Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins has been named Western Conference Coach of the Month for the second time this season. Hollins was also Coach of the Month in November when the Grizzlies went 12-2 to start the season.

Hollins has certainly had his hands full since early last month when the team traded Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, and Josh Selby to the Cavaliers for Jon Leuer, which really set up the second trade of Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi to the Toronto Raptors for Ed Davis and Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye from the Detroit Pistons. There were a couple of games in there where the Grizzlies had 9 or 10 players on the bench, and yet the Grizzlies are in the midst of an 8-game winning streak.

Hollins has certainly drawn his fair share of criticism this season — we even have a "Stuff Lionel Hollins Says" group here on the site — but it's undeniable that since the Rudy Gay trade, this team has been heating back up as its chemistry starts to gel around the new guys, and Hollins certainly deserves some of that credit. One only hopes that being named Western Conference Coach of the Month twice in the same year means the Grizzlies front office with quit screwing around and sign the guy to a contract extension, right?