Memphis Grizzlies: Lionel Hollins Likely Done After Contract Talks Stall

Lionel Hollins is the winningest coach in the history of the Grizzlies’ franchise. (NBA.com photo)

Fresh off their best season ever, it looks likely that the Memphis Grizzlies will follow up their 56-win season that culminated with the franchise’s first-ever trip to the conference finals with a new coach in 2013-14.

League sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports on Sunday talks on an extension for coach Lionel Hollins stalled over “major philosophical differences” and that Hollins has been given permission to talk to other teams about their coaching vacancies.

That clears the path for Hollins to talk to the Los Angeles Clippers—who were coincidentally eliminated by the Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, thus ending the Vinny Del Negro era at the Staples Center. The Brooklyn Nets haven’t shown signs of being interested in talking to Hollins about their vacancy.

Other teams with coaching vacancies include the Philadelphia 76ers and the Detroit Pistons.

So far this offseason, the Atlanta Hawks have replaced Larry Drew with former San Antonio Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer, former Los Angeles Lakers assistant Steve Clifford was hired by the Charlotte Bobcats to replace one-and-done Mike Dunlap, Mike Brown returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers to replace Byron Scott, Drew replaced interim coach Jim Boylan with the Milwaukee Bucks, former Suns star and Utah Jazz assistant Jeff Hornacek took over for interim coach Lindsey Hunter in Phoenix and Mike Malone—a former assistant with the Golden State Warriors—replaced Keith Smart with the Sacramento Kings.

The new ownership group led by Robert Pera is heavy into basketball’s analytics movement, most notably evidenced by the hiring of former ESPN.com statistical guru John Hollinger as vice president of basketball operations. Hollins resented what he considered to be interference by management, while management was seeking a coach who was willing to jump aboard the analytics train.

It’s not a movement everyone around the NBA is embracing, to be sure. TNT analyst and Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller had some especially pointed words for the analytics movement and those behind it during a broadcast earlier this season:

During the playoffs, Wojnarowski cited a confrontation between Hollins and Hollinger during a practice session after Hollinger came onto the court and was talking to Grizzlies forward Austin Daye during a shooting drill.

Hollins loudly questioned what Hollinger was doing and why he thought it was OK for management to intrude on what has traditionally been the exclusive purview of coaches and players.

Hollins, 59, is the winningest coach in Grizzlies’ history, going 214-201 in three different stints in the lead chair. When the franchise was still in Vancouver, Hollins went 18-42 in 1999-2000 after taking over for Brian Hill 22 games into the season and had an 0-4 run as interim coach in 2004-05 after Hubie Brown stepped down for health reasons and before Mike Fratello was hired.

Hollins took over the job permanently in 2008-09, taking over for interim coach Johnny Davis, who had replaced the fired Marc Iavaroni. The Grizzlies went 13-26 under Hollins that season, but the club has won at least 40 games in each of Hollins’ four full seasons at the helm.

As a player, Hollins was an All-Star in 1977-78 for the Portland Trail Blazers and was the point guard for their 1977 NBA championship club. He also played for the 76ers, San Diego Clippers, Pistons and Houston Rockets in a 10-year NBA career and was a member of the All-Rookie first team in 1975-76 and was twice an All-Defensive selection.

This was an inevitable conclusion in Memphis, one that many of us saw coming when the Grizzlies started filling their front office with stats guys after the ownership change. The next coach in Memphis will likely be younger and he will definitely be someone who is a proponent of the value of advanced statistical metrics in determining rosters, lineups, rotations and even systems.