The Grizzlies are hiring Ryan Saunders as the lead assistant coach under Tuomas Iisalo, per sources.

[BleedGopher]

Go Gophers!!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Go Gophers!!

Good for him! It's kind of an interesting hire. Supposedly, Ryan Saunders was the architect of Denver's offense last year and the offense received a ton of criticism. I have my doubts Malone gives his assistants a ton of slack to do their own thing, so I am not sure if that means anything.

With the guy in Memphis (I'm not double-checking to make sure I get the spelling right), he's more known for being an offensive-minded coach. I think a lot of folks assumed he would have gone with a coach more known for defensive chops.

Oddly enough, because his father was not, Ryan is very much an analytics guy so maybe the Grizz are leaning into that.

Either way, he's a good dude and a Gopher. Good luck to him!

 

[GopherBlood777]

Good for him! It's kind of an interesting hire. Supposedly, Ryan Saunders was the architect of Denver's offense last year and the offense received a ton of criticism. I have my doubts Malone gives his assistants a ton of slack to do their own thing, so I am not sure if that means anything.

With the guy in Memphis (I'm not double-checking to make sure I get the spelling right), he's more known for being an offensive-minded coach. I think a lot of folks assumed he would have gone with a coach more known for defensive chops.

Oddly enough, because his father was not, Ryan is very much an analytics guy so maybe the Grizz are leaning into that.

Either way, he's a good dude and a Gopher. Good luck to him!

Their offense was criticized? They finished 4th in offensive rating with Jokic surrounded by a bunch of scrubs. I'd say they did pretty well so good for Saunders!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Their offense was criticized? They finished 4th in offensive rating with Jokic surrounded by a bunch of scrubs. I'd say they did pretty well so good for Saunders!

I had heard criticisms that the offense had no structure, it was just Jokic and guys standing around. That said, I'm not sure there is a better offense than that.