GritGrindGrizz: Grizzlies make it official: J.B. Bickerstaff introduced as head coach

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J.B. Bickerstaff is “interim coach” of the Memphis Grizzlies no longer.

Bickerstaff, 39, was officially introduced to media as head coach Wednesday morning in the lobby of FedExForum. And to give you an idea about how down-to-earth and affable he is, Bickerstaff spent almost five full minutes of his remarks thoughtfully thanking everyone — Grizz owner Robert Pera, GM Chris Wallace, players, coaches, his wife and children, his mother and father, former NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

That was AFTER he was asked his first question: “What do you intend to do with a healthy Grizzlies roster?” After all the thank-yous, Bickerstaff chuckled his answer to the question.

“WIN,” Bickerstaff smiled. “That’s the plan with this group. To win.”

Bickerstaff took over after the abrupt firing of his friend and predecessor David Fizdale in November. In addition to picking up the pieces after that, Bickerstaff had to coach through a season-ending injury to starting point guard Mike Conley, as well as various injuries to other players — all while teaching NBA youngsters like Dillon Brooks, Wayne Selden Jr. and Deyonta Davis how to play the right way.

“You learn a great deal about someone in adversity and J.B. was given a very difficult task this year,” Wallace said. “He kept our guys working hard, kept them focused. We think he’s the total package — a young coach who’s also very experienced.”

That adversity didn’t produce many wins (15-48 in 63 games), but Bickerstaff won over players and executives alike with his consistency and demands that his players play hard and the right way.

“We talk about how you deal with adversity,” Bickerstaff said of his team. “There are two things you can do: you can fight or you can run. The mindset of our team has always been and will always be ‘We fight.’

“Our goal every single night is to be the most competitive and unselfish team on the floor. Every night, you won’t win. But when fans tune in they’ll be proud of how unselfish our guys are, how competitive our guys are,” he continued.

“From Day One of training camp, that’s the mentality our guys are going to have.”

At seasons’ end, Wallace said the team never really conducted a full-blown coaching search.

“He’s the perfect guy at this point in time for this team,” said GM Chris Wallace, who is targeting a return to the Playoffs next spring. “We didn’t want to gamble on someone we didn’t know.

“He was the guy, and it was very obvious. So we acted on that,” Wallace said.

But it hasn’t always been obvious that Bickerstaff would get his shot as an NBA coach. He served on his dad’s staff in Charlotte, followed by four seasons as an assistant in Minnesota. He was an assistant coach under Kevin McHale in Houston from 2011-2016. That’s when the Rockets fired McHale, and turned Bickerstaff to finish the year out. He went 37-34 in that time.

Furthermore, Bickerstaff was among the available candidates when the Grizzlies hired Fizdale. Once Fizdale got the job, he called upon his close friend to join his staff, which is how Bickerstaff landed in Memphis.

I agree with Wallace: Bickerstaff seems like the right coach at the right time. He oozes an understated confidence, and his remarks about always being competitive and hardworking remind me of another longtime assistant who finally got his shot with the Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins. And that’s where my unease comes in.

It’s one thing to fire a coach after losing seasons. But over the past six years, the Grizzlies have an irritating record of letting go of winning coaches. Namely, I think of the other recent coaches who arguably deserved to KEEP the job — but were let go anyway: Fizdale, who was let go after infighting between him and Gasol boiled over; Dave Joerger, who was dismissed after three straight playoff appearances of his own; and of course, Lionel Hollins, whose contract wasn’t renewed after taking the team to the Western Conference Finals in 2013.

I’ve long said that the franchise’s most dangerous adversary is instability — you just can’t build long-term success if you’re changing coaches and players halfway through every other season. Bickerstaff will make Conley and Gasol’s FOURTH head coach since 2013. FOURTH. My fear is that the franchise has fallen back into old bad habits, seemingly changing directions as the wind blows.

I understand that coaches are hired to be fired. When Fizdale was dismissed, it hurt, but I also respect that you can’t have your coach and best player (Gasol) giving each other the silent treatment. Joerger had been courted by other franchises, including the Sacramento Kings, who promptly snapped him up after he was fired.

And Hollins? I imagined him as Memphis’ answer to coaches like Jerry Sloan and Gregg Popovich, a coach who would be with the team for 15-20 years — you know, STABILITY. But he rubbed then-GM Jason Levien the wrong way and wasn’t invited back. Pera fired Levien a year later, and brought Wallace out of exile, so technically the Hollins fiasco wasn’t on Wallace. But still.

Anyway, I have those same hopes for Bickerstaff’s longevity. I think he won’t have a problem getting his guys to play hard for him. I think he will re-establish a culture of hard work and effort on every play, every game.

“We laid a foundation of where we want to go,” Bickerstaff told me. “No building lasts without a strong foundation. To have 60-something games to be able to lay that foundation. But as far as on the court, we just saw the beginnings of what our plan is for this group.”

Bickerstaff already seems to excel in an area that has languished for too long: Player development. Without being distracted by a playoff race or aging veterans soaking up minutes, we got to see young players get extended minutes under Bickerstaff. And we could see the growth in players like Dillon Brooks, Andrew Harrison and Jarell Martin. Who knows if they’ll ever be stars, but they looked like NBA players toward the end of last season, and hopefully they’ll only get better.

Who knows if it’ll pay off, though? During the press conference, I observed that it could go either way: Without injuries and if things break right, the Grizz could be back in the playoffs. If not, it could be another rebuilding year. What path does he see?

“Our identity won’t change either way,” he responded. “We’re banking on guys being healthy. We’re planning on success. We’re planning on a playoff run. But the culture won’t change. The work ethic won’t change. The commitment to being the most competitive and unselfish team on the floor won’t change.

“Being a group of guys that this franchise, this city and our fans can be proud of?” he concluded, “That won’t change.”