Jerry Stackhouse Reportedly Agrees to Join Grizzlies Coaching Staff

The Memphis Grizzlies agreed to a deal with Jerry Stackhouse to add the 18-year NBA veteran to their coaching staff as an assistant, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Saturday.

Stackhouse will work under J.B. Bickerstaff, who was Memphis' interim head coach this year before the team named him as the permanent coach in May.

Whereas some former players are able to transition into a head coaching job immediately after they retire, Stackhouse has instead worked his way up the ladder. He was an assistant for the Toronto Raptors in 2015-16 before coaching Toronto's affiliate in the then-Development League, Raptors 905.

In his first season as head coach, Stackhouse helped Raptors 905 win a D-League title and was named the league's coach of the year. Raptors 905 then reached the 2018 G League Finals, where they lost in two games to the Austin Spurs.

Avery Johnson, who coached Stackhouse for four seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, praised both the 43-year-old's demeanor and willingness to learn, per the New York Daily News' Stefan Bondy:

"Presence. He has a presence. He has personality. He has good people skills. He can see the game. He's got great instincts. Very flexible. Some coaches don't want to be coached. But he's the type of guy that will always be seeking to get better in the craft of coaching because he's flexible. Obviously, we know he's a tough guy with quote, unquote, street cred. But he's also a guy that you want to go to dinner with."

Over his playing career, Stackhouse averaged 16.9 points per game, and he was second in the NBA in scoring (29.8) in 2000-01. Generally, Stackhouse is remembered more for his offense than his defense.

Stackhouse the coach is exactly the opposite, with NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper comparing him to Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau.

According to NBA.com, Raptors 905 gave up just 97.3 points per game in 2017-18, which ranked first in the G League, and allowed opponents to shoot 43.6 percent from the field. Not surprisingly, they also owned the best defensive rating (99.9).

Offensively, Stackhouse appears in tune with the general trends in the NBA as well. Although Raptors 905 had the fourth-worst three-point percentage (33.5) in the G League, they attempted the 11th-most threes per game (30.9).

Bondy highlighted comments made by Stackhouse during an interview with ESPN's Zach Lowe in July 2017 in which he outlined his overall offensive strategy:

"I probably wouldn't like my game as a coach. Midrange twos—I tell guys, alright if it's against the shot clock and the guy runs you off and you got to take a one-dribble pull-up, OK, do it. But otherwise, let's try to get into the paint and find another trigger and find something else on the weakside. Or just sidestep the defender and take the three."

According to Wojnarowski, Stackhouse interviewed with the Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets about their head coaching vacancies. The Raptors have yet to hire a new coach, but Stackhouse's move would seemingly indicate he's not among Toronto's final contenders.

Joining Bickerstaff's staff with the Grizzlies will at least get Stackhouse one step closer to coaching an NBA team of his own.