When the Boston Celtics brought in Joe Mazzulla, it was due to unfortunate, unforeseen circumstances. Obviously, everything has worked out for the best, and Mazzulla has blossomed into one of the best young coaches in the league, but that’s not always the case with head coaching changes. Just look at Taylor Jenkins and the Memphis Grizzlies.
Memphis just shockingly fired Jenkins with only nine games remaining in the regular season. The Grizzlies have a chance to earn home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, yet they still decided to move on from Jenkins, seemingly out of nowhere and with very little explanation.
Unfortunately, the move makes Mazzulla look even more painfully genius than he did before.
Joe Mazzulla looks unfortunately genius after Taylor Jenkins firing
Earlier this year, after a brutal 4-13 season, the New England Patriots fired head coach Jerod Mayo after giving him just one year at the helm of the franchise.
Mazzulla, who had formed a relationship with Mayo, reacted to the move with a thoughtful statement:
“The first part is you don’t realize the impact that it has on the assistants and their families and their kids,” Mazzulla said via Souichi Terada of MassLive. “To me, it’s bigger than just the head coach. You got assistants that believe in the head coach. You got assistants that move their families there, so there are people that are impacted by it.”
However, the second part of Mazzulla’s reaction was far more blunt:
“Second piece is, like you said, we’re hired to get fired,” he said. “You enjoy it for as long as you can. After that, it’s done. That’s it.”
That’s the part that applies to Jenkins.
The unfortunate reality of being a coach in any professional sport, especially in the NBA, is that you can get fired at any time. And oftentimes, without much rhyme or reason being presented.
Just this season, the Sacramento Kings fired Mike Brown, despite his positive impact on the organization, and now, the Grizzlies fired Jenkins despite being a top-tier playoff team in the West.
Mazzulla’s harsh take on the reality of coaching has never been more relevant than with the Grizzlies’ decision to fire Jenkins out of nowhere.
Unfortunately, the move just makes his statement look all the more painfully brilliant.
Memphis firing Jenkins doesn’t make much sense, but it doesn’t have to, because that’s just how it works. Organizations can fire a head coach if they see fit. As Mazzulla said, coaches are just hired to get fired. That was apparently the case with Jenkins.