Memphis Grizzlies: 5 bold predictions for 2017-18 NBA season

4. David Fizdale wins Coach of the Year

The Grizzlies have enough talent on their roster to outperform their expectations this year. There are a lot of reasons to think that won’t happen. Injuries could ruin the season fairly easily, the Western Conference is busting at the seams with elite talent, and both of the team’s two best players are entering stages of their careers where age-related decline is a real threat.

If Memphis avoids those pitfalls, however, and wins more games than anticipated (think high 40s), while also implementing a more modern approach to the game, as has been rumored, then there is one man who will clearly be in line to collect much of the praise for the team’s success: David Fizdale.

Fizdale is a good coach, but he’s a young coach and he’s is still learning the way to be most effective in his role. He admitted as much at the team’s Media Day. In any case, Fizdale most certainly hasn’t risen (yet) to the league’s upper echelon of coaching, but that’s not really what Coach of the Year is about.

The winner of the honor is typically just the man at the reins of whatever team won more games than most people anticipated they would. It doesn’t hurt to have a little narrative tied in, and Fizdale’s leadership post Grit-N-Grind and in the community certainly don’t hurt in that regard. He already won our hearts with his “take that for data” moment. Now it’s time for bigger and better things.