In The Plans

I already made my feelings known about the rehiring of Lionel Hollins. But after further independent investigation I'm not sure about that anymore. Coach Hollins and the new Grizzlies management might not be such a good fit after all. A team like the Brooklyn Nets might be a better fit for him. They might be the only team willing and able to provide Hollins with the proper team structure that he needs. Mikhail Prokhorov the Brooklyn Nets owner is ready to pay for a winner. That includes the coach. I can imagine these new Yuppie owners don't want to give Coach Hollins his due. The front office is going all in on this analytical model. They think they have reinvented the game.

The ultimate goal for the new owners is to have a winning team with as little overhead as possible. I went along with them when they traded Rudy Gay and Mareese Speights. Because I thought I understood the reason. In my opinion that trade helped the team. Rudy Gay was good but overrated and overpaid. Mareese Speights didn't want to be here at all. He wanted to be on a team where he could start. We went farther in the playoffs after those players left. They may have the numbers down, but numbers don't measure the intangibles. You can't measure the ability it took to control a Tony Allen or tutor Mike Conley to the point where he is now. Both players who under Hollins have blossomed.

I would love to know what stalled the contract negotiations. I hope this isn't another Larry Finch situation Because of who he is they don't want to pay him what he's worth. Now that he has built up the team.  Management thinks they can handle it without him. Who are they expecting to replace him with? Obviously they aren't expecting to hire an experienced coach. They think his assistant David Joeger has picked up enough pointers from Coach Hollins to take over Now I see why they are so slow about renewing Coach Hollins' contract. They were waiting to see how far this team would advance. This has been in the plans all along.