Grizzlies Fire Fratello FINALLY!

Griz fire Fratello; Barone to step in?
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By Ronald Tillery
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December 28, 2006
The Grizzlies relieved Mike Fratello of his head coaching duties Thursday afternoon, and will name an interim coach to finish the season.
Director of player personnel Tony Barone Sr. has been asked to step in, according to insiders. Management was awaiting Barone's decision while it mulled other options.


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Fratello was not allowed to finish the last season of a three-year contract. He guided the Grizzlies to consecutive playoff appearances. But the Griz got off to a 6-24 start this season –- a record built mostly without all-star Pau Gasol, who missed the first 22 games with a broken toe.
The Griz have lost five straight games and 11 of the past 12.

-- Ronald Tillery: 529-2353

I'm so glad Memphis has fired Fratello. Now its time for them to get a coach who loves to coach the uptempo style of play like Rick Adelman. Many fans saw this coming, with the way things were going with the team.

Will he go back to broadcasting on TNT now?

With the record they have, it might be an expected move. But it's always the coaches fault.
The only coach I can think of to replace him is Rick Adelman.
Larry Brown has been seen to attend Philidelphia games and said to have an interest to return there.
Mike Montgomery said he doesn't want to replace a coach that was fired because of some reason about the enviroment. He wanted to coach for a team in which the coach retired instead.

Maybe he'll go back to NBA LIVE Franchise and do commentating with Marv Albert. Haha

I don't think it will matter either way. The Grizzlies lack a good PG, rebounding, and have no bench depth at all.

Hopefully whoever they pick has enough brains to start Hakim Warrick and give him some decent minutes. Same for Rudy Gay. I think they're a year or two, and a PG away from being a good team again.

I think Kyle Lowry is that PG you're talking about, I mean in two years of course.
They probably didn't fire Fratello only because of the 6-24 record, but I think it's bad luck for him since they've been having so much injury troubles.

I think Kyle Lowry is that PG you're talking about, I mean in two years of course.
They probably didn't fire Fratello only because of the 6-24 record, but I think it's bad luck for him since they've been having so much injury troubles.

Agreed that Lowry is the true PG that Memphis needs. What luck though that he had to get injured. Bringing in Rick Adelman, would help players like Rudy and Hakim excel playing at an uptempo pace. Also, West has set the team up very well by getting alot of good young players in that can really play: Lowry, Gay, Roberts, Alexander Johnson, Warrick, Dahntay. Then you add on Mike Miller who leads the Grizzlies in rebounds, assists and 2nd in scoring along with a healthy Gasol. Memphis has depth, they just have to know how to use it and you can't use it when your playing a slow pace game, when you have all these athletes on one team. Then Eddie Jones contract becomes a factor, so the Grizzlies can either use him as trade bait as far as cap space, or they can keep him for their own benefit in the off-season to try and sign someone along with keeping a lottery pick. I still can't stand the fact that Heisley is bullshitting around the team, and they could've actually made a good run at getting AI, but they didn't even try. Hopefully they can bring in some other star, because they have bait to give away.

I think Fratello is a very good coach. The Grizzlies are simply a terrible team.

Yeah so did I. The loss of Gasol and countless other injuries are the reason, but if the Grizzlies want to play Sacramento Kings basketball, then I guess Fratello had to go.

I think Fratello is a very good coach. The Grizzlies are simply a terrible team.

2nd that, they didn't have Gasol at the beginning, but thats not such a big excuse, Miller and Co. were still there. He'll prob come back to broadcasting or sumthin.

Its not that Fratello was a bad coach, but he wasn't the coach the Grizzlies needed. Why you think West brought in all these athletic young players? Fratello didn't want to change his coaching style, and that was fine which was the reason why he was fired. And I think the players Memphis have are too young to even play a discipline style of basketball like what Fratello wanted which is what caused alot of the losing. They want to play the young players more this year and whenever Rudy gets 30+mpg, he plays so well. So, this should be an experiment to see how well the young players can play when getting plenty of minutes on the court.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Rudy play alot more. It must shake his confidence for him to play 30+ one night then 17 minutes the next, he must be wondering what he has done wrong.

I think Fratello is a very good coach. The Grizzlies are simply a terrible team.

Yeah, plus they didn't have Gasol for now many games? Fratello got them to the playoffs. . . but I didn't really expect to see him get fired

I think Fratello is a very good coach. The Grizzlies are simply a terrible team.

I agree. I've always thought of the Czar as a good coach, and still do. I don't see anybody winning with the team they have in Memphis right now. Maybe the Knicks will look at Fratello.

I wonder if the Bobcats will go after Fratello. I think Bernie Bickerstaff has pretty much accomplished nothing in Charlotte, and they're not improving at all.

Here's another article on the subject...

Memphis Grizzlies President of Basketball Operations Jerry West announced today that Mike Fratello has been relieved of his head coaching duties.

Fratello led Memphis to a 95-83 record after he was hired on December 2, 2004 as the Grizzlies’ seventh head coach in team history. He led the Grizzlies to two postseason appearances, and became the franchise’s all-time winningest head coach in April. This season, Fratello led the Grizzlies to a 6-24 record.

“I’d like to thank Mike for the contributions he made to the Grizzlies organization,” said West. “He is a great coach and friend, and he did an outstanding job guiding this team to two playoff appearances in Memphis. We just felt it was time to make a change and move in a different direction based on our record and future goals. We wish Mike the best in his future endeavors.”

...

http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/frate ... 61228.html

Grizzles werent do so good, but what can you expect, in the nba teams are divided into somehow classes...as in Ex Toronto + Knicks everyone in the top five is equal and doesnt have a SUPPERstar player. Nets + Heat + Suns having more then 1 star or superstar player. And unfortunatly the grizzles are in teh cat of only having 1 star player and a mediocre top 5, without P Gasol it really isnt Fratello's fault, shouldve gave him more time.

I wonder if the Bobcats will go after Fratello. I think Bernie Bickerstaff has pretty much accomplished nothing in Charlotte, and they're not improving at all.

I don't think Bickerstaff has been great in Charlotte, but that move wouldn't make any sense at all. The Bobcats are on the right path, they have a lot of young talent that knows how to play the game. Just wait untill they move Gerald Wallace for more value then he's worth, and make 1 more big draft choice.

Imagine a frontline of Greg Oden and Emeka Okafor. Thats one hell of an interior defence, then add Gerald Wallace with his couple of blocks a game. The way they are going now, if they don't get the first pick and get the second or someone sleeps on Kevin Durant, they need to grab him. I think he is going to be one hell of a player and they don't really have any scorers outside of Morrison, who hasn't really looked that great along with most of this rookie class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_-I04_yvlc
there's some kevin durant action

What a game by the Grizzlies. I like the style of play Barone wants.. looks like the Grizz are going to be a run and gun team, and they definetly have the young players to do it.

Mike Fratello
Tony Barone

Looks like Jerry West has some connections with Italian "business groups".