And you thought the Knicks were in flux? The Grizzlies make them look like a model NBA organization by contrast.
According to Sports Illustrated, coach Dave Joerger, who nearly took the Timberwolves job last week, has seesawed between wanting to coach the Grizzlies and leaving, while owner Robert Pera has gone back and forth on firing Joerger several times over the past year.
Memphis doesn’t have a CEO or assistant general manager and is being run by Chris Wallace, a GM who hasn’t been involved in the day-to-day operations for over a year.
According to sources in the SI story, the trouble began last September, when Pera, who considers himself a pretty good pickup player, challenged Tony Allen to a one-on-one game. Allen accepted on Twitter, and Pera invited the media and had the Grizzlies’ PR staff send out a press release to promote the event.
Before the game, Allen lost interest and Joerger, a first-year head coach, thought it was unbecoming for a professional team. Pera, sources told SI, told management to fire Joerger.
The relationship grew even more strained when Memphis began the season with a 2-3 record. Pera held one-on-one meetings with players and started making odd suggestions, such as hiring Mike Miller as a player-coach and ordering Joerger to wear a headset to be given instructions on the sideline. Pera wanted Joerger to play young forward Ed Davis more. When he didn’t, Pera wanted Joerger fired yet again.
In a radio interview, Wallace said Joerger was allowed to interview with the Timberwolves — after the Grizzles nearly upset the Thunder in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs — because he was from Minnesota.
Joerger surprisingly opted to return, and both sides say fences have been mended. We’ll see. Hopefully, Pera doesn’t challenge any more Grizzlies to one-on-one games.