Jenkins believed in his team before Grizzlies did
Kyle Anderson offered up the anecdote after one of the best performances of his NBA career Wednesday night coincided with the first ejection of Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins' career.
This happened last season, before Anderson transformed himself into the consistent 3-point shooter he suddenly is right now. Back when he seemed to be an odd fit for Jenkins' “Let it Fly,” pace-and-space philosophy. He was the throwback non-shooter signed by a previous front office who had to adjust in a modern shoot-often offense spearheaded by a new regime. He could've easily become an afterthought.
But Anderson remembers Jenkins, before the 2019-20 NBA season got postponed by the coronavirus pandemic, approaching him with encouragement. He wanted Anderson to keep shooting 3-pointers. Five, six or even seven per game if that's what defenses were giving up.
“I didn't even believe in myself at the time,” Anderson said Wednesday night, after he had multiple 3pointers for the 13th time this season en route to 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals that helped the Grizzlies beat Oklahoma City, 122-113.
Considering Anderson hit more than one 3-pointer in a game just eight times in the previous six seasons combined, it provided a window into how Jenkins, approaching his 100th game as an NBA head coach, has helped the Grizzlies defy expectations again.
“It's just dope to have a coach believe in you like that,” Anderson said.
This season is still very much a developmental year focused on the progress made by Ja Morant and the young core around him, with an eye toward the future when Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. enter their prime. But this has also become another season that might lead to the Grizzlies' first playoff berth since the Grit and Grind era because of how competitive they've been in the face of youth and injuries.
Jenkins' role in managing these sometimes-divergent goals, the subtle tweaks and adjustments he has made, and the learning process he's going through concurrently with his players, often gets overlooked. But perhaps it shouldn't anymore.
Not when the Grizzlies have a .500 record (12-12) without Jackson and Justise Winslow. Not when they're winning games while Morant and Jonas Valanciunas and Brandon Clarke and De'anthony Melton and Desmond Bane have been out for various reasons.
Not when Jenkins, 36, is being mentioned again in the NBA coach of the year conversation despite still being one of the youngest head coaches in the NBA.
Wednesday's bounce-back win — when Jenkins deployed a revised rotation, recovered from the worst
defensive performance of the season, and got ejected for the first time — underscored all of this.
There was Morant, in the midst of his third-career triple-double, putting his arm around Jenkins' shoulder as he received instruction on the sideline. Morant noted private film sessions with Jenkins are helping him figure out how to beat the defenses being thrown at him this year.
There was also the end to the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter, when Jenkins staggered his starters' minutes rather than rely entirely on his depleted bench to steal minutes. It had cost the Grizzlies in recent losses, when the Toronto Raptors, New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers all steamrolled Memphis in the second half.
Against Oklahoma City, Jenkins played Morant almost the entire third quarter. To begin the fourth quarter, he brought Dillon Brooks, Jonas Valanciunas and Anderson back into the game as Morant rested. Memphis ultimately broke open a tie game by outscoring Oklahoma City, 13-4, with that unit.
It was the deciding sequence of the night and bodes well for the near future, when the Grizzlies hope to be at full strength and Jenkins' lineup choices will be scrutinized even more.
Then came his first ejection, on the heels of Jenkins's calling back-to-back timeouts while the Grizzlies' were getting blown out on national television by the Pelicans Tuesday night.
It was just like his old boss, Gregg Poppovich, might have done.
“At different points throughout the season, you're just pushing buttons at different moments and obviously the other night we weren't performing at the level we needed to defensively … so I was just trying to wake them up,” Jenkins explained. “If that's what I've got to do every now and then, but hopefully I'm not that person all the time.”
Anderson's shooting anecdote suggests as much. But it was no less intriguing to see Jenkins squint his eyes and form an incredulous smile underneath his black face mask Wednesday night once referee Eric Lewis gave him a second technical foul with 25 seconds remaining in a game that was already decided. Jenkins offered no explanation afterward about the ejection exchange other than, “Heck of a game. Wish I was there at the end to celebrate, but that's all I'll say.”
“I'm sure he'll get some better ones in the future,” Anderson said laughing. “Yeah, he'll definitely have some better ones. But I liked it.”
So as Jenkins left the floor, Jackson and Anderson offered a gesture of support. They slapped hands with the coach who believed in these Grizzlies before just about anyone else did.