MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Tuomas Iisalo, who was appointed interim coach of the Memphis Grizzlies in the waning days of the regular season, was given the full-time job on Friday and becomes the first Finnish-born coach in the NBA.
The team announced the hiring on Friday but terms of Iisalo’s contract were not released. He joined the Grizzlies as the lead assistant this past season.
Iisalo took over the team on March 28 after the Grizzlies returned home from an 0-5 road trip, the last loss coming at Oklahoma City. The road trip led to the firing of Taylor Jenkins, the winningest coach in Grizzlies franchise history.
“I have full confidence in Tuomas serving as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies going forward,” Grizzlies president Zach Kleiman said in a statement. “Tuomas’ teams at every level have been disciplined, tenacious and connected on both ends of the floor, consistently exceeding expectations. We look forward to the same in Memphis.”
Iisalo, a native of Finland, was 4-5 in the final nine games of the regular season. Memphis split two games in the play-in tournament, earning the eighth seed and faced Oklahoma City, to whom they lost all four games.
But Iisalo was forced into a tough situation, facing a hard schedule late in the season with little time to make changes. The team only had a few practices under his direction.
“We had 15 games and two practices, and I tried to do my best in those,” he said after the team’s elimination.
Later, regarding the frantic pace of the season, he added: “That’s a ratio that makes it very difficult. We were in a situation that there were no drastic changes that we needed to make or could be made in that situation.”
Before joining the Grizzlies, Iisalo served one season as coach of Paris Basketball, winning the EuroCup championship. The success earned him EuroCup Coach of the Year. In addition to his season with Paris Basketball, he had stints with teams in Germany, including five seasons with Crailsheim Merlins.
Iisalo played 14 season of professional basketball in Finland.
After this season ended, the short term leadership of Iisalo seemed to gain a vote of confidence from several Grizzlies, including star Ja Morant.
“I feel like Tuomas is a good coach,” Morant said in the team’s exit interviews. “For me, going into my film sessions with him and just talking about the game of basketball, seeing and hearing that he sees the same thing I see out there on the floor.
“I wouldn’t say its been surprising, but it’s been very exciting.”
In his postseason exit interview, Iisalo was discussing how he would run the team with the city and organization in mind.
“Every club and every city has their own culture,” Iisalso said. “I think it is very important that you are true to the roots of that city.
“This city is a hard-working city. The club has roots in that. It has to be based on giving everything you have. I’ve always believed in that.
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