego or Dave Joerger instead of Kenny Atkinson.
Each coach was in the running for the Cavaliers' vacancy last year, and at times Borrego was even predicted to be the next coach. He seems like a good, intelligent coach, but it would be lamost impossible for another coach to have come in and led the Cavaliers to such a dominant showing this season.
If the Cavs were merely decent, perhaps on track for 50 wins instead of 60+, then it would be a lot more painful to see the Detroit Pistons doing so well under the guidance of new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, fired last year by the Cavaliers and hired to bring the Pistons back to relevancy. He did just that, and Detroit has now tripled its win total from last year by reaching 52 wins.
Atkinson has proven to be the perfect head coach for the Cavaliers, revolutionizing and modernizing their offense while relying on solid defensive principles. His rotations make more sense, he has empowered Evan Mobley and struck the right balance between Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. He has done an exceptional job.
Most teams that fire a really good head coach -- whatever your opinion of Bickerstaff, he is proving in Detroit he is a really good head coach -- end up regretting it. Many coaches are competent; only a few are excellent. Yet the Cavs fired a good one and got a better one, and that is a difficult feat to pull off.
Now another NBA team will try to pull off that same magic trick.
The Memphis Grizzlies need a new head coach
This has been the NBA season for truly shocking transactions that came out of nowhere and continue to seem inexplicable in the aftermath. While nothing can top the Luka Doncic trade, the Taylor Jenkins firing is in the same vein.
The Memphis Grizzlies have not been taking the world by storm this season, but they have been a solid two-way team that is in good position to win homecourt advantage in the Western Conference Finals. And yet, the organization decided it was the right time to fire their successful and well-respected head coach, Taylor Jenkins, with just nine games to go in the season.
Coaches of good teams are not fired this late in the year. The Grizz do not have a better coach waiting in the wings; this is not a Ty Lue situation, stepping in to replace David Blatt. Yet the Grizzlies pulled the trigger, sending a desirable coaching candidate onto the open market and embracing the unknown as the playoffs approach.
Could Memphis find the next Kenny Atkinson and be even better next season? It's possible, if unlikely. The Grizzlies are really good already this season. They have the West's second-best net rating and the fourth-best in the entire NBA. Even if they went 4-5 the rest of the way they would end up with 48 wins. A good team having a good season.
Or so everyone thought. Instead, the team saw weaknesses in team chemistry, in playoff coaching, in scheme development. and concluded that it was better for the franchise to play without Jenkins -- and that the best time to implement that plan was just before the start of the playoffs.
They will stumble through the postseason, but the real questions come this summer, about whether this move was too little too late in keep Morant and how much the franchise will support a trade request. Who will replace Jenkins as head coach? If the next coach is fine, it will be a referendum on the organization.
The Grizzlies need their next head coach to be exceptional, even better than Taylor Jenkins. If not, the front office may not survive the move. Basketball matters in Memphis, and the Grizzlies pulled a move that holds a lot of risk with a slim reward.