Former Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins (above, right) recently took to the Memphis Fox affiliate to give his side of last summer’s exit (“taking a team that previously won 22 games a year, taking young players who hadn’t done anything and developing them into a winner, here’s finally an opportunity for me to reap the rewards financially, and it didn’t happen”). In the considered view of SB Nation’s Tom Ziller — otherwise quick to credit the coach for the career ascents of Marc Gasol and Mike Conley (above, left) —- ” Hollins is doing himself no favors…who the hell wants to work with someone who snivels so openly about losing his job in a competitive environment?”
You know how many coaches get let go? Basically all of them. Phil Jackson got let go after a playoff season. If Jesus were an NBA coach, he’d probably have been fired multiple times. This is the nature of the business. Perhaps Hollins suffered a real indignity — that was Memphis’ best season ever — but it’s not a rare indignity in this business. Coaches get fired constantly. Most do not act as if their puppy has been kicked. Most manage to remain stoic in the face of dismissal. And guess what? Most manage to get hired by another team.
Imagine everything Hollins says is true. That he screamed at de facto GM John Hollinger for faux-contesting a player’s shot during practice. This seems pretty basic, all told, but if you want to keep your job, you do not scream at your boss. You especially do not scream at your boss in front of your players. It’s just a horrible idea. And then when you admit to doing it in an attempt to clear your name, you are not making potential future bosses more comfortable with your candidacy. Who the hell wants to hire someone who has admitted he screamed at his last boss in front of players for a rather shrug-worthy perceived offense?
Hollins has outed himself as a frustrating employee. To what benefit? Absolutely none. He’s only confirmed the rumors he claims the Grizzlies’ management team planted about him