The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins + DPOY Madness | Slam N Jam
Sat, 29 Mar 2025
Andrew Schlecht and Alex Speers discuss the week of NBA Basketball Defensive Player of the year, and our players, stats and quotes of the week. Then they are joined by Keith Parish of the Athletic to discuss the Memphis Grizzlies and why they fired Taylor Jenkins, Ja Morant’s season, the value of Brandon Clarke, and more. Then the boys play a fun edition of Andrew vs. the Beat, a trivia game where Andrew is pitted against a beat writer.Host: Andrew Schlecht and Alex SpeersWith: Keith ParishExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio/Video Editor: Jake Kleinberg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened with Taylor Jenkins and the Grizzlies?
If you do want like a good sizzle reel for Dort, what he did in the fourth quarter last night during that final run.
Maybe we just need Thunder fans to just retweet that more. Maybe the Thunder should send that to voters instead of like a cookie or I don't know.
I wish they would send something. I think that's the problem, Andrew. OKC will never do anything like that. Yeah. Send us something. OK, that brings us to our favorites of the week. Send me anything. My favorite quote this week actually was my least favorite quote because George Niang was trash talking Quentin Grimes this week during a game as Grimes lined up to hit some free throws.
Niang said, quote, if Joel was here, your ass would be in the corner. Joel here, you're in the corner. Tyrese here, you're in the corner. Andrew, what is G-Wagon talking about? Quentin Grimes? What is he talking about? Averaging 28-5-5 in March. Now, are the Sixers 3-12 in March? Yeah, but there are three and ten in games Quentin Grimes has played in, so checkmate.
Minivan, you're just jealous because you never fell into the greatest career-boosting situation like Grimes has in this two-month window. Quentin Grimes is going to sign a contract this summer with a yearly salary close to what Niang has made over his entire career, $21 million.
He just needs to accept that LeBron is getting close to retirement, and we are now in the dawn of the Quentin Grimes era, okay? That's right. So get ready.
That's right. Get ready for the Quentin Grimes. He's been great. He's been awesome. He has really done great for himself down the stretch. It was a perfect situation, honestly. If you're Quentin Grimes, maybe Dallas would have still been a good situation.
They need players, too.
But it's played out very well for him in Philly, and we'll see what happens moving forward there. My favorite quote, one, I can't quit the Bulls. at any time soon. I'm just, I'm over the moon that they're coming to Oklahoma city on Monday and I get to go watch them in person. I just can't, I got, I'm just so excited about that.
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Chapter 2: What are the implications of Ja Morant’s injuries?
But more importantly, shortly before we recorded today, the Grizzlies announced they were parting ways with head coach Taylor Jenkins, who was in his sixth season for the Grizzlies. Per Clean the Glass, the Grizzlies have the sixth-ranked offense and tenth-ranked defense. Andrew, if our favorite team is the Memphis Grizzlies, who is our guest?
It's Keith Parrish, who hosts the Grits and Grinds podcast, which is a great Grizzlies podcast. I find it very entertaining. I love listening to Keith. He also hosts Fast Break Breakfast with our friend Dave DeFore, which is also a very fun listen. Keith, I don't even know what to say. I'm just honestly so glad that you're here with us right now.
Thanks for having me, guys. This works out great for you. It does. Selfishly, yes. You get some hot content. The wheel picked the Grizzlies, and then they make this stunning move to not fire Taylor Jenkins, to part ways. The press release says, parted ways. Yo. Oh, man. What? I'm stunned. Also, like... Obviously, this is less than, you know, they played the Thunder last night.
Like, you got to see the Thunder. I sat in the same room as him yesterday.
Yesterday.
The Thunder dropped a 28-3 run in the fourth quarter on the Grizzlies. My joke is, here's my actual analysis as a Grizzlies expert. I think Robert para tuned in to five minutes of a Grizzlies basketball game. So saw Jaron Jackson jr. Sitting on the bench with five and a half minutes left and the Grizzlies didn't score. He's like, what's, what is this? What's what's going on? That guy's got to go.
What are the possible reasons that they would do this though? Like right before the playoffs, like, like it's, we're just right around the corner from what could be like pretty important little playoff run for the Grizzlies and for anybody in the West. Like why now is just the question that I just find myself having no answer for.
Are there like some, are there were some really good college basketball jobs that just opened up with March madness and Taylor wants to go get one. I don't know.
I don't know.
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