Officially, Lionel Hollins is still the coach of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Those talks are dormant, but not dead. But in case they are dead the Grizzlies are putting together a list, reports the Commercial Appeal.
Just fired coach George Karl is on it, as is Alvin Gentry (most recently of the Suns). However, the leader in the clubhouse may well be assistant coach Dave Joerger — he has been their defensive coordinator and he comes with a more advanced-stats friendly attitude.
Karl told the Commercial Appeal it would be a mistake to let Hollins go and suggested he would not to talk to them about the job
However, the story also says that Karl suggested he will not talk to Memphis while they have a coach in place.
It’s a short list, but Memphis can do that with a roster that was good enough to reach the Western Conference Finals. It’s also a big, bruising roster that doesn’t really fit with the style of Karl and Gentry naturally. Which is another reason to think it will be Hollins or Joerger coaching the team next year.