Tony Barone Falls on Sword for Grizzlies

As expected, the Grizzlies announced today that Tony Barone, Sr. will replace the recently-fired Mike Fratello as the team's head coach through the end of the season. Barone has served as the team's director of player personnel the past seven seasons, a role he's expected to resume full-time at the end of the season. Barone last served as a head coach for Texas A&M for several years in the 90's, and his only NBA coaching experience comes from two years on the bench under Hubie Brown in 2002-04.

From the team's official site:

But another reason for Barone's appointment as interim head coach was to help him get a first-hand understanding of what this team needs in the future when he returns to his full-time position of director of player personnel.

"This is the ultimate opportunity to get to know your team, is to be up close and personal with them," he said. "I've sat in the stands for games, and you don't really know. The on-court hour and 15 minutes (practices) on a daily basis is what will set me straight."

With any luck, Barone's up close and personal look at the rosters will convince him what thousands of Grizzlies' fan already know: this team needs a point guard that's not already collecting Social Security checks, as the Chucky Atkins/Damon Stoudemire combo is not getting it done.

You also have to hope that Barone will be a little more patient with his young players by allowing them to play through their mistakes -- something Fratello rarely did. Considering Barone knows he's only a temporary stopgap, he probably won't have a problem losing (a lot) of games. Plus, he's spent much of the season scouting college players, so he probably realizes that giving the youngsters a long leash can only benefit the team -- both in terms of their long-term development as well as the number of ping-pong balls the team will have in this year's lottery.