That's the story, that's a shock, but in reading that shocking story I learned another, more interesting, story. Memphis had fired two assistant coaches last summer. The head coach, Taylor Jenkins, who was fired today, disagreed with the summer firings of his assistants. Nothing interesting in that. The GM who fired the assistants and yesterday fired the head coach, also picked the two replacement assistants, and yesterday promoted one of them to interim head coach. The new head man is a Finn named Tuomas Iisal. A Finnish NBA head coach is a little interesting. Why did the GM force Iisal on Jenkins and now make him Jenkins' replacement? This is where it got interesting, and confusing.
Iissal coached Paris Basketball to the EuroCup club championship in 2024. He had that success with a new offensive system that doesn't have a name; it originated at St. Joseph College in Maine. A Div. III school. Weird. Which is also what Draymond Green called the new offense in Memphis. Here is the video of the new offense. Which I watched because I'm weird.
This is where I got confu...Before I get to confusion, the new nameless offense is described by many as a "wheel", constant, same-direction movement by players, like the rotation of a hurricane, one guy goes left, everybody goes left one space--an emphasis on creating space, not an emphasis on players (one of the criticisms)--few dribbles, a pass-heavy, offense. These are the six principles of the new, nameless offense that Memphis installed.
Okay, well right there, no. 2, was one of my confusions. I and most every NBA fan knows, or thinks they know, what positionless basketball is: players don't play in the traditional positions, point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center. Positionless is Erik Spoelstra's invention (with LeBron James).
But that is not what positionless means in the "Wheel". Positionless in the Wheel means no player stays in one position in the space of the basketball court for more rhan a split second. Constant player movement from unoccupied space to unoccupied space. Got it.
This is where my enduring confusion comes. Noah LaRoche was a player at St. Joseph College, Maine, where he was taught and played the Wheel. Memphis' GM hired him along with Tuomas Iisal to install the Wheel in Memphis. But yesterday, LaRoche, fellow assistant Patrick St. Andrews and head coach Taylor Jenkins were fired while fellow true Wheel believer Iisal was made interim hc.
There was player discontent with Jenkins, it seems also maybe some with the Wheel, although that is not clear, to me anyway. So I am confused about the continued reinvention of the Wheel in Memphis, and confused by what these firings, hirings, and promotion say about the future of the Wheel in Memphis.
