Grizzlies' David Fizdale Tells Critics of His Lineup Changes to 'Kiss My Ass'

One of the NBA's most consistently solid squads, the Memphis Grizzlies are on the cusp of making their seventh straight postseason appearance. David Fizdale, however, no longer wants to settle for good enough. 

Since getting to 17-8 with a six-game winning streak to start December, the Grizzlies have gone 19-20. After dropping the first two games of March, the rookie head coach toyed with drastically different looks against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night.

Andrew Harrison and Brandan Wright started, while Tony Allen and JaMychal Green rode the bench. Although Zach Randolph has spent most of the season on the second unit, the power forward has averaged 24.3 minutes per game. He logged 16 minutes on Wednesday, his lowest tally since Nov. 1.

The shake-ups did not help the Grizzlies' woes. They suffered a 122-109 loss to the Nets, who improved to an NBA-worst 11-52. Nevertheless, Fizdale stood by his tinkering after the game: 

"

What I'm supposed to do? Settle for mediocrity and stay in a .500 mode and not do anything and just be OK with that? That's the problem with the whole image of this group is that that's been OK, and if we're underdogs and we don't win it, that's OK. No, I won't settle for that. I'll continue to shuffle until I find something that works best to give us the best chance to hold the trophy. And if people don't like it, they can kiss my ass.

"

Maintaining the status quo would likely lead Memphis (sixth in the Western Conference) back into the playoffs, where it would once again face an early exit. Fizdale refused to apologize for wanting more, even if his lineup experimentation causes some bumps along the road.

[Mike Ceide]