Ivaroni out, Hollins in (again) as Grizzlies coach

The Memphis Grizzlies have fired coach Marc Ivaroni following an 11-30 start to the season.  Ivaroni became the 7th NBA coach to lose his job since the beginning of the season.  Earlier today Memphis General Manager Chris Wallace confirmed that he’s in the process of finalizing a deal with current Milwaukee Bucks assistant Lionel Hollins to become the team’s new head coach.

Ivaroni lasted a season and a half in his first shot at head coaching. The team announced his firing with this statement by GM Wallace:

"We wish Marc all the best in his future endeavors. He gave his all to the organization while serving as head coach and represented the Grizzlies with class and a high level of professionalism."

Those qualities not withstanding, Ivaroni simply didn’t win basketball games.  His overall record of 33-90 translates to a .268 winning percentage—the fifth lowest in NBA history.  More significantly, he had completely lost the attention of his players and the team became increasingly non-competitive as his charges “tuned him out”.

The state of the Grizzlies’ locker room is what spurred the immediate dismissal which might not be surprising in light of the team’s record but came in contradiction to a vote of confidence from owner Michael Heisley in early December.  Heisley told the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

“He's my coach and I'm behind him 100 percent. I'm not going to evaluate him now. Marc is not under the gun."
Grizz rookie Marc Gasol enumerated a number of the team’s issues in recent comments to the Memphis newspaper:
"We don't have an identity. We don't have one. We run around like chickens with our heads cut off. Youth can be a good thing, but we use it as an excuse.

"We're always making excuses. We make excuses to the referees and to our teammates. We make excuses in practice. That's all some people want to do is make excuses. You're never going to get anywhere like that."
Future superstar Rudy Gay summed up the problems surrounding the Grizzlies more succinctly:

“I know the things we're working on [haven't] worked. We ain't got no chemistry."

That left GM Wallace to explain how Ivaroni went from “not on the hot seat” to the unemployment line in just over a month:

“We were better early on ... and then we slipped a little bit. Eventually you've got to get results to solidify that lessons are learned. We're building for the future, but in the short term you want to have some tangible results. That makes it easier to build for the future. We take this period of time seriously for the team. These aren't throw-away games or a throw-away season for us."

Earlier today Wallace confirmed that the team’s next head coach would be Lionel Hollins, who has been the interim coach of the Grizzlies on two different occasions (1999-2000 and 2004-05).  He compiled an 18-46 mark during these tenures, but Wallace was nonplussed by his poor record:

"How many interim coaches have gaudy records in the NBA?"

The plan is for Hollins to join the team early next week to get some practices under his belt before the Grizzlies’ game against Denver next Tuesday. Current assistant Johnny Davis will be the interim coach and will most likely be in charge for Memphis’ Saturday night game against New Jersey.