Tuomas Iisalo: What to know about Taylor Jenkins' replacement with Memphis

USA Today

28-03-2025

Tuomas Iisalo: What to know about Taylor Jenkins' replacement with Memphis
It may take quite awhile to fully digest the fallout from the Memphis Grizzlies' shock firing of head coach Taylor Jenkins. The 40-year-old with a career 250-214 record will likely emerge as the most sought-after coach this offseason and he should have any number of suitors.
There's still a ton we just don't know about why things ended in Memphis the way they did.
In the meantime, the Grizzlies are moving forward under the direction of interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo. If that's a name you're unfamiliar with, don't worry. The 42-year-old native of Finland only just came over from Europe to the NBA at the start of this season to serve as an assistant on Jenkins' staff.
Here's what you need to know about the guy who will lead the Grizzlies into the playoffs.
1. How to pronounce his name
Ok, let's start with the basics. Don't call him Thomas.
The Memphis' media guide says the correct pronunciation is "tuo-mas EE-za-low". So, yes. pronounce the 'u' sound here. You can hear him say his name at the start of an interview he did earlier this year with X&O's Chat. Then stick around to hear him explain his coaching philosophy.
2. Lisalo had a tremendous coaching stint in Europe
That might be understating things a bit, actually.
Yes, Iisalo racked up a ton of wins. In 2024 he led Paris Basketball to a EuroCup championship, won the French League Cup and was named EuroCup Coach of the Year. But it's how he won that deserves more attention.
His Paris Basketball club finished the year with a record-tying 20-1 campaign while averaging 98.4 points per game — the highest scoring output in EuroCup history that translated to a 126.8 offensive rating. His teams run a lot of pick-and-roll, shoot a lot of threes and crash the boards hard. Basically, everything a modern NBA must do well to contend.
3. He taught himself basketball by ordering tapes of the early 2000s Duke teams
Iisalo explained that growing up in a town of about 7,000, he was fortunate to come of age the same time Amazon started to take off. That allowed him to order books and tapes to study how basketball was played in the United States.
The coach told EuroLeagueBasketball.net he purchased a VHS of the Mike Dunleavy, Jay Williams, Carlos Boozer Duke teams and began watching a ton of their games while mixing in some NBA action:
'My brother and I, we would spend every day working on our jump shots, watching the best shooters in the NBA – Reggie Miller losing the players on off-ball screens, how he would use his hands to create the openings, how he would read those screens; Allan Houston, I would watch [his clips] on a frame by frame with a VHS and then try to go to the backyard to emulate his shooting form.
'Then I was coaching my brother's team and at some point on NBA.com, they would always feature a playbook from one of the teams. And we actually took some plays when my brother was like 13 from the Utah Jazz. It is a funny thing to laugh about right now. But the kids were excited and there was some structure.'
4. Iisalo's coaching career began as soon as his playing days ended
As a shooting guard, Iisalo's career kept him mostly around Finland — though he was a Finnish Cup winner in 2009. When he stopped playing in 2014, he immediately moved to the bench, becoming the head coach of Finland's U20 team at 32 years old.
Two years later, he was coaching in Germany where he earned Budesliga Coach of the Year in 2022 and 2023 before moving onto Paris.
5. He's the first Finnish head coach in NBA history
Iisalo's was already the first Finnish assistant coach in NBA history, so this one is a given, but what's even cooler is that he already has his first win under his belt. Iisalo served as acting head coach in a November 131-114 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers when Jenkins missed the contest due to a death in the familly.