“How do you feel about where the energy levels are throughout the game over the past couple of games?” Coach Tuomas Iisalo:
“Like I said, it's very inconsistent. It comes and goes, and we need to do a better job with that.”YouTube | Nov. 6, 2025
“Tuomas, Jaren's field goal attempts have been down relative to recent seasons, and he only had one shot in the first half. In your opinion, what's the reasoning behind that?” Coach Tuomas Iisalo:
“Yeah, it's true. He's shot, I think, like two attempts less this season than his average. His efficiency has been up though. I think he's shooting the best true shooting percentage of his career. Obviously, for us in this situation, we would love to have him more involved in the offense—still coming out of the flow of the offense. Like today, I'm looking at these numbers, and they are what they are. I can't really trust them, but we had 29 fast break points and 21 second-chance points in a game where we scored 109 points. So obviously, the half-court offense is not in sync, and Jaren definitely could help us there.”
YouTube | Nov. 6, 2025
Chris Herrington: It’s mostly speculation that the Grizzlies’ quick substitution pattern is something that’s frustrated Morant. But Iisalo had an interesting broad response to the notion that NBA players might bristle at it, without confirming its relevance here.
"I would say I have a lot of understanding for the players who say this. I think a lot of players have been conditioned throughout their career to play in longer stints and to go find that rhythm, and basketball, just like every other global team invasion sport, is evolving, and the demands on the intensity are higher and higher and we are looking to also adapt to the times. A lot of planning, a lot of feel goes into planning the sub patterns. I think what’s often forgotten is what comes out — the actual sub pattern — it’s the optimized results in the short, medium and long term. That is the only goal of the sub pattern, to find a competitive advantage from it. Like it’s a good question to ask because you could say, OK, what are you maybe not getting if you’re getting intensity and pace — pace being one of our key components — especially here in the early season? You might be sacrificing some chemistry within the units because they might play shorter times together or it might be more substitutions in an NBA game that already has a lot of stops in it, so I understand the concern. We’re after the best overall result, like I said, in the short, medium and long term."
x.com | Nov. 4, 2025
Brian Windhorst on Tuomas Iisalo: (Before he arrived in the league) A couple of teams wanted to hire him, and
it’s even possible that during last season, a team tried to hire him off of the Grizzlies staff, potentially to become their head coach.
YouTube | Nov. 4, 2025
Matt Infield:
Multiple Grizzlies players have said Tuomas Iisalo is one of the most direct and frank coaches they’ve ever had. Me thinks there was a disagreement during the game, Ja got mad, and then Iisalo called him out in front of the team afterwards. Hence, Ja’s comments.
x.com | Nov. 3, 2025
Geoff Calkins: Iisalo did discuss his substitution patterns.
Said "a lot of players have been conditioned throughout their careers" to play longer stretches. His plan of short stints is "to optimize results in the short, medium and long term." (Note: short term results not optimized presently!)
x.com | Nov. 3, 2025
Geoff Calkins: Tuomas Iisalo on Ja:
"We had a discussion and we're all looking to move forward and beat the Pistons tonight." On what happened? "We won't be discussing that publicly. These are internal matters." Iisalo said versions of that three times.
x.com | Nov. 3, 2025
Shams Charania: Joining @SportsCenter AM to discuss details on Ja Morant's one-game suspension with the
Memphis Grizzlies and what's next: There's been tension in the last several days around Ja Moran and his feelings toward first year head coach Tuomas Iisalo’s rotation patterns, his plays, but it really culminated after and during the loss to Lakers on Friday night in the post-game locker room.
Morant and Iisalo had an exchange where Iisalo called out Morant’s leadership and effort in front of the whole team, and as teammates and staffers all looked on, Morant responded in what the team deemed an inappropriate and dismissive way, according to sources, and that's when the Grizzlies, the team officials, huddled up. They levied a one-game suspension on Ja Morant that he will serve on Sunday in Toronto.
Twitter @ShamsCharania | Nov. 2, 2025
