Transition Team

Memphis sports enthusiasts have witnessed a season of change unlike many before.

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Since September 2016, each of the four teams seen on most local t-shirts has been under the guidance of a new coach (or in baseball terms, manager). The results have been, as you might expect, mixed. But passions remain high for Bluff City ball games. Win some and lose some, maybe. But grind. Always.

Three playoff seasons proved enough for the Memphis Grizzlies and coach Dave Joerger to tire of one another. The longtime assistant (and highly successful minor-league coach) departed for the head chair with the Sacramento Kings in May 2016, opening the door for David Fizdale at FedExForum. Like his predecessor, Fizdale arrived in Memphis as an acclaimed assistant — owner of two championship rings from his days with the Miami Heat — but no head-coaching experience.

Fizdale established his authority by announcing before the 2016-17 season tipped-off that two-time All-Star Zach Randolph would move to the bench and serve as the team’s sixth man. The move created room in the starting lineup for a younger version of Z-Bo (JaMychal Green), while in theory creating second-unit mismatches for the 35-year-old Randolph. 

The Griz also welcomed free-agent sharpshooter Chandler Parsons from Dallas, unloading a max contract of just under $95 million (for four years) to land — finally — the kind of player who might stretch opposing defenses to the three-point line.

The Randolph move worked, the power forward averaging 14.1 points and 8.2 rebounds in his supporting role (just under 25 minutes per game). The Parsons move, not so much. Plagued by balky knees, Parsons appeared in only 34 games and shot a miserable 34 percent from the field when he did play (27 percent from long range). 

The missing offense — or the lack of additional offense — meant the all-too-familiar Memphis grind toward a playoff berth. The Grizzlies finished next-to-last in the NBA in scoring (100.5 points per game) but allowed only 100.0 points per contest (third in the league). Fueled by the fattest contract in the history of the league ($153 million over five years), point guard Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with a career-high 20.5 points per game and became the first player in franchise history to score 10,000 for his career. Center Marc Gasol also established a new personal scoring standard (19.5 ppg) on his way to a third All-Star selection. Swingman Tony Allen managed to earn second-team All-Defense honors despite turning 35 in January.

The Griz enjoyed a pair of six-game winning streaks before Christmas, but found themselves chasing the likes of Golden State (plus Kevin Durant), San Antonio (minus Tim Duncan), and Houston in a top-heavy Western Conference. Nine losses over their final 12 games landed Memphis (43-39) the seventh seed and a first-round postseason tilt with the Spurs.

Familiarity may breed contempt — this was the fourth playoff series between Memphis and San Antonio since the Grizzlies’ “core four” first banded together for the 2010-11 season — but it only took two games in Texas for Fizdale to see enough. Minutes after his team fell behind, 2-0, in the series, the rookie coach seized his postgame press opportunity to point out — and accentuate — the disparity in foul calls. (The Spurs attempted 32 free throws to the Grizzlies’ 15.) After several tense minutes, the coach leaned into his microphone and, for posterity, uttered the words, “Take that for data.” Local t-shirt manufacturers rejoiced.

The Grizzlies rallied to win a pair of games at FedExForum — the first after a lengthy pregame standing ovation for Fizdale — but were unable to put the clamps on Kawhi Leonard, who scored 29 points in the Spurs’ Game-6 clincher.

The Grizzlies added a pair of second-round draft picks in June (forward Ivan Rabb from Cal and guard Dillon Brooks from Oregon), then signed veteran guard Tyreke Evans (a Memphis Tiger in 2008-09) to add punch in their backcourt. But an era ended on July 4th when Randolph signed a free-agent contract with none other than Joerger’s Kings. The Grizzlies’ top career rebounder — whose uniform number, 50, will be retired — leaves as one of the most popular athletes in Memphis history, having taken the Griz to the playoffs in seven of his eight seasons in Beale Street blue. At press time, it appeared Allen — the Grindfather himself — would follow Randolph into the Memphis sunset, one scenario being a sign-and-trade with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Sagging attendance at FedEx-Forum for Memphis Tiger basketball games all but screamed for a change at the top of the program. When head coach Josh Pastner received an offer to take over the Georgia Tech program after the 2015-16 season, he all but leaped at the opportunity. (Pastner earned ACC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Yellow Jackets to a 21-16 record.)

University of Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen chose Pastner’s successor with an aim (at least on the surface) of dramatically altering the face of the program. Replacing the 38-year-old Pastner would be 65-year-old Tubby Smith, he of 557 career wins and the 1998 national championship as head coach at Kentucky.

Thanks in part to a dreadfully weak non-conference schedule, the Tigers found themselves 17-6 in early February. Sophomore Dedric Lawson (19.2 points per game and 9.9 rebounds) was on his way to all-conference honors in the American Athletic Conference and his brother K.J. (12.3 and 8.1) was bound for AAC Rookie of the Year hardware. But Smith’s roster proved woefully thin, with four starters forced to play more than 32 minutes per game. A season-ending tailspin began with a loss at UCF on February 4th, followed by six more defeats over the team’s final eight games, the final two by 41 points (to SMU) and 30 points (again to UCF, in the AAC tournament).

A 19-13 record meant a third straight year without postseason play and contributed to a mass exodus of eligible players, primary among them the Lawson brothers (along with their father Keelon, who served as Smith’s director of player development) and Markel Crawford, like the Lawsons a native Memphian and starter who played heavy minutes.

Smith has been forced to replenish with junior-college transfers. With but two veterans returning (point guard Jeremiah Martin and forward Jimario Rivers), Tiger fans will need to get acquainted with the likes of Kareem Brewton (a guard from Eastern Florida State College), Kyvon Davenport (forward from Georgia Highlands College), and Raynere Thornton (swingman from Gordon State College). Jamal Johnson, a four-star recruit from Alabama, will compete for playing time in the Tiger backcourt.

Mike Norvell found himself with a unique challenge (in these parts) upon taking over the University of Memphis football program: building on his predecessor’s success. In 2015, under Justin Fuente, the Tigers started the season 8-0 and set a single-season scoring record of 522 points (40.1 per game).

Even with the loss of quarterback Paxton Lynch (a first-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos), the 2016 Tigers became the second team in the history of the program to put 500 points on the scoreboard (505, or 38.8 per game). Junior transfer Riley Ferguson took over the signal-calling duties and proceeded to break Lynch’s single-season record for touchdown passes (32). Thanks in large part to record-breaking wideout Anthony Miller, Ferguson threw for 3,698 yards, second in Tiger history only to Lynch’s 2015 campaign. The U of M went 8-5 and reached postseason play a third straight season (falling to Western Kentucky in the Boca Raton Bowl). 

Ferguson is back and will again be targeting Miller who, despite setting Tiger records with 95 receptions for 1,435 yards and 14 touchdowns, failed to make the American Athletic Conference’s all-conference team. A pair of tailbacks — senior Doroland Dorceus and sophomore Tony Pollard — will help determine if another 500-point season is in order.

The Tigers’ home schedule includes Louisiana-Monroe (Aug. 31), UCLA (Sept. 16), Southern Illinois (Sept. 23), Navy (Oct. 14), Tulane (Oct. 27), SMU (Nov. 18), and East Carolina (Nov. 25).

Not that long ago a crowd-favorite at AutoZone Park for his back-flips as he took the field, Stubby Clapp returned to the Memphis Redbirds as the team’s manager for the 2017 season. Stocked with a roster that included three of the St. Louis Cardinals’ top ten prospects — catcher Carson Kelly, pitcher Luke Weaver, and outfielder Harrison Bader — the Redbirds reeled off the first 11-game winning streak in the franchise’s 20-year history. Supporting players like first-baseman Luke Voit and middle-infielder Paul DeJong were productive enough to find themselves playing for the Cardinals before the All-Star break. As of mid-July, the Redbirds had the best record in Triple-A (60-33) as they pushed for a return to the Pacific Coast League playoffs (where they last appeared in 2014).