HoopsHype.com Rumors

Griz coach Lionel Hollins emphatically refuted a Yahoo! Sports report that cited him as saying forward Zach Randolph would not return this season from a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Hollins said the writer misconstrued his analysis of Randolph's prognosis. "He asked me 'Are you trying to tread water until Zach comes back?' I said 'I'm not paying attention to Zach.' I said, 'when he comes back and if he comes back, I will then worry about Zach,'" Hollins said. "I'm concerned about the players we have now. I'd love for Zach to come back. I want him to come back and I hope he'll be back in the timetable they've said. I don't know if Zach's not coming back this year. I'm not a doctor. How would I know?" Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies, Zach Randolph, Injuries, Lionel Hollins 

Geoff Calkins: Before the game, Lionel Hollins said @Marc J. Spears mischaracterized his comments about Z-Bo's injury. #BlameTheMedia. Twitter

Memphis Grizzlies, Zach Randolph, Injuries, Lionel Hollins 

The Grizzlies announced that Bob Thornton and Lloyd Pierce, will join head coach Lionel Hollins’ staff as an assistant (Thornton) and player development coach (Pierce). With almost 30 years of collegiate and professional basketball experience as a player, scout and coach, Thornton comes to Memphis after spending the past four seasons (2007 – 2011) as an advance scout for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Along with his work with the Thunder, Thornton also served as an assistant coach for two NBA teams, first with the Chicago Bulls (2002-2004) and most recently with the Minnesota Timberwolves (2005-2007). Before his first stint with Bulls, Thornton spent one season (2001-2002) as head coach for Huntsville Flight of the NBDL, along with one season as head coach of the Quad City Thunder of the CBA (2000-2001). NBA.com

Memphis Grizzlies, Coaching, Lionel Hollins, Lloyd Pierce, Bob Thornton 

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins has been named a member of the Grizzlies Foundation's board of directors. Hollins already had been working mentoring young people while with the Grizzlies. Now he is expected to expand youth outreach through the Grizzlies Foundation and the Grizzlies TEAM UP Mentoring initiative. Oklahoman

Memphis Grizzlies, Coaching, Lionel Hollins 

The city of Memphis will honor Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins for his role in leading the NBA team to its most successful playoff run in franchise history. Hollins will be honored at Tuesday's City Council meeting with a formal proclamation by Mayor A C Wharton and City Council chairman Myron Lowery. Wesport News

Memphis Grizzlies, Coaching, Lionel Hollins 

Royce Young: Lionel Hollins is really trying to play up the underdog thing: "I think everyone expects Oklahoma City to win it." Twitter

Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Lionel Hollins 

Like many other small-market teams, the Grizzlies lost money in recent years. Despite last season’s hopeful 40 wins, Memphis averaged 14,650 fans this season, the fourth lowest in the league. Whenever a popular team arrived from out of town, visiting colors seemed prevalent in the crowd. But when the playoff series returned to Memphis, Game 6 sold out in five minutes. “We haven’t shocked the world yet,” Coach Lionel Hollins said, “but we have made progress.” New York Times

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

Now Memphis coach Lionel Hollins sees a great opportunity for the Grizzlies to do something really special. "Not a lot of people knew about us coming in, but we certainly have made some noise and turned some heads and got some attention that probably wouldn't have been given to us if we'd lost this series," Hollins said. "We'd just be another eight seed losing to the No. 1 seed." They will open the second round in Oklahoma City on Sunday. Marc Gasol had 12 points and 13 rebounds for Memphis. Tony Allen added 11 points, and rookie Greivis Vasquez had 11 off the bench playing 24 minutes with Mike Conley in foul trouble most of the game. Tony Parker led San Antonio with 23 points, Manu Ginobili had 16, Tim Duncan 12 and Antonio McDyess 10. ESPN.com

Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, Lionel Hollins 

The overtime went just the way you’d expect. Just the way the 2008 overtime went. Which is to say, not particularly well. “I think we were down after the loss of the lead,” said Hollins, after the 110-103 loss. “We had too many guys that were hurt and not mature enough at this stage to just let it go.” Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Dallas’ Rick Carlisle and Memphis’ Lionel Hollins were all self-important jackasses after their teams lost to the Blazers. They bullied, insulted and talked down to reporters, as if they were somehow better or entitled to do so because they are basketball coaches. Oregonian

Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, Coaching, Gregg Popovich, Lionel Hollins, Rick Carlisle 

Jeff McDonald: Lionel Hollins: "I just want to say this for Tim Duncan: We did not tank the season so we can get the San Antonio Spurs." Twitter

Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan, Lionel Hollins 

Tillery's take: Edge, Hollins. "A little known fact, the '04 team hated Hubie by the time the playoffs began." Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

Ben Golliver: MEM coach Lionel Hollins to a reporter: "Do you understand English? Tony (Allen) is hurt." Twitter

Memphis Grizzlies, Tony Allen, Lionel Hollins 

Grizz Head Coach Lionel Hollins said Haddadi won over the fans and the players. “Somehow, some way, they love Hamed,” Hollins said. “He can go out there and fall down and everybody will cheer for him. The players love him, and he brought his size to the game tonight. I wanted to go big and stay big. He did a nice job. They (Utah) couldn’t guard him at the basket.” Tri-State Defender Online

Memphis Grizzlies, Hamed Haddadi, Lionel Hollins 

O.J. Mayo said Haddadi’s game is going to be an important factor for the team. “My man Double H did good,” Mayo said. “He works out every day. He doesn’t play significant minutes for us, but everyday he’s in here early working on his game. Today he had two left-hand hooks. He did a heck of a job off the bench today.” Tri-State Defender Online

Memphis Grizzlies, Hamed Haddadi, Lionel Hollins 

While the rest of the league was giving the Grizzlies a sympathetic tut-tut on the news—announced on Tuesday—that second-leading scorer Rudy Gay would be out for the rest of the season, coach Lionel Hollins and Gay’s teammates gave it a collective shrug of the shoulders. “The truth is,” Hollins told Sporting News on Wednesday, “we’ve known Rudy was going to be out. I told the players long before it came out publicly that he wasn’t coming back. I knew he wasn’t coming back when it happened. So it might be news for everybody else, but for us, we have been used to this news for a long time now.” Sporting News

Memphis Grizzlies, Rudy Gay, Lionel Hollins 

Either way, the Griz are markedly more equipped to take a giant step toward satisfying team owner Michael Heisley's playoff guarantee. "We are getting better," Griz coach Lionel Hollins said. "When you add veteran players that have been on a championship level, the communication is better. They help people that don't communicate, and they are in the rotation. Adding Tony Allen, adding Shane and J-Will was needed for our young players in order to really go forward." Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

Coach Lionel Hollins is now charged with trying to integrate Mayo into a Griz squad that settled on a rotation, an identity and won eight of 10 games without their most trusted reserve. "It doesn't put coach in a bad situation, but it does," Mayo said. "I'm pretty sure he wants to see if I can come in and make shots, and help the team even more. But at the same time they're definitely playing real well without me. That's why he gets paid to coach." Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies, OJ Mayo, Lionel Hollins 

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said he received the Wolves' promotional package that was sent out to Western Conference coaches to generate support for Kevin Love as a reserve for the Feb. 20 All-Star Game. Hollins, however, passed the package on to his nephew and did not look at the DVD containing the celebrated 30-second "NUMB#RS" promo that spoofed cologne commercials. "I already knew about Kevin Love and what he's done this season before I got that," Hollins said. "His numbers speak for itself." Hollins declined to say if he voted for Love as one of the West's reserve forwards. He admitted sampling the wine that came in a promo package from the Golden State Warriors, who are pushing guard Monta Ellis for a reserve spot. St. Paul Pioneer Press

Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Monta Ellis, Kevin Love, Lionel Hollins, All-Star 

The biggest area for improvement in Thabeet's game is undoubtedly offense. He hasn't been able to use his 9-5 standing reach near the hoop, and, as a result, Thabeet has shot only 44% from the field this season. To remedy this problem, Lionel Hollins' staff is pushing the second-year center to get the ball as high as possible. "The hook shot," Thabeet said. "That's my go-to move. I've been working on it for better timing. "It's way better," he continued. "I'm at it every day. Every year I've progressed. Mostly [I'm shooting] right-handed, but a lot of times I'll shoot it with my left hand. At my best though, I'm shooting it with my right." HoopsWorld

Memphis Grizzlies, Hasheem Thabeet, Lionel Hollins