Coach plays match game
Joerger makes winning choices
Dave Joerger making winning choices by shaking up the roster.
As sports analogies go, the Grizzlies aren’t short on any.
Griz coach Dave Joerger recently described Zach Randolph as a football fullback after a couple of weeks of using veteran forward Tayshaun Prince as if he were a utility infielder in baseball.
For that, Joerger makes no apologies. He’s explained to players that he’ll use any and all parts of the roster to win a game. For example, Prince’s starting the past two games in place of Courtney Lee might have been a sudden switch to fans and media. But it came as no surprise to Griz players. Prince and his teammates knew of the change in advance.
It is the kind of calculated decision that Joerger intends to make this season, but not as impulsively as a squeeze bunt or fake punt. He’ll play the matchups, which means Prince being called with the starters during player introductions shouldn’t be shocking tonight when the Griz (9-1) host the Houston Rockets in FedExForum.
“That adage — it’s not who starts, it’s who finishes,” Joerger said. “Everyone wants to start. But we have got a good team.”
Prince has started the past two games mainly because of the length required to match up defensively against taller small forwards. Memphis had to meet Sacramento’s Rudy Gay (6- 8) and Detroit’s Josh Smith (6-9), and now Houston’s Trevor Ariza presents a challenge at 6-8.
Prince, 6-9, still is an above-average defender despite his offensive deficiencies.
“Tayshaun, analytically, before the (Sacramento) game was our best defender,” Joerger said. “Our defense efficiency was at its lowest, which is a positive, defensively. He is our longest guy. He is one of our most, I think, athletic wings with his size at 6-9. It may or may not continue. It’s not easy.
“Guys get in routines and they like a certain rhythm. They get used to playing with a certain group. It is what it is. Courtney Lee has been tremendous. He is playing a ton of the minutes. He is always on the floor at the end of the game.”
Joerger said before the regular season that he would shuffle the wing players at shooting guard and small forward. Joerger’s first roster shake-up was borne out of circumstance. Lee suffered a concussion in the Grizzlies’ second game Oct. 31. So Prince started the next two games while Lee recovered.
Quincy Pondexter and Vince Carter have endured fluctuating playing time. And Prince has started games only not to play a second in others.
“I just have to be ready for whatever,” Prince said. “The thing is to try to go out there and provide defensive energy for however long I’m out there. … I prepare the same way. You never know what is going to happen so you have to approach the game the same way.”
RANDOLPH IN AN ELITE CLASS
Griz forward Zach Randolph hauled in 22 rebounds, 13 off the offensive glass, in the team’s win over the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. It was the 11th time in his career that Randolph has had at least 10 offensive rebounds in a game.
Only one other active NBA player has as many such games as Randolph, and that is Dallas’ Tyson Chandler (12), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
BLACK IS BACK
Memphis native and Rockets forward Tarik Black, who missed practice on Saturday because of a left leg contusion, is expected to be available tonight. Black is averaging 2.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in seven appearances.