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The Memphis Grizzlies hired assistant assistant Taylor Jenkins, a Milwaukee Bucks assistant.
Jenkins, 34, was last season's assistant in Milwaukee under the orders of head coach Mike Budenholzer after serving under Budenholzer's orders at the same capacity for the Atlanta Hawks the previous five seasons.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN initially reported the lease, which was later confirmed to the Daily Memphian by a team.
Chris Herrington: Grizzlies Notebook: Bucks assistant joins coaches list, Marc Gasol joins final
Jenkins NBA's career began in San Antonio, where Budenholzer was assistant. After starting as a basketball trainee, Jenkins became assistant to the San Antonio Development League team, the Austin Toros, where he spent four seasons in a secondary role. In Austin, Jenkins served under head coach Quin Snyder, now head coach of Utah Jazz. Jenkins then spent a season, 2012-2013, as the Toros head coach.
One source indicates that the Grizzlies were impressed by Jenkins' work ethic and his coaching pedigree who served under Budenholzer and Snyder.
Jenkins becomes the third current NBA head coach to move from Budenholzer to coach after Snyder and Kenny Atkinson of Brooklyn Nets.
Jenkins' pledge comes two days ahead of the June 13 deadline for player options from center Jonas Valanciunas, who had been quoted in his native Lithuania that a coaching job might affect his decision .
The hiring comes a little more than a week before the June 20 draft of the NBA, although the Grizzlies currently have only choice # 2 and seem likely to choose Ja Morant, the leader of the NBA. Murray State.
Jenkins is one of the newest candidates for training. One source indicates that Jenkins had several interviews with the Grizzlies and made several visits to Memphis during the process.
Jenkins' journey to his first coaching job was somewhat unusual.
A Commerce student at the University of Pennsylvania, he did a summer camp in basketball at the San Antonio Spurs with the help of a family link with Spurs owner Peter. Holt. After a second internship, he was hired by the Spurs but went from front office to coaching with the Toros, less current than the other way around, from coaching to management.
Jenkins played basketball in high school, but did not go beyond that level.
Jenkins becomes the ninth interim coach since the Grizzlies moved to Memphis, following Sidney Lowe, Hubie Brown, Mike Fratello, Marc Iavaroni, Lionel Hollins, Dave Joerger, David Fizdale and, most recently, J. B. Bickerstaff. He is the first head coach to recruit Jason Wexler and Zach Kleiman, new front-office leaders, promoted respectively president and vice-president of basketball operations in April.
Jenkins corresponds to a mold similar to Kleiman as a brilliant and hard-working young person who quickly distinguished himself in his career in the NBA.
A rather unassuming assistant until recently, Jenkins has found himself dealing with a minor social media phenomenon during the first series of the Bucks against the Detroit Pistons due to this diligence demonstration on the sidelines:
Nobody:
Coach: HOLD & EM EM BACK pic.twitter.com/wq5CksH9RJ
– ESPN (@espn) April 21, 2019
This story will be updated.
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