When the Memphis Grizzlies hired David Fizdale in May of 2016, Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace hailed the respected longtime assistant as a man with “an abundance of personal qualities and experiences, which make him uniquely prepared to lead the Grizzlies into the future.”

“David brings a championship vision with a detailed plan of how to get the Grizzlies to the next level,” Wallace said. “[…] He is a uniquely qualified coach who can lead our team now, tomorrow and deep into the future.”

Fizdale spoke about the “open, honest and energized” conversations he’d had with the players he’d inherited, from core veterans like Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Tony Allen to the youngsters dotting the Grizzlies’ rotation, about what he perceived as exciting opportunities ahead. But he also acknowledged the inevitability of things changing.

“I mean, come on — it’s always exciting in the beginning,” he said with a laugh. “They’re not going to like me at some point. I’m already ready for that. I get it, because I’m going to have to be that guy.”

Over the course of 18 months, Fizdale became that guy, delivering messages that — clearly — resonated more with some Grizzlies than with others. That, plus Memphis’ longest losing streak in eight years, is why Fizdale is no longer the head coach of the Grizzlies, a decision that stunned and angered many, and left plenty wondering what exactly can be expected of a coach entrusted with succeeding today and building a path to tomorrow while working without the raw materials needed to ensure quality construction.

“You think — as a young assistant, going over there, moving cities to a new organization that’s transitioning — you’d think that it would be about the long game,” said Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, with whom Fizdale walked every step of the road from the Heat’s video room to winning back-to-back NBA championships. “To have patience and to be able to work through that transition to be able to create something new. And that takes time in this league, and that’s what was so disheartening about it.”

Fizdale didn’t get that time. He got 101 regular-season games and one playoff series. He got less than one-fourth of a second year, one in which he worked with what remains of hoped-for max wing facilitator Chandler Parsons for only 20 minutes a night, and worked without starting power forward JaMychal Green for 12 of 19 games, without expected starting two-guard Wayne Selden for 17 of 19, without lottery-ticket wing addition Ben McLemore for 11 of 19, and without star playmaker Mike Conley for seven of 19. (And, if we’re being honest, without The Real Mike Conley for all of it, as the linchpin point guard rarely resembled his best self while hobbling around on a haunted left foot.)

Fizdale — who has had no compunction about making and standing by unpopular lineup decisions in the past, even if they didn’t bear fruit (and, often, they didn’t) — shook things up in search of a combination that would reverse Memphis’ losing streak. It failed, and it failed in an awkward and uncomfortable way.

“Yes, they’re going through a tough stretch right now, but this league is uncomfortable,” Spoelstra said. “It is when you lose, and when you get challenged as an organization, when you’re going through those stretches. But on the other side of those stretches, often times, are the greatest benefits, when you get through that adversity together.”

Grizzlies brass, following the unpleasantness against Brooklyn, decided that this group couldn’t make that journey. There were reports that Gasol had delivered “no ‘him or me'” mandate to management after he spent the final quarter of Memphis’ most recent dispiriting loss on the bench. There were also no shortage of post-mortems indicating that the unfiltered coach and the proud 7-footer had been bumping heads, and hadn’t been on the same page, for quite some time.

Wallace confirmed as much in a Tuesday press conference with local media. He praised Fizdale for the “positive impact” he made in the organization and in the Memphis community, but also insisted that what happened Monday didn’t happen only because of what happened Sunday.

“Obviously, it’s no secret there was tension between the two. This is a factor, but it’s not the overriding factor,” Wallace said. “As I said, the trends have not been positive. We’ve been heading in a bad direction for quite some time, and we need to turn this around. We talked to Marc basically in real time, about the same time as I was talking to Coach Fizdale.”

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