Zach Kleiman said availability is the goal after the Grizzlies brought Mike Curtis back to lead an overhaul of their health and performance staff.
Mike Curtis is back with the Memphis Grizzlies as head of health and performance, and availability is the goal for the new staff, general manager Zach Kleiman said as the team held media day Monday.
Memphis hired Curtis in June. He spent six years as the Grizzlies' head strength and conditioning coach, from 2002 to 2008, then became director of strength and conditioning for Michigan athletics.
Curtis spent the last 17 years as head strength and conditioning coach for the Virginia men's basketball program. In October 2025, Virginia also named him director for health, performance, optimization, and innovation. He played four seasons at Virginia from 1994 to 1998 and holds three degrees from the school.
Grizzlies Overhauled Sports Medicine and Training Staff
The hire came as part of a broader overhaul of the sports medicine and training staff. Vice president and head of sports medicine Eric Oetter was among those departing, The Commercial Appeal's Damichael Cole reported on June 19. Oetter had spent a decade with the franchise. Grizzlies Roundtable covered the staffing changes that day.
Injuries shaped last season. Ja Morant played 20 games. Zach Edey played 11, then had surgery on his left ankle in March and a procedure on his left elbow. Ty Jerome missed the first 46 games with a right calf strain and appeared in 15.
Scotty Pippen Jr. and Jaylen Wells both finished the season with toe procedures.
Kleiman Says Availability Is the Goal
Curtis knows when to push players and when to be careful with them. Kleiman said that balance was central to what Memphis wanted from its revamped performance staff.
"As we do at the end of season, at the end of every season, we take a hard look at what are the things we should be doing to put our team in the best position to be successful going forward," Kleiman said. "Determine[d] that it was in the best interest of this group to make a change in that space. I'm really excited about Mike Curtis and the group that we've built out with him. For those who don't know, Mike is our new head of health and performance. He actually spent some time here. He was a strength and conditioning coach at the Grizzlies back in the early days here in Memphis. Been with the University of Virginia for many years since then. Played at University of Virginia as well.
"And what really stands out to me about Mike is the way that he goes about things," Kleiman continued. "He's got a great way of being able to connect with guys and build trust and kind of know what the right buttons are to push. He knows when to push. The goal is availability. Get guys on the court, make it about basketball. Let's have that be the focus. Let's have them be in — have the guys in peak form, peak condition, and be willing to push. And also a highly competent individual who knows when you got to be smart with someone as well.
"But I think Mike has a way about him that's very — he's able to strike a really good balance there, but with a focus on availability," Kleiman added. "Let's get the guys on the court. Let's have basketball drive what we're doing day to day. Let's keep them out there. And I've got a lot of confidence in what Mike's going to be able to do in that space."
Jerome played for Virginia from 2016 to 2019, including on the 2019 national championship team, while Curtis ran the program's strength and conditioning.
Kleiman Expresses Confidence in Tuomas Iisalo
Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo went 25-57 in his first full season. Memphis hired Iisalo as its lead assistant on July 7, 2024, after he won the 2023-24 EuroCup with Paris Basketball. Before that, he coached Telekom Baskets Bonn to the 2023 Basketball Champions League title.
Iisalo became interim coach on March 28, 2025, when the Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins. Jenkins, the winningest coach in franchise history, went 250-214 in the regular season. Iisalo took Memphis into the 2025 playoffs as the eighth seed in the West, where Oklahoma City swept the Grizzlies in the first round. The team named him full-time coach on May 2, 2025, making him the first Finnish-born head coach in NBA history.
Kleiman said Iisalo now has a coherent group to work with.
"I've been incredibly encouraged by what I've seen behind the scenes, what I've seen in terms of how Tuomas handled an admittedly difficult, I think, roster situation over the course of last year," Kleiman explained. "So I'm excited that we have what I think is a coherent group that fits the identity that we're looking for on and off the court. And I have an extreme level of confidence that Tuomas is going to execute that at a high level.
"But I'm excited for him," Kleiman noted. "I'm excited for him that he's got this group that he can really kind of get to work with."
The Grizzlies open preseason Oct. 5 at State Farm Arena against the Atlanta Hawks.
