JUNE 29: The Jazz have officially hired Fizdale as an associate GM, according to a press release from the team.
JUNE 28: The Jazz have reached an agreement with David Fizdale, who will join the team’s front office, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
According to Wojnarowski, Fizdale’s title in Utah will be associate general manager. The plan is for Fizdale to work closely with general manager Justin Zanik and CEO Danny Ainge.
Fizdale, who played college ball at San Diego from 1992-96, became an assistant coach at his alma mater in 1998. He made the transition to the NBA in 2003 and served as an assistant coach for the Warriors, Hawks, and Heat before being hired as the head coach of the Grizzlies in 2016. Fizdale had brief head coaching stints in Memphis and New York and then joined the Lakers as an assistant on Frank Vogel‘s staff for the 2021/22 season.
Fizdale will be transitioning into a management role for the first time and will reunite with Jazz minority stakeholder Dwyane Wade, who was in Miami with the veteran coach from 2008-16.
Ian Begley of SNY.tv first reported over the weekend that Fizdale was interviewing for a front office role with the Jazz.
When you’re a banana boat groupie, you’ll always have a gig.
Hopefully he’s better in the front office then he was as a head coach.
This is more like consolation diversity hire – not a hc or gm, but assistant gm.
Unfortunately this. I am not surprised Utah hired a white head coach and will use the Fizzdale hire to deflect some of the criticism.
Fizdale joining Hardy ugh.
Ainge will lose his Basketball Mount Rushmore status with the boss.
All they have to do now is dump Conley so Michell can run the team… and not finish the season… Not that this will matter.
Fizdale isn’t joining Hardy. He’s joining the front office. I imagine Hardy will select his own coaching staff. That’s usually how the Jazz operate.
Fizdale is really well thought of around the league. He’s a genuinely nice guy and respected. I imagine that’ll be nice to have when negotiating with other teams. I felt they needed someone who’s easier to talk to. That could be why they haven’t done any trades yet. That might change after this. We’ll see.
As for Hardy, I looked at every candidate they’ve looked at. I would agree that Hardy has an intensity and intelligence that’s hard to ignore. Keep in mind, Hardy could elect to bring in some of these other candidates as assistants. Hardy has enough experience to know what he would need.
As for color, personally, I only look at personality and character. People are too focused on the outside. If everyone ignored that and looked within then there wouldn’t be a need to talk about it. Hollywood certainly affects people’s mindsets. Maybe they can focus on doing more meaningful projects as well as fun, but leave out the superficial for awhile. Might help.
But reality is that everyone is too focused on taking offense to everything. Jesus was on to something when he counseled to turn the other cheek. Life moves along much more smoothly when we don’t give power to those who are looking to offend you. Bullies lose their power when nobody pays attention to them. It’s not always easy, but worth thinking about moving towards.