With the NBA playoffs currently taking place, it’s easy to forget about the teams at the other end of the spectrum. One team that haven’t qualified for this stage of the season is the Memphis Grizzlies.

How they got here.

The Grizzlies have had a pretty turbulent past 12 months. If you remember, at around this time last year they reached the post season phase of the league themselves. Led by genuine top level talent such as Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, they wound up with 43 wins and managed to reach the 7th seed. They were then matched up with the then second seeded San Antonio Spurs, and managed to take them to a respectable 6 games. Despite losing in the first round, there was a certain fight about this team, something that was summed up in this brilliant post game rant at the officiating from head coach David Fizdale.

And for me Fizdale was a huge reason why I was really big on this Memphis side at the time, and for a number of reasons. One of them being his coaching background. Prior to taking over as head coach of the Grizz he had been in a variety of different setups as an assistant, working with the Heat during their big three era under the wing of Erik Spoelstra, as well as spending time in Golden State and Atlanta. Even though he wasn’t a head coach in these places, these types of roles and experiences are still things that I find positive to see on a coaches resume. It shows he has been exposed to a good basketball coaching culture, and it clearly paid off as on his first chance as a head coach he had a pretty good season.

Heading into this current season, I had strong faith that the Grizz would take that next step and become a more significant team in their conference. In my eyes they had the personnel, momentum and coaching to do it, but things did not turn out that way because a number of events took place that would derail their season. For example, Mike Conley picked up a nasty achilles injury, which would later rule him out for the season, and losing your best point guard will always hurt. There was also a growing rift between head coach Fizdale and Marc Gasol, and following a 7-12 start (including an 8 game consecutive losing streak) the Grizzlies ownership kind of had to do something. Gasol was unhappy that he was benched throughout the 4th quarter in a game, and with a coach under-performing and a player unhappy the owners had to choose between the two. Believe it or not, the franchise player got the call. Fizdale was fired, and this move evoked a strong response from the NBA community with players such as LeBron James and Dwayne Wade venting their anger and frustration at the move via twitter.

Following the Conley injury and the news that he was going to be shut down for the year, it appears that the Grizzlies decided to commit to a tank instead of competing for a playoff spot, and this more or less reflected in their record. They ended up with 22 wins and 60 loses, which is of course disappointing if you’re a Grizz fan. But, the structure of the NBA makes it so that teams can be rewarded for losing, so it’s definitely not all doom and gloom.

The Grizzlies pick, and rebuilding for the future.

The reward that I am talking about is of course a high value draft pick, and even though they finished 14th in their conference they are 2nd in the draft race. Tankathon shows that they have the second best odds in the draft, and could potentially steal the 1 spot from Phoenix, which is a HUGE silver lining for Memphis. With this pick they could select someone really good from a really stacked draft class, such as a DeAndre Ayton, Luka Doncic, Marvin Bagley, or someone else with a high upside (because there’s a lot of good picks in this upcoming draft).

Whoever they draft with this pick could provide a young spark to the team next season. We’ve seen how rookies have impacted their teams this year, with the likes of Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Ben Simmons and other playing big minutes and making big plays for their respective franchises, so this pick could be huge for the Grizz when it comes to next season or beyond.

The value of high draft picks as trade pieces is also something that they should consider, because there are plenty of teams that would cough up good players for their pick, and this is an avenue they could explore if they want to add to the core of Conley and Gasol. I’m not going to cook up any hypothetical trades, but still, lots of teams would want this pick. Personally I would keep it, not just because I think this years draft class is great, but also because of the timeline and ages of the Grizzlies and their squad. Marc Gasol is still good now, and his skill set is one that can hold up against age, but at 33 he will most likely be looking to retire in the next couple of years. The other pillar of the squad (Mike Conley) is also a sensational talent, but following a big injury he might not come back the same. I am rooting for him to because I like him a lot, but there’s still a possibility that he comes back and has lesser production for his team. So, bringing in a young fresh player to partner with these guys, and to also develop and build around will give them a life beyond the tandem of Gasol and Conley.

The recent coaching appointment.

As mentioned earlier head coach David Fizdale got fired from his role, and with this comes a necessity for someone else to step up to the plate. Following his dismissal, J.B Bickerstaff took over as interim head coach, and recently it was announced that he would become the next full time coach of the Grizz, after signing a three year deal with the franchise. The appointment of Bickerstaff has been met with a mixed response, and I believe the fact that there wasn’t clear selection process has led to some frustration amongst the Griz faithful. Throughout the period of not having a full time coach, I didn’t see anything that suggested they were in talks with or looking at a coach or a group of coaches for that matter, and this would be disappointing considering the fact that there are some solid candidates out there right now.

JB Bickerstaff has agreed to a three-year contract to become the Memphis Grizzlies’ head coach, league sources tell ESPN. Bickerstaff was Memphis’ interim coach for most of the 2017-18 season. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 27, 2018

If the Grizz wanted to they could have interviewed someone like Mike Budenholzer who was recently let go from Hawks. I’m not sure how well his style would mesh with their roster off the top of my head, but he’s at least a proven coach in the NBA and he’s been to the playoffs and the conference finals too. He also knows good coaching after spending time with Pop in San Antonio.

Then there’s Jerry Stackhouse, a man who spent 18 seasons as a player in the NBA and will obviously know the game of basketball from this first hand experience. Since he retired, he has dipped into coaching, including a spell as the Toronto Raptors assistant coach ,and as the assistant in Toronto he helped them finish second in their conference. An interesting part of his coaching profile is that he has since gone down to the G-League to hone his skills and develop into an NBA quality head coach. During his time in the developmental league he has had some real accomplishments as he took the Raptors 905 (The Toronto Raptors affiliate team) to the G-League title and won coach of the year in same season. This may just be the G-League but it’s still an impressive showcasing of his eligibility as a top level head coach, and he has had experience in a NBA coaching environment. Because of what he’s achieved so far and his time spent in the league, I really think he could have been a terrific option for the Grizz.

Now look, I’m not saying that these two guys would have definitely been amazing for the role, nor am i saying Bickerstaff is unsuitable for, but I just think that the coach market right now is filled with some genuinely good coaches. Because of this, I find it confusing why they wouldn’t conduct a serious interview process with the available candidates. Why not explore possibilities? Why not at least have a quick look at the available options? It seems like they just had Bickerstaff in place and were happy to not look around and consider other options.

And I never thought I’d say this but look at the Knicks as a positive example. Not too long ago they fired Jeff Hornacek, and have since been considering plenty of options, such as David Fizdale, Mark Jackson, and the aforementioned Jerry Stackhouse. They’ve even headed into Europe to meet with ex Cavs coach David Blatt. Even though they may not be in the best spot right now the Knicks are still being active and vetting the potential coaching candidates.

Aside from my criticisms of the thought process of the Grizzlies front office and the process they underwent whilst looking for a coaching replacement, I still think that this is a solid appointment for them. Bickerstaff has a decent bit of experience under his belt, following some assistant roles in Minnesota and Charlotte. He was also the interim coach who took over from Kevin McHale in Houston. Another pro Bickerstaff point is the fact that he has coached the Grizzlies before, as he has been the interim coach all season, and although his record as head coach with them was 15-48, he has been without his best point guard in Mike Conley throughout his tenure. Honestly his record as a head coach is his main criticism, as in Houston he went 37-34, but to be fair the Rockets weren’t exactly sensational after McHale’s departure.

Another positive of his upgrade to full time coach is the fact that he seems to have the team on his side, or at least we think so so far. Marc Gasol said that ‘He’s done a tremendous job with the tools he has been given’, and prior to him getting the full time gig Mike Conley said that he ‘deserves the job’. To be endorsed by the best two players on the roster is definitely a good thing for Bickerstaff, especially following Fizdale’s departure that was brought on by poor chemistry . But that dismissal was also brought on by a poor run, and with this new coach it will be interesting to see if they stick by him through bad results throughout the season.

Really, nobody knows what Bickerstaff will be able to do with this Memphis team. This season he was without arguably his best player, and also took over as an interim coach. However now he is a full time coach, and the assurance that comes with that might give him the freedom to incorporate his philosophies and styles onto this team. Right now I think this is a positive appointment, and who knows what will happen? Maybe by this time next season I’ll look like a complete fool for believing this, or maybe J.B Bickerstaff goes on to do a good job in this role.

But for now, let’s just relax on criticizing this appointment. There’s still the draft where the Grizz can cash in that top 5 pick, as well as the summer where we’ll get a better glance at the roster we will be working with. All we know for sure is that just last year they made the NBA playoffs, and I believe they could definitely find themselves back there soon.