Herrington: As Grizzlies begin new build, should Zach Kleiman lead it?
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has consistenly been benched for injuries and off-court issues. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
Chris Herrington
Chris Herrington has covered the Memphis Grizzlies, in one way or another, since the franchise’s second season in Memphis, while also writing about music, movies, food and civic life. As far as he knows, he’s the only member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association who is also a member of a film critics group and has also voted in national music critic polls for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice (RIP). He now splits his time between Minneapolis-St. Paul, where his wife works, and Memphis.
The Memphis Grizzlies are moving from one era to another. They are “pivoting to a younger build,” as lead basketball executive Zach Kleiman said after the Feb. 5 trade deadline. They are “moving forward,” as the team wrote in a subsequent letter to season-ticket holders.
In this series of five columns, Chris Herrington looks at the Grizzlies’ basketball-management track record in the seven seasons under Kleiman’s direction. How have they operated and how well? And what can we — or, perhaps more importantly, they — learn from past performance as a team rebuild moves forward?
Part 1 looked at his draft record.
Part 2 looked at his trade record.
Part 3 looked at his free agency/contract negotiation record.
Part 4 looked at his history of coach and player management.
Today is the fifth and final part.
The first time around, it happened quickly.
When Zach Kleiman took over the Memphis Grizzlies’ front office in 2019, he inherited one recent top-five pick (Jaren Jackson Jr.) and was soon gifted another (Ja Morant). With the team too good to garner another high pick, Kleiman’s front office plucked a third foundational player (Desmond Bane) from the draft anyway.
Kleiman inherited two good supporting players (Dillon Brooks, Kyle Anderson) but, in short order, added four more via draft (Brandon Clarke), trade (Steven Adams, De’Anthony Melton) and free agency (Tyus Jones). He made an effective coaching hire (Taylor Jenkins) on the front end, and within three seasons, those nine players led by that coach won 56 games, finished second in the Western Conference and put the basketball world on national TV notice with a two-word declaration: “We here.”
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