In the immediate aftermath of the Grizzlies firing head coach Taylor Jenkins on Friday, outsiders and national pundits wondered loudly why Memphis’ brain trust would move on from a coach who’s not only the winningest regular-season bench boss in franchise history, but who’d also led one of the league’s most injury-stricken teams to a 44-29 record, a top-five net rating and fourth place in the West — and why they’d do it just nine games before the start of the playoffs.
Plugged-in beat reporters, though, noted that the writing had been on the wall for a while, dating back to a dramatic overhaul of Jenkins’ coaching staff over the summer, and that the Grizzlies had seemed to be barreling toward an inflection point for months.