HoopsHype.com Rumors

Ronald Tillery: Hollins 'I'm not against management. ' Twitter @CAGrizBlog

Memphis Grizzlies, Coaching, Lionel Hollins 

Ronald Tillery: Hollins 'i hope everything i say isnt taken as i hate Management.' Twitter @CAGrizBlog

Memphis Grizzlies, Coaching, Lionel Hollins 

Ronald Tillery: Hollins 'am i emotional about the trade? Yes. But it is the business of basketball and i understand it.' Twitter @CAGrizBlog

Memphis Grizzlies, Trade, Rudy Gay, Coaching, Lionel Hollins 

Ronald Tillery: Hollins 'we have to go forward and believe we're a good team. We have to do what it takes to be a good team' Twitter @CAGrizBlog

Memphis Grizzlies, Coaching, Lionel Hollins 

Explaining the loss, Hollins twice pointed out that when Gasol got in foul trouble, he couldn't put in another big to match up with Luis Scola and Marcin Gortat. "One of the issues that I have is that neither Darrell or Ed (Davis) are fives. We don't have another big guy. We weren't able to play big and have two bigger people across the board because we don't have a bigger guy to put in the game." Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

In other words, Hollins no longer had Mo Speights or Hamed Haddadi because they were traded away. Did Hollins mean it as a shot? It almost doesn't matter, honestly. When the head coach spends part of his press conference lamenting what he no longer has on his roster, that's not a good sign. Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins explaining why the Grizzlies traded away five players, including leading scorer Rudy Gay: “When you have champagne taste, you can't be on a beer budget. It's a small market and I understand the economics of being in a small market. I've been with the Grizzlies for 11 years in Memphis. Rudy Gay has been a big part of our success. I've known him as a kid as a rookie coming in. He's a big part of my success as a coach here and I feel I was a big part of his success and I wish him the best as he moves forward into the second chapter of his career.” Oklahoman

Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Trade, Rudy Gay, Lionel Hollins 

Ronald Tillery: When asked 'Does this make you a worse team?,' Hollins said: "Time will tell." Twitter @CAGrizBlog

Memphis Grizzlies, Trade, Rudy Gay, Lionel Hollins 

Ronald Tillery: Hollins: "Rudy Gay has been a big part of our success. …I wish him the best." Twitter @CAGrizBlog

Memphis Grizzlies, Trade, Rudy Gay, Lionel Hollins 

Ronald Tillery: Griz coach Lionel Hollins on trade: "We’re in a small market and I understand the economics of being in a small market." Twitter @CAGrizBlog

Memphis Grizzlies, Trade, Rudy Gay, Lionel Hollins 

That’s because even before Hollinger’s hiring, the Grizzlies constantly used advanced statistical analysis as part of the process of assessing players and scouting opponents. It’s just that the Grizzlies didn’t receive the attention because there wasn’t a person whose full-time job dealt in the subject. From April of 2009, until he was hired full-time as director of analytics for the Philadelphia 76ers in November, Aaron Barzilai served as a consultant to Chris Wallace and the Grizzlies. Wallace said that analytics are a part of putting together a scouting report on a prospect or a team, but just a piece of the overall big puzzle. Still, he said the importance can’t be understated. “There was no transaction we made whether it was a draft choice or free agency that we didn’t consult Aaron,” Wallace said. “We didn’t go lockstep with all the numbers but at least we let him present his case.” HoopsHype

Memphis Grizzlies, Chris Wallace, Lionel Hollins 

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins says there is a long history in the NBA for advanced statistics, although he concedes not as in-depth as today. “Advanced stats have been around when I was playing and it is just they get more notoriety now that so many people outside the game use them,” said Hollins, who played from 1975-1985. “When people in the media use them, it becomes more important than when the players and coaches use them.” HoopsHype

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

Hollins says that he benefits most from keeping advanced stats simple when making a point to his players. “When you talk about points per possession, players don’t understand it,” he said. “People who create it understand it and sell it and people believe that it is better than old stats.” That doesn’t mean Hollins scoffs at using advanced statistical information. In fact he says that when talking to a player who has been slumping, he backs up anything he says with statistical analysis. “I don’t like going to talk to a player unless I have something to show them,” Hollins said. “You always want to quantify something when you talk to the players.” HoopsHype

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

The perception that a person like Hollinger is going to do all his advising to Memphis behind his computer screen, is also off. Nothing still beats in-person player evaluation and the Grizzlies understand that. “John will go out and scout players and evaluate them based on what he sees,” Hollins said. “The statistical aspect is just part of it.” HoopsHype

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

Analytics is merely another tool in the ever complex world of player evaluation and scouting. “It’s a valuable tool but you can’t get gaga over all these tools,” Hollins said. “You put them in place and use them when necessary.” HoopsHype

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins 

But when Memphis coach Lionel Hollins opted to send starting center Marc Gasol back into the game with the Grizzlies holding a 20-point lead with less than four minutes left, Evans couldn’t take it any more. He rose up off the bench and yelled over to Gasol several times while Gasol stood at the scorer’s table waiting to check in. “That was the point where I was like, ‘Wow’ ... I was real shocked to see him come back in,” Evans said. “I guess it is what it is.” New York Post

Memphis Grizzlies, Marc Gasol, Lionel Hollins 

Geoff Calkins: Lionel Hollins: "it's a trade that had to be made from a business decision." Twitter @geoff_calkins

Memphis Grizzlies, Trade, Lionel Hollins 

Marc Stein: Last remaining NBA coaches operating on last-year deals are Vinny Del Negro (Clippers), Larry Drew (Hawks) and Lionel Hollins (Grizzlies) Twitter @ESPNSteinLine

Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Vinny Del Negro, Coaching, Larry Drew, Lionel Hollins 

In short, Hollins doesn't think advanced statistical metrics and measures are fit to capture the contributions of a player like Rudy Gay. Here's a bit of what he had to say: "The reality is that we have a very versatile small forward that is 6'9. There aren't many guys out there like that. He can post up, shoot from the perimeter [and] he can attack the basket. He defends LeBron James, he defendsKevin Durant and all these guys that are tall, and strong, and quick and athletic. We don't have another player on our rsoter with that versatility, and most teams don't. That's the bottom line." SB Nation

Memphis Grizzlies, Rudy Gay, Lionel Hollins 

"We get hung up on statistics a little too much, and I think that's a bad trait all over the league that's taken place. And the media has done it because it's easy to go to the stats to make a point or to build up a player or tear down a player. Just the analyzing, I see it every time listening to talk show radio. You've got guys spouting off stat after stat after stat. The bottom line is going out and contributing to your team for winning." SB Nation

Memphis Grizzlies, Lionel Hollins