Zach Kleiman

Grizzlies’ Zach Kleiman Wins Executive Of The Year Award

May 12th, 2022 at 10:09am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Grizzlies general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations Zach Kleiman has been voted the 2021/22 NBA Executive of the Year, the league has announced (Twitter link).

According to the NBA, the 33-year-old Kleiman is the youngest winner of the honor in its history. He’s also just the second Grizzlies executive to take home the award, joining Jerry West, who was named Executive of the Year for his work during the 2003/04 season.

Kleiman earned 16 of 29 possible first-place votes from his fellow NBA executives, netting a total of 85 points in his favor from the league’s voting system. He previously finished sixth in voting for the 2019/2020 NBA season.

Cavaliers president Koby Altman and Bulls president Arturas Karnisovas earned 27 points apiece, tying for second place as they led a pair of longtime lottery clubs back to the postseason with savvy personnel moves. The Cavs did not advance out of the play-in tournament, and the Bulls lost 4-1 to the Bucks in their first-round matchup.

The top five was rounded out by another tie, as Suns GM James Jones, the 2020/21 NBA Executive of the Year, and Heat president Pat Riley each notched 26 points in voting. Both their top-seeded clubs lead their respective Conference Semifinals series 3-2 as of this writing.

“This is an organizational honor,” Kleiman said of the award in a Grizzlies press release. “I wouldn’t be in this position without [owner] Robert [Pera]’s vision and support, and I’m grateful to be pursuing NBA championships in Memphis with such a driven and competitive group of players and staff. Thank you to my peers for this recognition.”

Thanks in part to the excellent roster-building work of Kleiman, Memphis finished with a 56-26 record in the Western Conference, tying the club’s all-time franchise mark for regular season wins. During a condensed 2020/21 season, the Grizzlies finished with a 38-34 record and lost to the Jazz in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Breakout Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant, selected with the second pick out of Murray State in 2019, made his first All-Star team and won the 2021/22 Most Improved Player Award for his work this season. Morant was the first draft pick Kleiman made as the Grizzlies’ lead executive, a role he has had since April 2019.

The Grizzlies first hired Kleiman to serve as their in-house legal counsel in 2015. He became assistant GM to under then-lead decision maker Chris Wallace during the 2018/19 season. Kleiman was subsequently promoted following a team re-structuring that moved Wallace to a scouting role.

This award could be honoring Kleiman’s long-term rebuilding with Memphis, as he reshaped the roster from one supporting aging stars Marc Gasol and Mike Conley to this new, deep club full of youth and promise around Morant.

Kleiman traded for the draft rights to No. 30 pick Desmond Bane in 2020, who finished fifth this season in Most Improved Player voting behind Morant. He also sagely opted to ink wing Dillon Brooks and big man Jaren Jackson Jr. to lucrative contract extensions during his tenure as front office head. Ahead of the 2021 season, Kleiman traded for center Steven Adams and the rights to rookie Ziaire Williams, the No. 10 pick in the 2021 draft.

Memphis currently trails the Warriors 3-2 in its Conference Semifinals series.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Southwest Notes: Mavericks, Toliver, Kleiman, Rockets

March 8th, 2022 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

With several key Mavericks players exceeding their season-long minutes per game averages since the All-Star break, head coach Jason Kidd wants to make a concerted effort to ease those players’ workloads going forward, per Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com.

“We’d like to get more guys involved here, Sterling (Brown) and Trey (Burke),” Kidd said. “We’ve been running the minutes for those eight to nine guys that we have been playing. So we want to get everybody involved and get some of the minutes down for Luka (Doncic) and Reggie (Bullock). We’re playing Reggie over 40 minutes a night. So those are the things I’m looking at.”

As Sefko outlines, Doncic (37.5 MPG) and Bullock (37.0 MPG) have been the Mavericks’ most-used players since the All-Star break, but the team is also leaning heavily on Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Expanding the rotation should help the club avoid overusing those players without having to rest them for full games.

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

Mavericks assistant – and WNBA star – Kristi Toliver spoke to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic about how she ended up on Dallas’ coaching staff, what it’s like to remain active as a WNBA player while holding an NBA job, and her future coaching aspirations.
In a separate story for The Athletic, Vorkunov examines Zach Kleiman‘s rapid ascension through the Grizzlies‘ front office and the admirable job he has done since becoming Memphis’ top basketball decision-maker. Kleiman has helped turn the team into a legit contender since being named executive VP of basketball operations at age 30 in 2019. “I wouldn’t be in this position without (Grizzlies owner) Robert Pera’s vision and emphasis on organizational culture,” Kleiman said. “He entrusted me to lead basketball operations despite me being a relative unknown in NBA circles, and has challenged us to be intentional about establishing and sticking to our core tenets.”
The Rockets are in position to finish with the NBA’s worst record for a second consecutive year, but all is going according to plan, according to Rahat Huq of The Houston Chronicle, who argues that team owner Tilman Fertitta deserves credit for signing off on a full-fledged rebuild rather than trying to stay competitive as a borderline playoff contender following last year’s James Harden trade.

Southwest Notes: Winslow, Mavs, Wood, Marshall

June 6th, 2021 at 1:39pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Grizzlies executive VP of basketball operations Zach Kleiman has until August 1 to make a decision on the team’s $13MM option on Justise Winslow, and may still see the forward as part of the team’s future, writes Evan Barnes of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

“There’s a lot of encouraging things that we saw from Justise,” Kleiman said. “I think he’s a player who can be very valuable and could potentially fit with what we’re doing.”

The oft-injured 25-year-old appeared in just 26 of a possible 72 games this season for Memphis due to a variety of maladies. He was out of the Grizzlies’ rotation in their first-round playoff series loss to the Jazz.

There’s more out of the Southwest Division:

Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle acknowledged that, after a 45-point outburst from Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard in Game 6 of the teams’ first-round series, Dallas will need to get creative in a crucial Game 7, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “We have done everything in this series, and we’ll have to be ready with the kitchen sink in Game 7.” The Mavericks’ lone All-Star, Luka Doncic, has pushed his team to the brink of an upset thanks to his incredible play. Thus far in the series, he is averaging 40.8 PPG, 9.7 APG, 9.5 RPG, and 1.5 SPG.
When he was available, Rockets center Christian Wood proved his mettle during his first season with the club, says Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The 25-year-old Wood, who has two years and $28MM left on the three-year contract he signed with Houston before the season, averaged 21.0 PPG (shooting 51.4% from the field and 37.4% from deep) and pulled down 9.6 RPG in 41 games.
Undrafted Pelicans rookie small forward Naji Marshall grew up as an underdog, which has served him well on his journey to the NBA, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com. Clark notes that the Pelicans are hoping that Marshall could prove to be a sharpshooting swingman capable of fulfilling a variety of needs. Last month, New Orleans inked Marshall to a four-year contract (including the rest of the 2020/21 season). The deal is non-guaranteed for the 2023/24 season.

Grizzlies Sign Zach Kleiman To Contract Extension

June 4th, 2021 at 6:26am CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies have inked executive vice president of basketball operations and general manager Zach Kleiman to a long-term extension, according to an official team press release. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Kleiman has been Memphis’s lead front office decision maker since April 2019, when the club overhauled its basketball operations department and reassigned former GM Chris Wallace to the scouting department. As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets, Kleiman played a big part in rebuilding the team from the “Grit and Grind” era to its current roster.

Kleiman traded longtime Grizzlies veterans Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, drafted rising star Ja Morant, and hired current head coach Taylor Jenkins. He’s also responsible for locking up players like Dillon Brooks, De’Anthony Melton, and Jonas Valanciunas to reasonably team-friendly multiyear contracts.

“Zach has proven to be a strong cultural leader in this organization, consistently demonstrating high-integrity, hard-work, humility and a drive for continuous improvement,” Grizzlies owner Robert Pera said in a statement. “We have confidence in our strategy and believe it will result in an elite organization over the long-term.”

Alex Kirschenbaum contributed to this story.

Grizzlies Fire J.B. Bickerstaff, Re-Assign Chris Wallace

April 11th, 2019 at 3:44pm CST by Luke Adams

3:44pm: The Grizzlies have sent out a press release officially confirming Bickerstaff’s firing and the front office changes detailed below.

“In order to put our team on the path to sustainable success, it was necessary to change our approach to basketball operations,” Pera said in a statement. “I look forward to a re-energized front office and fresh approach to Memphis Grizzlies basketball under new leadership, while retaining the identity and values that have distinguished our team.

“I want to thank Chris and John for their long-term service and dedication to the Memphis Grizzlies and for their considerable contributions to our past successes, and look forward to their contributions to our future ones. I also want to thank J.B. for his leadership and commitment to our organization in his time as our coach.”

3:01pm: The Grizzlies are shaking up their front office and coaching staff, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the team has dismissed head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and re-assigned head of basketball operations Chris Wallace to the scouting department. VP John Hollinger will also move to a senior advisory role, Wojnarowski adds.

The Grizzlies will promote Jason Wexler to team president and will have him oversee both the basketball operations and business operations for the franchise, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Wexler had previously been the club’s president of business operations.

According to Wojnarowski, Zach Kleiman – previously an assistant GM – will be elevated to executive VP of basketball operations and will take the lead on day-to-day basketball matters. Memphis will launch a search for a new head coach and will also pursue some more experienced basketball executives to join the front office, sources tell Woj (Twitter link).

The news comes just hours after Wallace addressed local media in his end-of-season press conference, telling reporters that he wasn’t particularly concerned about his job security and that Bickerstaff was expected to return for next season.

It’s not a particularly good look for the Grizzlies, who probably shouldn’t have let Wallace move forward with his end-of-season presser and discuss his plans for Memphis’ future if they intended to do this later in the day. David Cobb of The Memphis Commercial Appeal calls it “blatantly disrespectful” (Twitter link), while longtime Grizzlies beat writer Ronald Tillery asserts that team owner Robert Pera “doesn’t care about” Memphis’ fans or players (Twitter link).

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter), Bickerstaff conducted exit meetings with Grizzlies players today, discussing expectations for the summer and ways to improve. Bickerstaff’s own exit meeting with ownership happened afterward.

Bickerstaff, who took over as the Grizzlies’ interim head coach during the 2017/18 season when David Fizdale was fired, led the team to an underwhelming 15-48 record to finish the season. However, Memphis opted to make Bickerstaff the permanent head coach last spring, citing his connection with – and his ability to develop – the team’s players. After posting a 33-49 record in 2018/19, the Grizzlies will now once again be on the lookout for a new head coach.

As for Wallace, this isn’t the first time he has been demoted by Grizzlies ownership. Initially hired as the team’s general manager in 2007, he was displaced in 2012 when Jason Levien assumed control of basketball operations. Wallace regained his front office power in 2014, with mixed results since then.

Prior to selecting Jaren Jackson with the fourth overall pick in the 2018 draft, Wallace’s first-round selection since ’14 were Jordan Adams, Jarell Martin, and Wade Baldwin. His most notable free agent signing over the last few years was Chandler Parsons, who received a four-year, maximum-salary contract from the Grizzlies and has limited to just 95 games since then due to injuries.

While Wallace’s front office has made a few savvy moves, including netting a first-round pick for Jeff Green, his missteps – such as flipping that first-rounder to Boston for Deyonta Davis and Rade Zagorac – likely outnumbered his successes. Since winning 55 games in 2014/15, Memphis has gone 140-188 in four seasons and hasn’t won a playoff series.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.