Report: Grizzlies hope that ‘new voice’ will elevate their core like Kenny Atkinson did with Cavs

There’s a new sheriff in town for the Memphis Grizzlies after the team abruptly parted ways with head coach Taylor Jenkins last week. Tuomas Iisalo is now leading the Grizzlies from the sidelines, but Memphis has yet to pick up a win since he’s taken over the coaching reins.

In Iisalo’s first game as the head coach of the Grizzlies, they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers by seven points on March 29. More recently, Memphis fell to the defending champion Boston Celtics by double digits on Monday.

Iisalo has gotten off to a shaky start patrolling the sidelines for Memphis, but the Grizzlies are allegedly still hoping that he will elevate the team’s core just like Kenny Atkinson has done in his first season serving as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“The hope is a new voice will connect with and elevate a core that has stagnated since that epic series against the [Golden State] Warriors in 2022,” Ramona Shelburne, Tim MacMahon and Michael C. Wright wrote.

“That the Grizzlies will be rewarded, just as the Cavaliers have this season under new coach Kenny Atkinson, for sticking with a core group they believe in and making the right adjustments around the margins and at the top.

“Memphis is committed to extending [Jaren] Jackson and [Santi] Aldama this summer, sources said. And [Zach] Kleiman publicly denied trade rumors and affirmed the commitment to [Ja] Morant in February.”

Jenkins spent more than five seasons as the Grizzlies’ head coach and helped the team reach the playoffs three times before he was canned and replaced by the Finland native Iisalo.

The Cavaliers have had the most successful 2024-25 season of any squad in the Eastern Conference under Atkinson’s leadership. Cleveland has already won a whopping 60 games on the campaign and sits four games ahead of the Celtics for the conference’s top record.

Cleveland flamed out early on in the playoffs in the years leading up to Atkinson’s arrival, just like the Grizzlies did in recent years under Jenkins. In the 2023 NBA Playoffs, the Cavaliers lost to the New York Knicks in a gentleman’s sweep in the first round. Then, in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Cleveland fell to the Celtics in five games in the second round.

At this juncture, it seems quite within the realm of possibility that the Cavaliers will capture their second title in franchise history later on in the year.

Cleveland captured its first NBA title almost a decade ago at this point in 2016, and forward LeBron James was the straw that stirred the drink for the Cavaliers’ offense at the time. The Cavaliers rallied all the way back from a 3-1 deficit against the Warriors in the championship series to win the series in seven games.