Grizzlies' losing streak, tension with Marc Gasol: What led to David Fizdale firing

There was a particularly rough patch during the Grizzlies’ 2015-16 season — coach Dave Joerger’s final campaign at the helm — when a level of paranoia crept into the coaching staff.

Joerger approached the team’s beat writer in an unusually frank manner with a major concern during the middle of a west coast trip.

“I think Marc’s trying to get me fired,” Joerger said, referring to Marc Gasol.

Joerger was eventually relieved of his duties because of a fallout with management. But there was absolutely tension between Joerger and Gasol.

Fast forward to Monday when the Grizzlies dismissed coach David Fizdale 101 games into his head-coaching career. Fizdale is hardly the first Grizzlies coach to be concerned about his relationship with Gasol.

Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace acknowledged during a Tuesday morning press conference there was tension between Gasol and Fizdale.

But Wallace emphasized the decision to fire Fizdale Monday was more about the team’s eight-game losing streak. Wallace pointed to a downward spiral that dated back to last season, citing Fizdale’s 14-26 record in his last 40 regular-season games.

“We needed to have a change to try to save the season,” Wallace said. “Looking at where we were headed, there just weren’t a great deal of positive trends. We hope to get a positive reboot.”

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Gasol, while acknowledging his frosty relationship with Fizdale, insisted he had no role in the Grizzlies' decision to change coaches.

“Nobody likes to see a coaching change during the season,” Gasol said. “I was a little bit shocked by it… Nobody likes to be in the situation we’re in. And we were not finding a way to win collectively. We were breaking apart. Me and David didn’t see everything eye-to-eye all the time. But we both had the same intentions of making the team a collective, really strong unit. We couldn’t find a way to do that.”

Wallace sat beside interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who served as Fizdale’s associate head coach. Bickerstaff said he would only make minor changes and refuted any notion that Fizdale lost the players.

“To a man, if you ask those guys, they believed in his vision,” Bickerstaff said. “Whatever was put in front of them, they were willing to do… We can tweak a few things but the things you tweak have to be simple.”

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Memphis (7-12) resumes play Wednesday night on the road against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Grizzlies are still an injury-riddled squad limping along a tough part of their schedule without Mike Conley (Achilles), Brandan Wright (groin), Chandler Parsons (knee) and Wayne Selden (quad).

When asked what are his expectations for Gasol, Bickerstaff said: “Marc is one of the leaders of this team. We need Marc to play his best basketball. In order for us to be the team we want to be a ton of that responsibility falls on Marc’s shoulders. We need him to be Marc Gasol.”

The Grizzlies’ struggles on the court can’t be attributed solely to Gasol. Yet the Grizzlies’ best player is shooting 39 percent during the skid. Gasol averaged nine rebounds over the past eight games but pulled down a total of 11 boards in the past two games.

How did we get here?

The tension between Gasol and Fizdale boiled over Sunday during a loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Fizdale didn’t play Gasol in the fourth quarter. After the game, Gasol vented and said he was angry.

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Fizdale may have been trying to send a message to Gasol, who was on the court with the starters to begin the second half when the Grizzlies fell behind by 19 points. Fizdale critics argue Gasol should have re-entered the game when the Grizzlies cut the deficit to five points with eight minutes left to play.

But Fizdale and Gasol clashed from Day One mainly because of Fizdale’s coaching style. He demanded Gasol to be more of a vocal leader and made the 7-footer the team’s only captain.

When Fizdale asked Gasol and Conley to give input on plays, Gasol resisted.

Veteran guard Mario Chalmers said Fizdale didn’t have a problem with the locker room.

“Me being the new guy, I heard rumblings,” Chalmers said, “but I never saw anything with my own eyes. I never really bought into that.”

Where do you go from here?

Conley isn’t expected to return before Christmas. The Grizzlies are supposed to give an update on his condition Friday — two weeks after he was ruled out.

After playing the Spurs, the Grizzlies return home to host the Spurs. The Griz then travel to Cleveland before facing New York, Minnesota, Toronto and Oklahoma City.

“There’s a task to be done,” Bickerstaff said. “The opportunity was given to me to lead that task. We have the pieces here. We’ve shown that.”

Wallace refuted any notion that the Grizzlies are unstable, having replaced two coaches in two years.

“There shouldn’t a perception of instability,” Wallace said. “We’re committed to winning on all fronts. Coaching changes happen in the NBA it’s a fact of life. It doesn’t indicate instability.”