Firing Taylor Jenkins allowed the Grizzlies to do something fans have been clamoring for all year

Zach Kleiman made it clear he was fed up with Taylor Jenkins. So much so that he fired him on a whim with nine games left in the regular season as the Grizzlies were fighting for playoff seedings. 

Now two weeks after the abrupt move, the Memphis Grizzlies are starting to see why it might not have been a bad move after all. One of the things Jenkins did this season was got away from the pick and roll. 

If you go back to the season the Grizzlies were the No. 2 seed, before Steven Adams got hurt, that was the bread and butter of the offense. Adams was essentially a brick wall and Ja Morant’s dribble-drive threat took the offense to a whole new level. 

Years later, as Jenkins probably felt the heat rise on his seat, he got away from the pick and roll offense, which partly was due to the massive lineup reshuffled the Grizzlies were dealt with the slew of injuries. 

What was odd, however, was that the Grizzlies drafted Zach Edey and the initial thought was that Memphis was going to prioritize the pick and roll again. Jenkins strayed away from it and eventually started using Edey less in the lineup. 

In the two weeks since Jenkins was fired and Tuomas Iisalo stepped into the interim role, the offense changed for the better. The pick and roll game is back with the Grizzlies. 

The Grizzlies threw Taylor Jenkins to the wayside and it brought a key part of the offense back to the forefront

Since Iisalo took over Edey went from setting 13 screens per game to 30, per Kevin O'Conner, who covers the NBA for Yahoo Sports. While there’s not a direct correlation between Edey playing more of a pick and roll game and the Grizzlies winning more, it is creating the offense the fanbase expected to see all along. 

When Edey was drafted, he didn’t just fill a major void in the frontcourt, but he also provided Morant with the perfect player to run a pick and roll offense with. Morant is an explosive player and is most dangerous when he’s driving to the basket. 

He’s improved as a shooter, which has helped this offense improve. But Morant is at his best when he’s using the pick and roll to score and facilitate. Maybe that’s why Kleiman was ready to move on. 

He saw the direction the team needed to go and Jenkins wasn’t in line with that. Now that the Grizzlies have made the adjustment, it needs to translate to wins. Edey having a bigger role in the offense might be the difference in getting into the playoffs and possibly winning a series. 

If nothing more, they can find out if utilizing the pick and roll more was what they needed all along and if Jenkins was truly holding them back.