The Grizzlies Are Still Afloat

by Chip Crain

The guy is a billionaire and still profits from his other businesses. Spending $100 million and only recouping $70 million of it back, resulting in a $30 million loss, shouldn't be THAT big of a deal.

These guys own sports teams like someone else might own a boat or something. It's not a necessity that they have to have. It's a status thing.
a post on the Grizzlies Message Board

That has to be one of the least informed opinions I have ever seen. Do people seriously believe that the owners in the NBA can swallow $30 million losses every year because they see the team like a boat?

No one is going to lose tens of millions of dollars every year and not want to do something to stop that trend. Michael Heisley is no different and he took moves this year to stop it from continuing along that path. Sure it will magnify pain in the short run but these moves had to be made to put the team in position to move forward in the future.

Owners in the NBA are extremely competitive personalities for the most part and they want to win. Michael Heisley wants to win too. The team he had at the end of Jerry West's tenure was not the team he wanted and so he decided to remake the team from the ground up. A lot of people, including some who write on this blog, were screaming for him to do this for years. The attitude was that Pau Gasol, Mike Miller and the others were never going to compete in the playoffs. Not because they couldn't be role players on championship teams but they could never lead a team there by themselves and having them in that role of leader was preventing the Grizzlies from getting the type of player who could.

Well Heisley saw the same thing. He decided, along with Chris Wallace and Marc Iavaroni, that the team needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. They decided to go with a youth movement which has its risks not the least of which is some years of struggling at the front end. Do people prefer he try to rebuild by spending up to the salary cap with players who will only make the team average at best?

Heisley understands that the fans have to be won back and that will take wins on the court. He said as much at the press conference welcoming Mayo and Arthur to the team. He wants to win in the worst way and when the time is right he will spend the money needed to get the right player to help put the team in a position to win it all. He's not interested in acquiring a player who will make us marginally better this season but not be in position to spend money on the right player at the right time.

No one knows how well the team will perform this season. Most likely they will struggle with so much youth on the team. However, if Antoine Walker takes hold of the PF position and plays like he wants to be in the NBA in 2010 then who knows?

A Suggestion to Micheal Heisley

by Chip Crain

I was reading Eric Musselman's blog (which I recommend all of our readers do as well) the other day and he mentioned an article in the New York Times. In the Talking Business section was the story "Leaving Boardroom for Skybox" and it was about Home Depot founder Arthur Blank and his travails as owner of the Atlanta Falcons.

Mr. Blank made two keen observations that I hope Mr. Heisley will take to heart as well. First, Mr. Blank made a clear distinction between the business side of the team and the sports operation side for lack of a better term. Mr. Blank associated well with the business side of the operations but has yet to make similar inroads on the field.

So how did Mr. Blank make the inroads on the business side? Quite simply he developed strong relationships with his associates (his word for employees) and then he listened to his clients (i.e. the fans). He took over a franchise that rarely sold out games and turned that around simply by conducting surveys of the fans, listening to what they wanted and expected and implemented changes to address those concerns. Notice that he didn't give lip service to them, he actively got involved to change what was wrong while maintaining what was done properly.

The result has been remarkable. The Falcons routinely sell out games now and actually have a waiting list for season tickets. He did this despite the Falcons failure to produce on the field. The team has only made the playoffs twice since Mr. Blank took over as owner. Last season the Falcons were one of the worst teams in the league.

Mr. Blank also looked at the team and quickly came to the conclusion that, while he may understand the business side of the franchise intuitively, the sports side was a totally different animal. He dabbled in coaching hires and the like but he recognized that he doesn't have the skills to determine what makes a good coach like he can determine what makes a good manager. They are different animals. He admitted to himself that he wouldn't have a clue about personnel decisions either. So he hired the best people he could to make those decisions and then let them do their thing. He didn't look over their shoulders or demand to be given the final word on any deal. He hired people he felt knew how to manage a team and let them do their job.

In contrast, Mr. Heisley has been getting more and more involved in the team decisions while seeming to lose interest in attempting to appease his clients. As he said in our interview:

I'm not so sure the professionals have that much more going for them than the fans have going. A lot of it really turns out to be luck. How many trades do you make that turns out horrible because the guy gets injured and he hardly ever plays for you?

Does that sound like someone who believes there is a difference between managing a business and managing a sports team? Does that sound like someone who doesn't believe he can do as well or better than the people he hired to do the job?

On the other side Heisley doesn't appear to be pushing the please the clients concept either. This season's Fan Advisory Board hasn't been selected yet despite camp beginning in less than three weeks so it is doubtful the board will have any effect on changing the fan experience this season. How much impact will the board have on this season if they won't even be selected as a group prior to the start of training camp? Services have been cut in the past and perks eliminated but has anyone done a survey to figure out how this was affecting the fan experience?

Last season the team opened up the parking garage for anyone. Club or better level season ticket holders used to be the only one's allowed to park there. Did anyone survey the season ticket holders who were denied the opportunity to buy those spaces to see how they felt about it? Did anyone ask the people who pre-paid for the right to park in the covered lot how it felt to suddenly be forced to park on the roof in the rain because their normal spots were taken? Aren't those people the exact ones the team is lamenting losing lately?

So Mr. Heisley, please pay attention to the owners who have been successful and pay more attention to your clients and less on the basketball operations. You have hired Chris Wallace and Marc Iavaroni. Now is the time to let them make the decisions that you hired them to make. Focus on the fans who are your clients. Make them feel like you care. Ask for their ideas and then implement the ones that are feasible.

It is just one person's opinion, but I think it is valid.

Grizzly 52 Pick-Up

1. Darko, pick up an anger management book. Learn to harness your temper, unlike the Serbia-Greece postgame incident, and put it towards your play on the court.
2. Coach, pick up your pride after last season. Don't listen to those who blasted you, you're a rookie head coach. I've got the faith. There is no I in team, but I want I on the sidelines.
3. Conley, pick up the weights. I heard you have, but pick them up again. And again. Repeat.
4. Hakim, pick up the weights. Ditto the rest of numero tres for you.
5. Lowry, pick up the fact that when you drive through the lane, you need to be a bit more controlled. I love your bulldog-like tenacity, but a little more controlled chaos would be beneficial to the team's overall game.
6. Rudy, pick up a scouting report on yourself. You are a STUD, my man. Teams adjust their gameplans to YOU. Put this team on your shoulders and become the star I believe you can be, the star some have already annointed you, and the star some think you can never be.
7. 'Toine, pick up a health and fitness book, report to camp in shape, and hopefully you can get some playing time. I mean, you do have a ring that isn't breaded with an onion inside of it, so I believe you've still got game. Let's see it, because I don't want us to have to spend our "capspace" bolstering our bench...so you can sit on it without breaking it.
8. OJ, pick up some more bowties for press conferences and post-game reports. GQ.
9. Marc, pick up a mirror. Then you will realize you look like the spawn of Mike Miller and your brother. Of course, if you have a hybrid game of Mike Miller and your brother, then you are going to be worth every bit of your money and then another of your salary on top of that.
10. Marko, pick up a nice dress for Adriana to wear for opening night. That can be your contribution to the team and the fans.
11. Greg, pick up a clipboard. You're going to be a player-coach this season anyway. maybe occasionally spelling Rudy at the 3.
12. Darrell, pick up a head full of steam and barrel through the post using your speed at the 4. I'd like to see you start at the 4, but you will likely have to back up Hakim, so make your minutes count. Use your advantages.
13. Hakim, pick up your dribble after having the ball for a few seconds, then pass. I hate watching you dribble almost as much as I hated watching OJ Mayo play PG in Summer League.
14. Marc, pick up rebounds. That IS why we signed you, or it should have been. We never can seem to rebound worth spit.
15. Kevin O'Neill, pick up Darko's anger management book after he is finished reading it. Turn that book into your Bible.
16. Michael Heisley, pick up the tab on some players, please. Capspace, Shmapspace. You want a winner, let's build one.
17. OJ, pick up games with high profile players = good thing. It gets your name out there, gets the word around that you are the real deal, makes you better, which in turn makes us look good as well.
18. People in the Advertising Dept, pick up on the fact that some of this just isn't cutting it. The "Hello Mayo" poster? Absolutely gorgeous. Where are our billboards, our bus signs, our commercials...something with pizzazz, flash, flair..."just like what the Grizz are going to bring this season."
19. Casey, pick up my car from valet out front. It's the Crossfire, black. Here's three dollars. The first three you made all night.
20. Critt, pick up the ball when youre open from the 3 point line, and jack it like a TV from a New Orleans store display. You, along with Toine, Rudy, Mayo and maybe Jaric are our only credible three-point shooters. Man, losing Mike in that aspect hurts.
21. Coach, pick up your clipboard and draw up some plays this season. Please, no more high-post handoff predictability.
22. Conley, pick up the speed more, if possible. Not because you're doing anything wrong, but because I'd just like to see how fast you really are. Top 5 in the L, in my personal opinion.
23. Kevin O'Neill, pick up some throat lozenges for after the game. I have a feeling you will need them.
24. Rudy, pick up the other team's players (and possibly our own) jaws after you blow past them for a rim-rattling, earth-shattering, mind-altering dunk.
25. Hakim, pick up a pair of clippers and shave that soul patch if you aren't going to go full beard on us. It's all-in or fold, buddy.
26. Darko, pick up your head if you don't make the first shot. It's not the end of the world, get your head back in the game. I'm tired of seeing your first shot not fall and then watch you get your confidence down the rest of the game and it affect your play. Go hard every minute.
27. Darrell, pick up a new hairstyle or something, anything but a headband. If Hak takes my advice and shaves the soul patch, I will have no chance of distinguishing you two lanky post players with headbands and no facial hair from all the way up in my section. Wait...you're the one who can play defense, right?
28. Hak, pick up a defensive scheme once in a while. Wait...no dont...then it would go back to you two being undistinguishable again...noooo....
29. Conley, pick up a Ja Rule cd cover. It's going to be like looking into a mirror for you, seriously.
30. Anyone, pick up a Downtowner magazine or an RSVP Memphis mag so we can stuff it down Phil Jackson's throat the next time he wants to say our downtown looks like Dresden.
31. Marc, pick up a laptop or anything with internet access and read the things that Memphis fans have said about your brother. Learn from it. Play the exact opposite.
32. Lowry, pick up some Air Jordans or some Nikes with heels. 6'0 my left foot. I'm 6 foot tall, and I was taller than you. Can you imagine Lowry with height on him? Man. Those "Trade Conley" advocates might get a vote from this "independent" on that front.
33. Rudy, pick up your teammates when they get down, and get on em when they mess up. That's what a leader of a team does.
34. Michael Heisley, pick up this team and move it, and you will have an entire city chasing you up to Chicago. You don't want that. Crime is already bad enough in Chicago this year without adding angry Memphians in the mix.
35. To Whom It May Concern, pick up the initiative I propose for opening night. The National Anthem shouldnt be done in person, we should all stand while the video of Isaac Hayes singing the Anthem at a Grizzlies game plays over the jumbotron, followed by a moment of silence for a Memphis Soul Icon. It'd be a classy move.
36. Coach, pick up your players and shake them from time to time. Don't make O'Neill do it every time. You can still be the nice guy...you can be the nice father with a stern hand.
37. Critt, pick up your speed. If we do trade Conley, or Lowry, you become the backup PG. If we are going to in fact be a running system, we're going to need speed. If we lose Conley the Ferarri, or Lowry the bulldog, we need speed and toughness at the point. You can be J-Critt the Challenger R/T. Speed and muscle. Speaking of that...
38. Critt, pick up the weights after Conley and Hak are done with them.
39. Darrell, I'll say it again, pick up a distinguishable characteristic. You are similar to the generic "Create-a-Player" on NBA Live 09. Grow some braids, dye your hair like the Rodman Rainbow, change your name to "Cero Cero" a la Chad Johnson...something.
40. Lowry, pick up the foul that ISNT an offensive one when you run into the post.
41. OJ, pick up a local newspaper. There is a buzz for you being here in the M. Take that, seize it, and you and Rudy become a two-headed monster. Maybe one day, the two of you will be ranked on a Dynamic Duo list.
42. Marc, pick up and absorb everything you learned from FIBA, the Olympics, and even at Lausanne. Apply it on the court here, and you will begin to step out of your brother's shadow. Not here, of course. You can drive through Memphis and see tomatoes and arrows thrown at the ground because a shadow that looked like Pau was there at one time.
43. Marko, pick up a GQ magazine, flip past that "Mayo Brings Back the Bowtie" article and find you some fashion tips. That way you can look fly on the bench. I kid, I kid. Not every game.
44. 'Toine, pick up the guts to say No to the Paula Deen Buffet. I know its right past the state line, but resist...RESIST!
45. Michael Heisley, pick up the WSJ and see if we have a trade embargo with Iran. Maybe if we dont, we can explore trade options for Hadadi and expiring contracts for, you know, capspace.
46. Hak, pick up some fattening food. I should have listed that first, but eat Eat EAT before you pick up the weights. Otherwise you will turn into a human strand of sinew, muscle and bone from working out. Sorry for not clarifying. Eat, then work out.
47. Darko, pick up the English language better. That way, if you do go into another tirade, I will be able to understand it without subtitles, and it will give me great entertainment.
48. Scouting team, pick up a report on Blake Griffin. If we have a terrible season, and we still have no answer at the 4 spot, tell the appropriate people to do everything they can to ensure that we get him.
49. Sportswriters and Analysts, pick up on the fact that the Grizzlies ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE. You can stop with your X-Files conspiracy theories. It isn't going to happen. Las Vegas doesn't have grizzlies, and they aren't going to have ours either.
50. OJ, pick up Rudy before one of your pickup games. Do a little two on two. It will establish chemistry with our duo, and get both of you some great experience in the process. The only thing better than it helping you, is if it helps both of you.
51. Fans, pick up your tickets for the entire season or just a game, whatever you can do. Support the NBA in Memphis.
52. And lastly, Anyone, pick up the habit of being a Grizzly fan.

Pacifiying the Fan Base

Out of nowhere Friday, the Memphis Grizzlies signed the most dynamic player on the free agent market to a 5 year/$58 million offer sheet that was immediately matched by his hometown Atlanta Hawks. Josh Smith was the prototype for the power forward position in the offense that Iavaroni wants to run.

The funny thing is that I don't think I read a single account by a Grizzlies fan that actually thought that Atlanta would not match that offer sheet because it was reasonable. So why would Chris Wallace and Michael Heisley even waste their time with the offer? Why wouldn't they do like Philly and trade some of their young talent to clear out cap space to make an offer to Smith that Atlanta would not match? IMO it is because Memphis finally has a GM that knows what he is doing.

The Memphis Grizzlies are on The Three Year Plan (3YP) for better or worse. The first year of this plan is going to be real painful. I am not sure most fans have a realistic concept of the type of frustration they will experience this season. As such, the pressure to "do something" will be hard and heavy once the 2009 NBA trade deadline approaches and the Grizzlies are in dead last in the Western Conference. So Wallace (and Heisley) need to buy time. And that is just what the Josh Smith offer sheet did for them.

Why waste their time with the offer to Josh Smith? Why not? Josh Smith would have been a great fit for the Grizzlies long term and his talent would have mitigated the lost draft position that they would have missed on with the better record. He actually would have allowed the Grizzlies to potentially complete their future starting lineup a year in advance and thus accelerating the 3YP into a two year plan.

Why not make moves to sign Josh Smith to an offer sheet that Atlanta would not match? Although I have previously advocated making an inflated offer to Josh Smith because I think his future production will justify the salary, the Grizzlies just could not do so with their current roster. If the Grizzlies pay Josh Smith based on what they project his production to be in the future, what do they do next summer when Rudy Gay comes up for an extension? The Josh Smith offer sheet establishes the Grizzlies as a market level contract giver. Giving Smith an inflated deal would have painted them in the corner of giving Gay a near maximum extension even if he just reproduced this past season's production. That is a bad precedent to set.

So in the end the Josh Smith saga was a one day break from the offseason hibernation that the organization is experiencing. It came out of nowhere but it does reveal the motivations behind the 3YP. The Grizzlies are on the lookout for an impact player at power forward. Also, there will likely be no rumors of what the Grizzlies plan on doing until it is essentially a done deal. Sucks for us bloggers and message board folks but is good business for the Grizzlies.

Bad News from the Head Bear

I'll start this off by apologizing. I am about to rain on your parade. As someone who really, really loved the acquisition of O. J. Mayo. I was really on cloud 9 after the details of that trade were leaked by The Memphis Flyers Chris Herrington. I thought the shackles were finally off of GM Chris Wallace and the Grizzlies were going to become an aggressive team builder. Unfortunately, just when you think things are about to make a turn for the better with the Grizzlies, Michael Heisley shows up and reminds you that any hope for success under his ownership is and will always be an exercise in futility.

What I am referring to is his debut of The Three Year Plan (TYP). Being caught up in the euphoria of Mayo-to-Memphis, I almost was fooled. I mean, in theory, it sounds real freaking good.

"We're committed to putting a contending team on the floor," Heisley said, "and the target is three years. I'm looking for -- three years from today Memphis to have a team than contends and then turning that team into a team that competes for championships."

Sounds good on the surface doesn't it? However, when you look at the statement, it makes absolutely no sense. In three years Heisley wants a team that contends and then turn that team into a team that competes for championships. Uh...say what? So in three years, what exactly will the Grizzlies be Mr. Heisley?

I think most fans that have bought into this "plan", have done so on the notion that in three years the Grizzlies will be where New Orleans and Utah are today. Heisley even brings up the Hornets when speaking about his plan:

I'm thinking if we get guys like New Orleans' (Chris) Paul and (David) West; if we get our two guys then I could basically go out there and hire free agents to move forward toward winning a championship.

So aren't Rudy Gay, Michael Conley and O. J. Mayo supposed to be our Chris Paul and David West? I guess not because we are not even considering making a move to hire any free agents this year. Now I am not saying it is a must to spend our cap room this summer but I think a team with a plan would at least be looking...that is unless year one of the plan involved saving money and having anothe sub 30 win season.

Hopefully, for Grizz fans sake, Heisley is just trying to recoup some cash before he sells the team. Between the lower payroll, cash via trades, and cash from the teams paying the luxury tax this season I suppose the Grizzlies have been profitable or at least break even for the first time in Memphis and this year will likely lead to an eight figure profit. Maybe at this point Heisley will finally be able to find a buyer with the cash to purchase and the sense to understand that Memphis can be a profitable market if the fans are given a worthwile product to follow.

Chico's Bail Bonds anyone?

Interesting Conversations - Post Gasol Press Conference

I tried to tape the entire press conference introducing (or should I say re-introducing) Marc to Memphis but the quality was terrible and you can listen to everything said during the conference over at the Grizzlies web site so why bother?

What I did get that no one else probably has is some private time with Michael Heisley, Kevin O'Neill and Marc Gasol after the press conference where I could fill in some blanks from both this conference and the previous one introducing O J Mayo and Darrell Arthur to town.

First up I wanted to talk to Mr. Heisley. As usual once you get Mr. Heisley talking you know two things. He will answer your question to the best of his ability and he will tell you what he wants you to hear. With that in mind her is what Mr. Heisley and I talked about.

3SOB: Mr. Heisley, a question came up recently about some comments you made at the last press conference about wanting the Grizzlies to be competitive in 2-3 years. What exactly does competitive mean to you.
Mr. Heisley: Well it means to me that hopefully we will be a threat to be in the playoffs or in the playoffs and more importantly we will have the nucleus of the team in place so we can add to it that nucleus to be a championship contending team. We take the young players and they develop that is the basic nucleus of the team. Then when we get into that position and we have the salary cap room we hope to have then we can bring in one or two free agents and we could be a good force. That is my idea. Three years I expect to be in the playoffs. In three years I don't expect to be national champions.

Now maybe I'll be wrong but I would say that if people want to see the Grizzlies come out and I think you are going to see a totally different team. I brought in Kevin O'Neill. Kevin O'Neill is a fantastic defensive coach. He's involved in the practices down here now. He's making a world of difference. I feel we're in a place where we might be young, we might get beat but I want people to not want to come in here and play. That's the kind of team I want. The type of team that Boston was, that Detroit has been for years, that Michael Jordan and the Bulls were, people think of Michael Jordan as a scorer but he was probably as good a defensive player as there was in the NBA. There were two or three guys who were almost as good as he was [defensively], so when they played in the playoffs teams didn't get 80 points. It wasn't hard to beat them.

That's what I'd like to see. I'd like to see a team that first of all starts with a great defense and then has good offense. This idea that you are going to have an offensive team that is going to outscore every team in the NBA is becoming more and more a fallacy. Maybe some fans like it but I think fans enjoy winning a hell of a lot more. Now I don't want to see a dull team. Did you think it was dull watching what Boston did to LA this year? I didn't think it was dull at all. When you saw them shut down Kobe, I didn't think that was dull at all. I thought that was pretty spectacular.

That's the kind of thing I'd like to see. Now you can add scoring to that but if you are going to try and be a winner in the playoffs of the NBA then it's pretty obvious you are going to need to play defense. Phoenix finally recognized that and gave up on it.

So that's my philosophy. I hope 2-3 years from now we are a playoff contending team. One of the younger teams in the league with a nucleus of players that has the ability to go on to get good players.

3SOB: You had a meeting with Iavaroni at the end of the season and basically said you expect to see improvement over the next 12 months. With a 3 yr outlook to becoming competitive, how does that fit with him and his situation?
Mr. Heisley: Marc's going to have to show he can run this team. It's that simple. Last year was not acceptable and Marc will tell you that. I wasn't happy with it. I think Marc understands that. I think with Kevin O'Neill working with Marc on defense, and Marc has a lot of talent, he's got a lot of knowledge, he's just got to put it together. Remember last year was his first year as a head coach ever. At any level. And we had some bad nights. When I met with him I wanted to see what he has absorbed from last year.

My point is that it's 3 years. We aren't there yet. That's not just Marc that's everybody. Period. Now there won't be any decisions in the press. I am committed to this. It's what I said after the draft.

I think this is great. Everybody thinks that Pau Gasol was so terrible. Well now we have Darrell Arthur. Okay? He ain't bad! And if his brother turns out to be as good as we hope he can be...Now I am not going to say he's going to be the best center in the league but I really do hope he can be a contributing center in the league so now you have two pieces. Plus you got the cap room. So we don't look so stupid (as we did a few months ago).

The point is Gasol comes from the same family as his brother did and yet he's a totally different player than his brother but if he can be as good as his brother I would be ecstatic. My point is that he's not going to be. He's a different player. I think his game is rougher. I think he's more of a traditional post up, back to the basket center. I think he's more of a rebounder, more of a defensive player but like his brother he's a good passer and quite frankly he's a good quality kid. He comes over with an advantage Pau did not come over with in that he's been in the United States. He knows the country and the people. He spent two years of high school here plus his family is here.

So I am really intrigued to see what he turns out like. He'll get every opportunity and if Darko doesn't step up then he'll be able to get a lot of minutes.

The talks with Kevin O'Neill and Marc Gasol will be posted later.

The Trouble with Heisley

As I was finishing up the blog on the Chris Wallace interview I ended it saying that

Chris is a likable man that you want success for, not only because he runs our favorite team but because you feel an empathy toward Chris. He is the type of person you want success for.

His detractors biggest criticism has been he is too available to the media and that he does what the owners ask him to do. These are hardly negative character traits. It struck me later that this is different from how I feel about Michael Heisley.

Don't get me wrong -- I want the Grizzlies to succeed. I hope that every move the team makes turns out to be successful and the fans come back and all is well at the Forum again. Naturally, if that happens then Heisley will benefit tremendously.

I just don't care on an emotional level if Heisley succeeds or not. Emotionally, I want Chris to succeed. He's a great guy. Heisley may be a super person away from the franchise but as an owner he doesn't endear people to him in that way.

Micheal Heisley is an incredibly smart businessman. He is also one of the more difficult men I have ever talked to. Heisley is blunt and seems to have little or no concern for the feelings of the people who work with him, around him or even interview him. This gets him in trouble with reporters who take what he says and uses it in a way he may not have intended like the Adrian Wojnarowski article.

Heisley called me to clarify his comments after I emailed his office asking for an explanation. He also called the Commercial Appeal's Ron Tillery. He did not call Chris Wallace to tell him that the quote was taken out of context. Heisley didn't call Wallace to inform his GM that he wasn't unhappy with the job he was doing. He left Wallace with no idea why he said that and what he meant by it.

Perhaps Heisley didn't feel that a phone call was needed. Perhaps he wanted to give Wallace that impression but didn't want it to appear that he said it. Perhaps he figured that Wallace knows how he feels and he didn't need to make amends for his comments, but as a good ole Southern boy I can tell you my parents didn't raise me that way. The first person I would have called wouldn't be a newspaper or a fan blog (even one as highly respected as ours has become). It would have been the person who was hurt by my words. I just wasn't raised to say something that could hurt someone's feelings and not apologize about it. Heck, I apologized to Adrian Wojnarowski about what I wrote in a blog about him and all I said was that he was a blogger looking for his 15 minutes of fame at the expense of the truth and the Memphis Grizzlies.

By the way, Adrian is an award winning writer and I was wrong to call him that and to belittle his reputation. I still don't agree with the article, but I was wrong to write it that way. So again I am apologizing.

The thing I can't say about Heisley is that he is a liar. I may dislike his view of things but I can't say that he is being untruthful as he sees it. At times, I just wonder how he sees things the way he does. I think Heisley's way of communicating is brutal but honest in other words.

He bullies people with his speech but that doesn't make him untrustworthy. I believe him when he says that the team tried to trade Gasol for equal talent and when that wasn't possible that the team decided to rebuild with youth and to get as much cap room as possible in the deal. I believe that Wallace brought him the deal he asked for. Heisley has been quoted saying Los Angeles offered him something no other team had in a a $9 million expiring salary. The draft picks will help and the players offered (Crittenton and Marc Gasol) could develop but the money off the bottom line is what Heisley wanted more than anything else. That was what he was offered from LA that no one else was willing to give.

Heisley may wonder if he could have gotten more (like an additional $5-6 million of expiring contracts for Brian Cardinal), but that doesn't mean he is unhappy with Chris's deal that he approved. I believe him when he says that that he is to blame for accepting the deal -- not Wallace. Wallace can't do a deal without Heisley's approval. These aren't the Jerry West days of Heisley being a hands off owner. These days Heisley has his fingers in almost every aspect of the club. If you are displeased with the deal, the fault lies with Heisley not Wallace. Wallace gave his employer exactly what he asked for.

Therein lies the problem too. What do we know about the franchise right now?

If we take Heisley to be an honest man, and I understand that a lot of people don't for whatever reason, then we know he wants to bring the Grizzlies back into contention using young players (presumable on their rookie contracts) and most importantly, to do so while remaining under the salary cap. Not the luxury tax but the salary cap. That is the line that only 3 teams are currently operating beneath (Atlanta, Memphis and Charlotte).

Atlanta did make the playoffs last season using a team of young players with only one mega-contract (Joe Johnson). They also won only 37 games. Atlanta had some of the worst attendance figures in the league prior to last season when the playoff run propelled them up to 20th in the league, barely out of the bottom 3rd of the league and Atlanta has a lot more people than Memphis. Charlotte is 24th in the league and Memphis 29th. There does seem to be a connection between not having a league average payroll and drawing fans to the games. The connection isn't a pretty one either.

Only three teams made the playoffs in 2008 whose team payroll was in the bottom third of the league (Utah, Orlando and Atlanta). Again there seems to be a connection between being competitive and paying competitive salaries. If we take Heisley at his word, and again I have found no reason not to, then you can expect the Grizzlies to be among the lowest in attendance and out of the playoffs for the next few years. Memphis is not looking to spend money for a mega-contract player like Rashard Lewis or Carlos Boozer unless he has two traits: a young age and a known ability to put people in the seats.

By the way, those type of players don't grow on trees and they are even rarer to find via free agency.

So it is highly unlikely that Memphis will be able to attract such a player to this team via free agency. The best way to find such a player is via the draft. If the Grizzlies should somehow win the lottery one day, get a sure fire superstar in the draft and swing a deal to acquire an experienced veteran to team with the young guns then Memphis could buck the trend and produce wins despite a low salary and no experience. Until then I wouldn't expect much to change around the Forum.

And I wouldn't expect a phone call from Mr. Heisley apologizing either.

Addendum: Mr. Heisley was on the Sportsbar after this blog was completed if you want to hear what he said.

Setting the Story Straight

I just finished reading Chris Vernon's blog, where he basically says that we here at 3 Shades of Blue are in Michael Heisley's back pocket because we defended him, rather than taking Adrian Wojnarowski's column at face value. I don't think that's a fair label, given that we have been vocally critical of Heisley's tenure as owner on several occasions since starting this blog. Allow me to go step-by-step in offering a rebuttal to Verno's post.

I am mentioned as giving Adrian a forum so that he could get his "fifteen minutes." Adrian is an award-winning journalist who has worked for a lot of newspapers, espn.com, etc. He is also the author of one of the greatest sports books ever "The Miracle at St. Anthony." At 3 Shades of Blue they assume that Adrian is some blogger trying to make a name for himself and by misquoting Heisley it makes it hard for other legit bloggers. Hahahahahahhahaa. Oh for goodness sakes. The guy has been on the NY Times Bestsellers list and he is trying to make a name for himself talking about the freaking Grizzlies? Come on. 3 Shades trash Adrian and stick up for Heisley.

Unlike myself, Chip does not read every single piece of NBA-related information that passes across the tubes we like to call the internet. This is probably because he has a life and I don't. However, because of this, he was completely unaware of who Wojnarowski was (or who he even wrote for) and went with the description that Heisley gave him...because Heisley believed that Wojnarowski was a blogger just like us at 3SoB. That's right -- Heisley had no idea who Woj2 was when conversing with him a few days ago. I know who Woj2 is and even mentioned having previously had a great deal of respect for him in my response to his column yesterday morning. I have read his columns for years and own copies of both The Miracle of St. Anthony (currently in my library) and Jimmy V: The Life and Death of Jim Valvano (pre-ordered on Amazon.com). Rest assured, I know who the man is. However, I also knew that Heisley is prone to speaking off-the-cuff about things in a manner that could very easily be perceived in a manner out of context with how he actually intended them to be conveyed. That's why I was willing to step out there and take issue with the column, even though I knew it wouldn't be a very popular move. I saw things being presented in a light that was the opposite of what we had been told upon interviewing Heisley not that long ago and wanted to point that out. I didn't see it as "sticking up for Heisley" so much as sticking up for journalistic integrity (something most bloggers don't consider often enough) and making sure that the truth was being represented. If that makes me "Heisley's boy", then so be it. Unlike Chip, I've never met the man, so I can say that he hasn't had any direct influence on me. Also, I hate for Chris to paint all of us on 3 Shades of Blue with the same brush, given that there are 4 writers (and one fantastic genius) with distinct and unique viewpoints. That's something we're proud of here -- we offer opinions from every viewpoint, rather than just one.

I am not writing anything that I have not already talked to Chip from 3 Shades about. Do I believe that Adrian misquoted Heisley or took him out of context? No. Do I agree with all of the opinions Adrien had in the article? No. Do I think that Heisley regrets what he said? Yes. Do I know that the CA will soon come out and defend him too? I would be shocked if they did not. What I told Chip is that just because Heisley says something does not mean that it is true and that you have to stick up for him. In fairness, maybe they believe him (Lord, I hope not).

What would be so bad about believing Heisley? What has he been dishonest about during his time in Memphis? Again, I'm not defending his moves and direction of the team as the owner -- I'm just wondering why it is that everyone has painted him as an evil person who will lie, cheat and steal to achieve some sinister goal. I haven't seen any evidence of that to this point -- but if someone has such evidence, I will surely be more than willing to examine it.

You may not get the access if you call him out, I get that. I understand not biting the hand that feeds you. It is a legimate concern for anyone that reports on things. You have to weigh what is more important, access or objectivity? I struggle with it too. Now Heisley has the best Grizzlies blog and the local paper pumping his PR and sticking up for him. I am a big fan of the 3 Shades blog and have mentioned that many times, not to mention that I have met most of the authors and they all seem like nice guys (and they have been pretty nice and fair with me). Sad day I say. Heisley is killing the franchise, Adrian Wojnarowski isn't.

He is speaking the truth here. If we start blaming Heisley for everything that goes wrong with the franchise -- as Verno has been known to do in recent history -- then we might not get the same level of access to him and he almost assuredly won't be calling us from halfway across the world to give us the "real story" first. Of course, the only reason he agreed to be interviewed by us in the first place was because he disagreed with something we wrote and wanted to set the story straight on that issue. That's right -- he let us interview him because he didn't like us, not because he particularly enjoyed our little corner of the internet.

Verno says that Heisley is killing the franchise. I say that what is really killing the franchise can in no way be blamed on just one man. After all, did Heisley do something to make fan support start to dwindle after the magical 50-win season? Did Heisley convince Jason Williams, James Posey and Bonzi Wells to become overwhelming distractions on a playoff team? Was Heisley responsible for Pau Gasol's injury in the World Championships or Damon Stoudamire's knee injury? Did Heisley handpick who we drafted and signed over the past 7 years? Did Heisley create the "Memphis Mentality", where everyone wants everything given to them on a silver platter and believes that they are entitled to a title contender immediately without having to suffer through any of the normal growing pains? I'm fairly confident that the answer to all of those questions is a firm "No".

With that said, is Heisley completely blameless for the disconnect that fans feel with the franchise or with the below average product that has been put on the floor the past two seasons? No. But that's a post for another day -- and believe me it will be coming soon. I just wanted to illustrate that just because we don't believe that Michael Heisley is the second coming of Goldfinger doesn't mean that we don't disagree with things he has said, suggested or ordered. If Chris really wants to find out how true that is, then he knows how to get in touch with us and I'll be more than happy to spend a few minutes on his show explaining just what those things are.

Heisley Not Unhappy with Wallace

Michael Heisley called me from Kuala Lumpur. He is pissed off at Adrian Wojnar-who-ski or whatever that blogger from Yahoo's name is. I am not linking to that trash but I am sure you can find it if you look around. The truth is exactly what 3 Shades of Blue wrote earlier this week. Adrian had an agenda and took comments out of context and ignored statements that completely contradicted the tone of the article he wanted to write.

This is the message Mr. Heisley wants Memphis fans to hear and understand.

Michael Heisley is in no way unhappy with Chris Wallace. Michael Heisley approved the deal with LA and it accomplished what Mr. Heisley wanted. If anyone wants to be upset about the deal they should be upset with Heisley not Chris Wallace.

I wish I had exact quotes but I didn't have a tape machine with me when he called and I honestly wasn't expecting a phone call from Mr. Heisley at 8:30 in the morning at my office. I mean does anyone expect a phone call from a billionaire at anytime in the morning?

Anyway, Heisley said when he conducted the interview he was about to walk into a meeting and assumed the blogger would do an interview like 3 Shades of Blue did and simply report what he said. If he had realized that instead it was going to be a 'hatchet job' where statements were going to be taken out of context and misrepresented he would have been far more wary of what he said. Mr. Heisley isn't a media savvy man who spins what he says. He is brutally honest. He tries to tell the truth which leaves him susceptible to tricks like this blogger used to forward a position the writer wants.

Mr. Heisley isn't saying that everyone has to love the deal he made. However, you should understand the deal he made. He tried for over a year to get a deal done where he received back what he believed to be equal talent. All the other teams in the league knew this. No one was offering anything close to fair value. Once the decision was made to go with a youth movement and acquiring cap space relief the Grizzlies again approached teams about acquiring Gasol. He made public the negotiations with Chicago but that doesn't mean there weren't negotiations with other teams. Only Los Angeles was willing to provide a huge salary cap savings, 2 #1 draft picks and young talent that the Grizzlies wanted. No one else was coming to the table with comparable offers. Mr. Heisley made the decision to take the LA offer and it was his decision alone. Any team now pretending to not know Gasol was available is not telling the truth. Memphis contacted many teams but they did not conduct an auction for Gasol. You can't do that in the NBA. Any team could contact the Grizzlies and many did. Memphis also initiated contact with many teams.

It is blogs like that one that really hurt the efforts of people like us who are trying to educate fans about the team. When we write our opinions we do so where it is clear that this is what we are thinking or feeling. When we quote other people (like we have in the Heisley interview and others) we don't slant the comments to fit our agenda. We simply lay it out there and let the readers decide what to think. If the Yahoo blogger had done the same thing the blog would have had a decidedly different feeling to it.

Of course he wouldn't have been interviewed on Chris Vernon's show and been linked to stories all over the country either. So congrats Adrian for getting your 15 minutes of fame. Too bad it had to come at the expense of the truth and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Adrian Wojnarowski Stirs Things Up

If you haven't already read the column that Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski posted yesterday, then read it here. Yesterday, I read the article and I heard him on 730 ESPN with Chris Vernon. I have to say that my initial impression was quite simple: hatchet job. Now that I've had time to sleep on it and allow it to rattle around my head, my viewpoint hasn't changed one iota.

I know that the Pau Gasol trade has been the running joke of the NBA world all spring, with Kobe calling it "a donation", Gregg Popovich calling it "beyond comprehension" and everyone else saying that Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace should be named the Lakers' team MVP. I understand that many fans were upset about what was accepted in return for the gifted 7-footer and that most of them continue to be irked about it. However, it seems that many people have forgotten to examine their history books when they label it "one of the NBA’s worst trades in years", as Wojnarowski does in his column. He states that "you don’t trade your franchise player without getting back a minimum of a sure-thing young star and/or two solid young starters". Oh really?

February 24, 2005: The Golden State Warriors acquired guard Baron Davis from the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday for guard Speedy Claxton and forward Dale Davis.

December 18, 2004: Vince Carter was traded by the Toronto Raptors to the New Jersey Nets for Alonzo Mourning, Eric Williams, Aaron Williams and a pair of first-round draft picks.

August 19, 2003: The Dallas Mavericks finally made a major offseason move, acquiring Antawn Jamison in a nine-player trade with the Golden State Warriors. The Mavericks also got guard Jiri Welsch and forwards Danny Fortson and Chris Mills from the Warriors for guards Nick Van Exel, Avery Johnson and Antoine Rigaudeau, center Evan Eschmeyer and forward Popeye Jones in the deal.

June 17, 1992: Charles Barkley was traded to the Phoenix Suns from the Philadelphia 76ers for Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang, and Tim Perry.

I think I've made my point, haven't I? I'm confident in saying that the Sixers, Warriors, Hornets and Raptors not only bounced back from those seemingly one-sided trades, but actually became better teams down the road because of the trade. So now that I've shown evidence that you cannot judge a trade in just a matter of a few months, how about we take a closer look at the rest of this column, shall we?

The title of it was quite eye-catching: Memphis owner now questions value of Gasol deal. I mean, that's sure to set tongues to wagging and drive traffic, isn't it? I wonder what exactly it was that Wojnarowski got in his 15-minute interview by cell phone (cut short by his own admission) that we were unable to glean in talking to Michael Heisley face-to-face for over 90 minutes? After all, we have Heisley's words out there for everyone to see in five parts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5), where he describes quite clearly why the Gasol trade went down the way it did. But Wojnarowski has this quote that makes things less clear:

“I don’t know if I got the most value,” Heisley confessed. “Maybe our people should’ve shopped (Gasol) more and maybe we would’ve gotten more, done a better deal. Maybe Chris did call every team in the league. I don’t think he did, but maybe he should’ve…”

Yes, maybe Wallace should have called every team in the league. I mean, it's not like Pau Gasol had been surrounded by trade rumors for over a year since the word of his closed door meeting with Heisley was leaked out to the press and then categorically labeled a "trade demand". Sure, Chicago had seemed to be the most logical destination, given their outstanding need for a low-post presence. But if a team had interest in acquiring the Spaniard, wouldn't their GM have at least made a perfunctory phone call to see what Wallace might have been willing to accept? Doesn't that seem logical?

Well of course it bloody well does! But -- after none of them made an offer that would give the Grizzlies a young star in the making, they went for the next best thing: cap relief and draft picks - the staple of a rebuilding effort. The offer that the Bulls allegedly made (Nocioni, Thomas, Noah, Sefolosha and Griffin) would have put the Grizzlies back into position of being marginally talented, which is good enough for a few years' worth of first round exits in the Western Conference. With the deal that was accepted, the Grizzlies have the opportunity to start over from the ground floor up, as the Raptors, Hornets and Warriors did before them. I'm sick and tired of having to explain this over and over and over to people whose vision and scope stops at the end of their own nose. You cannot judge a trade after 4 months -- especially if future draft picks are involved -- and you cannot judge a draft class after only one season. Proper, informed evaluations take time -- which is lost on everyone in this "instant history" day and age.

The crux of my objection to Adrian Wojnarowski's column is that I feel he is misrepresenting his writing. This appears to me as though it is an opinion-based column posing as an interview. He uses only 6 direct quotes in an 1100+ word column by my count. The rest is his opinion and conjecture. To wit:

When much of the league was determined to make a serious bid for the 7-footer, how could Memphis settle so long before the February trade deadline for such a paltry offer out of the Lakers?
For the first time, even Heisley wondered whether his general manager, Chris Wallace, blew it by caving so soon to the Lakers.
Crittenton is nothing special...

There isn't one, single fact in the three statements above. There is a lot of opinion though. Wojnarowski has shaped this column to reflect either his own viewpoint or at least that which he feels will drive the most traffic. I have no problem with that from a columnist -- as long as they are clear about their intention to do so. Picking and choosing from quotes, while (in all likelihood) leaving out the parts that don't lend themselves to his goal, only gives media members an even worse reputation. Up until this point, I had always like Adrian Wojnarowski. From now on, I'll be a lot more wary of taking his writing at face value though.

Michael Heisley Tells It Like It Is - Part Five

This the continuation of the interview 3 Shades Of Blue had with Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley on Friday, April 4th before the Chalk Talk. Due to the length of the interview it is being presented in sections to make it easier to read. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 were posted earlier.

3 Shades of Blue appreciates Mr. Heisley taking the time to do this interview.

3SOB: If I can interject and respectfully disagree with you on one thing, people didn't feel you were an idiot for the Shane Battier trade, they just hated to see him go. Now the Pau Gasol trade is a little harder for people to understand but even now many people feel that we couldn't get there with Pau Gasol and that maybe we could have gotten more but the best thing to help you...
MH: I wish someone could tell me what could I have gotten for Pau. See that's what always gets me. Everybody assumes that we started off with the idea to get money and not to get players. Do you know how long we tried to get quality players?

3SOB: That's what we read...
MH: We had discussions for months with Chicago, who were interested in Pau Gasol, but they refused to trade any of the players they considered their core, namely, Deng, Gordon or Hinrich. They offered Nocioni, who we felt was not fair value. I wouldn’t trade Pau Gasol for Nocioni. Later on, we offered to try to put together a trade similar to what we did with LA, but the Bulls were not interested because it would put them in the Luxury Tax.

What I don’t understand, I when I was on a couple of talk shows in Memphis, I listened to callers and read the papers. A number of them were urging us to trade Gasol. They said he’s got the wrong attitude, he doesn’t like it here, take what you can get for him. I’m not upset about this, but I knew this would happen. When we made the trade, a number of these people were saying oh my God, why did you do this?

You can't make the trades people want to make because. #1 it's very complex to make a trade in the NBA; #2 the people don't know everything there is to know about it. We don't either, but at least we know more than the average person knows. I hear friends who know if this guy is a problem in the locker room. Some players get traded because there are locker room problems. People say why would you make that trade? Well it's because the guy is making it almost impossible for the coach to coach the team. You're better off getting rid of him and taking someone else and let him take his problems with him. Now maybe he goes to the next location and he turns over a new leaf. Maybe he becomes motivated to do different and everybody says what a stupid trade that was. It might be, but if you were sitting where the coach was sitting and this guy was threatening to beat up people in the locker room, it isn't such a bad trade.

3SOB: I was going to say that when Popovich came out and said he didn't like the Gasol trade but hadn't made a better offer it really took some heat off of the team. A lot of people went wait a minute. You didn't know Pau Gasol was on the blocks or you just didn't offer enough yourself?
MH: He was just upset. He felt we sent him there and got nothing back. Can I tell you something. Popovich does not have a player on his payroll that can do for us what Kwame Brown can do.

3SOB: $9 million dollars in cap space.
MH: Exactly. Kwame was the largest contract offered to us who was coming off the payroll.

3SOB: You're maybe the first owner to allow himself to be interviewed by a true blogger outside of Mark Cuban. Mark also was reported to give you some advice about not listening only to the basketball minds, you touched on this earlier, but to do what your heart and mind tells you is best. Are you following Mark's lead in how to connect with fans or is this a coincidence?
MH:No. I am just talking to you because Stan talked to you, he read your blog and he thought it would be a good idea . . . I would like to communicate more. I will say this to you. I will not be answering any more e-mails.

3SOB: Yeah, we heard about that from Ron Tillery today.
MH: Well that's true. I'm not going to be doing that. I feel that was pretty reprehensible. I only answered about 10. All 9 of them before the people took it between me and them. None of them went public with my comments. They wrote me back thanking me for the comments because I took them at face value. This young man, whoever he is, took it immediately to the news media. He was obviously not interested in having a discussion like he had portrayed in the email and have a real conversation with me like a telephone conversation. It was almost like he taped the conversation and sent the tape out to all of his friends. It was like his purpose was to get me on tape.

I guess I learned something from that. I guess I should have known it before. I was pretty naive to think he would keep that between him and me. Quite honestly if I had wanted that to go to the media I would have sat Down and had a media review for that. I would have basically portrayed it in a way that was meant to go out to a lot of people. I wouldn't have made it so personal, like you said this and I said this back to you. So I will have to tell from all of the things that have happened in the news that is probably the one that touched me the worst. I really was very disappointed that the guy did that.

They have every right to do it. Don't get me wrong. I mean it's just that now all of sudden people who would have written me emails won't get written back and that is sad. Mark Cuban may be like that. Mark does Dancing with the Stars and things like that. He does that fantasy thing. I love Mark Cuban. When Mark Cuban wasn't so popular, when he first came into the league, Mark will tell you his strongest supporter in the NBA was me. I defended him. Well not defended him per se but basically supported him. I think he is the prototype of what a good owner should be in the NBA. I've said so many times in the press.

It would be a blessing for Memphis to have a Mark Cuban and I'm sorry they don't. It seems to me that he and the Malouf Brothers are the perfect type owners. They are owners that are there. They interact with the fans. They're demonstrative. I come from a different era. Mark is the age of some of my youngest children. He's someone who came from a different world just like my father came from a different world than me. When I grew up sportsmanship trophies were very important. Sportsmanship trophies now are sort of for wusses. I mean literally you would almost be embarrassed to get a sportsmanship trophy. Trash talking and so on is the way. It doesn't mean trash talking is bad, it's just from a different time and a different era.

I was stunned, I can't tell you how surprised I was after I bought the Grizzlies they wanted me to walk into a room to meet the press. I walked into this room that wasn't that big - about four times the size of a conference room maybe a little bigger - and there were 75-100 people in that room. There were cameras and lights and the lights hit me and I said Oh ****! Happy Birthday! I'm sitting there and I could not believe it—my wife was absolutely appalled because we have a very low profile. We're from a small town called St. Charles. When the [Vancouver] Sun called up to find out something about me they went to a newspaper that was in our town, a small paper controlled by the Chicago Sun Times. Well the Sun-Times called our little paper in St. Charles and they asked them who Mike Heisley was and were told we don't know who he is and St Charles has 17,000 people. Then they called the mayor and I just happened to be on a school board with her and she told the press who I was, but she didn't know a lot about me either.

Now all of a sudden that life is gone and my wife will never forgive me. I'm not kidding. So the reality is I'm a different person. I'm not Mark. He answers all the emails. He likes that. He likes to get on and interact. I'm doing my best to try and communicate. I'm trying my best to communicate with the fans and let them know what is going on. Maybe this is the right move. Maybe after meeting with you I will realize that was a mistake. I have no idea how this is going to come out. It could come out fine. It could turn out to be a disaster.

I've been very blunt. I try to be very blunt with everyone of the news reporters. Any time Calkins calls me he gets a telephone call back. I do my best. He doesn't call me all that often. Sam Smith, who wrote about me in Chicago more than I got written about in Memphis for a while—he never once picked up the phone to call me and ask whether or not what he was about to say was accurate or not. Why? Because I might tell him that it's not the truth. Then he may be obligated to look further or not print it. That's not what they want to do. They want to print the story that they've gone to their publisher and gotten approved. Otherwise get the story. That's the way it works. If you got the story why do you want to call me? Better to say sources said this and sources said that. If you went to the source and he said it was bull**** then you have a bunch of problems.

3SOB: I assume Mitch Lawrence falls into the same category.
MH: Who?

3SOB: Mitch Lawrence wrote an article saying you were interviewing other people for a coaching position.
MH: Who's Mitch Lawrence? I've never heard of the guy. He said I said that to him?

3SOB: No. He said he had been told by 'sources' that this is what you were doing.
MH: Sure he's told. Who's he told by? They never tell you that. Who's the source? You know what. You can write in your thing and it fits it that I said I wasn't moving the team.

3SOB: The Vancouver paper.
MH: That's right and that's the source so what do you do about it? It's like someone told me that with the internet now. It's like the prosecutors today that go out and talk about things and destroy a person's reputation. It doesn't go away tomorrow. It's with you the rest of your life because someone writes a story and he looks it up and he's got yours and he's got the guy in Vancouver. So how do I get rid of it? Say it 50 times? My only point is that guy I never talked to in my life.

Obviously if I was going to go out and say something. Have I ever talked to Larry Brown? Twice in my whole life. Did I seriously consider him the last time I looked? He was. Have I ever offered him a job? No. So that's where I am. If I'm out doing this, have I ever told Marc Iavaroni he won't have his job next year? No. Have I ever told him he is going to have his job next year? No. I don't know what to tell people. I'm looking and evaluating Marc Iavaroni over the job he's doing. Everybody here seems to be talking with their pocketbook. They aren't showing up at the games. Why? Because the team's not doing very well. So what does that mean? Who's responsible? I don't know how to handle that.

I will evaluate Marc. I will evaluate my options. I'll do what I think is best for the team but I have not even addressed that issue. And I would be a nitwit to address it before the seasons over. And that's what I've told everyone until I'm horse. I can't say it anymore. Isn't it interesting if he has a source why didn't he pick up the phone and call me? I'm the ultimate source. I'm the guy who supposedly will make the offer. Why didn't he call me? I guess he called Larry although I doubt it. You'd think instead of sources he'd say Larry Brown. That'd be better wouldn't it?

Now don't make it come across that I'm angry with the system because I'm not. It's just been an education for me. The biggest education with me is the dealings with the press.

3SOB: How do you view the first seven years in Memphis? Is it a success or a failure or somewhere in between?
MH: I think based on what I'm talking about and you need to talk to more people but based on the opportunity to do good I think it's been an outstanding success. It's the thing I'm proudest of. It's the thing that was the most important thing to me.

Obviously how would I view our performance as a basketball team? I think it's been pretty good. I think we took a franchise that never won more than 21 games in a season and put them in the playoffs three years in a row. If you measure it on how we've done building up a fan base I'd say it's not very good. To me a fan base stays with you in good years and bad years and you always lose a portion of that fan base. I think we've lost a lot more than I would have hoped for. I would be less than honest to tell you I'm not disappointed to be in a situation where sometimes we draw 4,000 fans.

3SOB: Last question. Ron Tillery wrote today that you were truthful in your email about Coach Iavaroni but you wish you hadn't responded. Now that you are done with this interview do you feel the same way?
MH: I don't know. I haven't seen what the blog is going to write about. If the tenor that I tried to put across comes across then Id say okay it's been a success. Would I do another blog? I may. If it turns out terrible for the franchise or causes problems, not because you wrote it but from the news media or the league calls me or something happens, then obviously that's different but right now I feel I made up my mind if I was going to meet with you, I was going to try and tell you to the best I could the answer to your questions. I told you if I've got something I don't want to talk about I won't.

I hope the tenor isn't that I had a battle going on with the minority shareholders, not for any other reason than they are good people. If you meet good people and you end up in some way at odds with them, and you don't know why, it isn't a very satisfying situation. That's the way I feel about the minority shareholders.

I would hope, I feel comfortable in some ways that we still have a relationship. My reaction is I think they do fantastic things for the city and I'm not just trying to color it. I really mean it. I feel proud to be associated with them because the thing that means the most to me they did the most. They showed me what a real good philanthropic citizen really is. Both of them are really special and I never met anyone who are more generous and involved in my life than these two guys. That's the truth. That doesn't make me and them great partners. I have always felt a little uncomfortable because they take such a back row. They don't want to get out front and yet they do so much for the Grizzlies foundation that they are truly what makes it a success. We would not be anywhere near as successful if it hadn't been for them.

If they don't buy the team, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The idea that I'm suddenly going to do something to the team if they don't buy it, I just don't understand that.

When I talked about bringing Jerry West to Memphis people asked why Jerry West would leave Los Angeles to come to Memphis. I said have you ever lived in Los Angeles because I did. Do you know how long it takes to get to the airport? It takes you like an hour and a half. You know how long it takes you in Memphis? 15 minutes. Memphis rush hour has less traffic than Los Angeles Ventura Freeway has at 3 o'clock in the morning.

I mean it's a different way of life. If you are a hunter or a fisherman and come from West Virginia where do you want to be? Do you want to be on a quarter acre lot in Beverly Hills or do you want to live someplace where you can go with friends and go hunting and fishing down in Mississippi down on a plantation? I just don't understand why people thought Jerry wouldn’t love Memphis.

Then I finally realized that there is just a bad self-image or something. I don't know what the hell it is. I like Memphis. If my wife would move here, I would move here. I like the community. I really do. I don't understand why people think I've got to pack it up and move it out of here. For the health of a franchise its important for you to win games, but you also have to be financially responsible. Nobody over the long run is going to sit here and drop hundreds of millions of dollars into a losing franchise. I've got to get this thing in line with what people are going to support but we can do that and we can have a good team and we can get a break and actually have a championship team.

Is it harder here than in Chicago. You bet your ass it's harder to build a championship team here because there you can take more risks and you can spend more money because you have more support what people don't understand is all of that revolves around the athletes. They want to play before 15,000 people.

So we've got to build a fan base, we've got to have a payroll that's balanced with the size of a market until hopefully at some point the league gets revenue sharing and puts us on even footing with some of the others. As it is right now I've got to be more fiscally responsible. Does that mean I won't go after free agents? No it does not but it does mean there are free agents out there I can't compete with Chicago for.

I really do believe we can have a good franchise here.

Mr. Heisley and I chatted about some other things while he waited to go to the chalk talk. That was when I saw, really for the first time during the two hours we spent together, the fan Mr. Heisley tells us he is. I wish more people could spend time with that man. To hear him describe the joy he felt watching the Grizzlies fourth quarter rally against the Hawks the other night. To hear him relate the pain he felt during game 3 of the Mavs series and the frustration he felt watching the Clippers be rewarded for throwing games at the end of the 2005 season while Memphis was punished for doing the right things. That man would really turn some heads and get people wanting to be a part of his vision. Mr. Heisley the business man doesn't really create a lot of empathy. Mike Heisley the fan is someone you could be sitting next to at a bar and strike up a conversation with.

And remember that Mr. Heisley the businessman has been pretty successful turning things around. I wouldn't bet against him turning things around again.

I really do appreciate the time he spent with me and I hope the Grizzlies fans who read our blog enjoy the interview as well.

Michael Heisley Tells It Like It Is - Part Four

This the continuation of the interview 3 Shades Of Blue had with Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley on Friday, April 4th before the Chalk Talk. Due to the length of the interview it is being presented in sections to make it easier to read. Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3 were posted earlier.

3 Shades of Blue appreciates Mr. Heisley taking the time to do this interview.

3SOB: The Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to Memphis. You are now hearing the same story coming out of Seattle moving to Oklahoma City. Do you see any benefits for Memphis in a move like this? Do you see any parallels to what you went though?
MH: My take is simply this. What people don't understand is the way professional sports has evolved in America. There is an idea that on certain levels teams are making pretty good money, but in general in places like Seattle, it becomes essential that you have an arena that has the amenities like skyboxes, restaurants and all these things. The other teams that started this, like Jerry Jones in Dallas, have created ways to create revenue streams. Those revenue streams bring more money into the team which gives them the financial wherewithal to put money back into the team.

I think that Seattle's Key Arena was an old arena. Old by the standards of today. It's like the Pyramid is an old arena. Why was the Pyramid an old arena? Well virtually no skyboxes, one level of amenities, there were things about it that didn't meet the NBA standards. You couldn't generate the revenue that you can out of the FedEx Forum. Now depending on where your market is and what your revenues are you can afford to build one yourself or if you don't have much revenue you have to look for help from the local communities.

I think the situation in Seattle was Shultz, the man who was the controlling owner of the Seattle Sonics, basically sold out because he was losing money and he didn't want to continue to lose money. I think the new ownership that came in, well everyone said they are going to move the team to Oklahoma City. Seattle had the ability to build a new stadium but the city and state decided not to do it. Now there is nothing wrong with that. If I was there maybe I would have said don't do it but then there is nothing wrong...what I don't understand is why then if there is a feeling the state isn't going to do what's got to be done, why is it bad for the person to get up and go to a market that will do what this state won't do? If somebody wants to stand up and help cover my losses then you may move.

Now we came here, we made a commitment to the city and our relationship is nothing like that. We have a contractual commitment to be here for a number of years. No matter what. That's the commitment. And we are going to be here. And nobody has even intimated that we are going to do anything any differently. Do I believe we can be successful in Memphis? Yes. Do I think it's going to be hard? Yeah. When I say successful I mean financially successful. In a small market that means you have to be luckier and better than what somebody does in Chicago. They got 8.5 million people and we got 800,000 people.

So it is a different situation from what the people did up there. So what happened there is the guy from Oklahoma City had demonstrated that they had a lot of interest from Oklahoma City for a professional team. He had gone up there and bought the team. If Seattle and Washington state had agreed to at least build a stadium then they wouldn't have gotten the rights to move out. David Stern went up there and the owners weren't given carte blanche to move. He went up there and said we respect this is your team, this is your city but you have to provide what other cities have done. They chose not to do it so the NBA told the owners they could move. He is now in the process of moving. I don't think that Seattle did anything wrong but now you have people running around Seattle saying can’t you move your team? Any team that goes up there is going to have to get an arena built.

It's just like Cleveland. if you know years ago the Browns were in Cleveland. Cleveland refused to build a stadium for them. So the Browns moved to Baltimore. Immediately Cleveland was incensed and the NFL gave them another team back. Here's what they did. They went out and built a new baseball stadium, a new football stadium and a new basketball arena and they revamped the whole downtown area of Cleveland and it is fantastic. It doesn't even look like anything it was before.

I'm not recommending people do it. I'm simply saying that is the way finances work in professional sports; we could never have come to Memphis without this arena. We would not be here. We would not have moved here if they hadn't committed. Not because I am trying to steal people's money. I put more money into this move to Memphis than the state and city have put in together. Moving the team here has a cost, the cash flow necessary to get the team established, etc., etc.

People say well they built you an arena. Well they didn't have to build me an arena. There were three other cities willing to build me an arena. I'm not trying to be arrogant. I'm just trying to be factual. If you want a professional sports team you have to have either the population, like Rich Daley, Mayor of Chicago. You know what he told the Chicago Bears. I love him. The Chicago Bears said they wanted a new stadium. Rich Daley says you can't have it. You're going to play in Soldiers Field. They said we're going to move to Addison, IL. Richard Daley said move to Addison. There will be another team that wants to move into Chicago with 8.5 million people and he was right. Guess where they went. They went to Soldiers Field. They didn't have to build him a stadium. They didn't have to because they had a population base that made it so the McCaskey's could make money and still help build the arena.

If I had somebody that could come in here and say to me the State and the City will come in here and guarantee you 18,000 people every night, I would have built this arena and I would be way ahead. But nobody wants to hear this stuff. Now I don't expect you to get all of this stuff out and I'm not doing this because of that. I told you I would talk to you and I've given you a broad outline. I'm going to be interested as hell to see what becomes of this.

To be continued...

Michael Heisley Tells It Like It Is - Part Three

This the continuation of the interview 3 Shades Of Blue had with Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley on Friday, April 4th before the Chalk Talk. Due to the length of the interview it is being presented in sections to make it easier to read. Part 1 and Part 2 were posted earlier. Part 4 is up now as well.

3 Shades of Blue appreciates Mr. Heisley taking the time to do this interview.

3SOB: Moving away from the business side for a moment, you made some incredibly nice comments about Pau after the trade. One thing in particular I remember was your saying you were really glad that you could trade him to a team that was competing and could appreciate his skills. Pau came out 3 or 4 days ago and said some particularly disparaging remarks about the team. How did that make you feel?
MH: Well it doesn't make me mad. You see I realize who made the comments. I don't expect Pau to be a general manager. He's just a player. I think he speaks from his experience. His experience was with a world champion with Spain. He was the Olympics champion with Spain (sic). He'd won championships and he came here with a team that basically never made a charge at winning the championship.

And that happens to people. Charles Barkley never won a championship. So I think his point of view is that it is a lot easier for Los Angeles to win the championship than it is in Memphis. You know what. He is absolutely correct. You know what. It is a lot easier. They can afford to go into the luxury tax. Pau could cost them, if they don't cut some other players, $30 million next year because of the luxury tax, but they can do that. So my point is that I think Pau's viewpoint is one that he isn't right. New Orleans is a prime example of that. Cleveland is a prime example. If we got LeBron James, if we got one turn of the ping pong ball, we would have had LeBron James. We wouldn't be seeing 4000 people in the stands. We'd be seeing sold out crowds. When I looked at buying the Vancouver Grizzlies, the Cleveland Cavaliers were for sale and they had 70% of their skyboxes empty. They were having 3-4000 fans in the stands. When they got LeBron James they started selling out the arena and went all the way to the NBA Championship. That's what one player, and in this game with its dispersion of talent across being such a huge thing, that one player can make so much of a difference.

We've never been successful at getting the #1 pick although we've been one of the worst teams for years. It's crazy this system they have. It isn't just that we didn't get it last year. I mean what is the sense of it? It's devastating to a team, the worst team in the league, and all of a sudden you have a chance to get a player like Oden, who everybody says is going to be an impact player in the league and something happens and they are picking 4th instead of picking 1st.

And if you go around and ask fans they assume that if you have the worst record you will get the first pick. And why? Because the NFL does it. Major League Baseball does it. I mean that is the way it generally works. If luck were to come to us which is what we're hoping for we might be 5th. I did a statistical study of every year and every team and where they picked and what happened and position 5 has gotten twice as many top 2 picks as position 1. So we're in position 5! So I don't know. Are we going to have a chance? Knowing our luck we'll probably end up in position 8.

So I don't agree with Pau. Am I upset with Pau? He is a wonderful person. It never gets reported but Pau's mother does volunteer work at St. Jude's Hospital since she was here. They've been active people in the community. They're wonderful people. Pau never gave us a bit of trouble. The worst thing he ever did to people, sometimes criticized by people for playing for Spain. I was the guy who was killed with it. I was paying him when he wasn't playing but a lot of people were upset that 'Pau was injured and didn't play and then asked to be traded.' Nobody was in the room. How could the guy insist it? I never said it. I don't know how people got that, but someone went and talked to some reporter and the reporter put it in the paper and they put it in that Pau's asking to be traded. That's not what happened. Pau said if I get traded would you trade me to a championship team?

Did I try to trade him to a championship team? I tried to trade him to the best team for us. Was I happy he went to LA? I was ecstatic. Why? I was going to get the best deal for me, but at the same time if I could do something for a young man, an outstanding individual who never did anything but the best he could for the Grizzlies, I was happy for him too. That's the whole net end of it. I didn't trade him to take care of Pau. I didn't trade him because the fans were down on him. I traded him because the coach, the General Manager, all of us, sat down and we said we're not going to get there with this team. We're going to have to break this team up, try to start from the ground up and build a team. Pau is young. He's 27 but I can't get there in two years I didn't think and therefore Pau, who is injury prone and so on. So the point was now was the time to basically trade him and get value for him. Young value.

All of these coaches around the league - they all knew, they read it in the paper, everyone knew he was on the block - none of them stepped up. Then we went to Chicago. We tried to trade for dollar by getting an expiring contract. They didn't want to go into the luxury tax. Then we went to LA. They were willing to do it. So we traded him to LA.

Everybody thinks how can Heisley be so stupid. The point is we're trying to make this work. Will it work? If it does somebody is going to be writing about me like I am a genius. If it fails they are going to be basically beating me up.

That's what it means to be a sports fan. I am a fan and a fan buys tickets or they watch on TV. Part of being a fan is being able to bitch about everything. What makes it so interesting is that every fan including me truly believes they could be the General Manager. Otherwise we wouldn't have fantasy leagues. They really truly believe they can do this. They know who you should draft. They know who you should play. They know who you should trade for right now but the interesting thing is when they make a pick and it is an absolutely horrible idea and it turns out if you had done it would have been a disaster you never hear of it again.

Let me tell you, I'm not so sure the professionals have that much more going for them than the fans have going. A lot of it really turns out to be luck. How many trades do you make that turns out horrible because the guy gets injured and he hardly ever plays for you? How many trades do you get where the guy goes out or beats his wife or basically gets thrown in jail or something or gets suspended from the league. There's so much that goes into this thing and so much mystery involved, that's what makes it so exciting. And that's why playing fantasy basketball has so much appeal to the common man.

3SOB: This kind of goes along with what we've been talking about. Some of these questions actually come straight off the Grizzlies message board from people who couldn't be at your Chalk Talk tonight. Are the Grizzlies going to attempt to bring in a young established player to let the fan base know you are serious about competing in the Western Conference? I know you can't promise to sign someone but are there players out there you are going to be trying to go after?
MH: I don't know if you will be hearing about them or not. I don't know. My answer to you is we're going to try and put this program together. You've got the General Manager, myself, the coaches, we're going to look at it and try to do the best thing. Does that mean we are going to be guided by fiscal responsibility? Yes we are. I don't mean that this is going to be the defining motive but I tell you, I am not going to get myself into the luxury tax or something like that down the pike. I am going to try and have a plan that is laid out that we're looking at: what do we need. How do we fit in. A lot of that is going to be told by how we do in the draft.

So the point is I don't know where we will be after the draft. I don't know who is going to be available. So I don't know what you will be hearing. If you hear a lot of stuff out there I would hope my people are smart enough to be like [Jerry] Krause was in Chicago and that is nobody knew who he was going to draft, nobody knew he wanted to trade for until he did it. And the reason wasn't that he hated the press. It was that it made him a more effective general manager. I would think that's the way we hope we could be. I don't want people to know who I'm trying to get and I don't want people to know who I'm trying to draft because that might send someone to do something I don't want them to do. In the past, and I don't know it we will be do that, too much information went out of this place as to what we were going to do.

Since I am going to have something to do about a deal, if you hear something, then I would say to you probably got partial information because I tell you I'm not going to be telling anybody. So my answer is I can't really tell them because I'm not quite sure what will happen in the draft and who's going to be available. We're going to try and run this team and build a championship team that is going to take us in my opinion 3-5 years.

3SOB: Kind of along this same line here, are you willing to spend $9 million or more on a free agent this summer or in the future?
MH: I don't know. I tell you what. If they give me a superstar for $9 million I'll take it. You think I'm kidding. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? My point is that's the problem in these situations. The question isn't am I willing to make a $9 million investment. The question is will I make an intelligent business decision. Am I willing to pay $9 million for a Joe Baknickknack. No way! Do they think Joe Baknickknack is a superstar? Maybe. I don't know but I'm going to basically do the best thing I can do.

If I get a superstar player, you know I said 3-5 years, hell I might be able to get there in 2 years. I might be willing to do what I said I wouldn't do and get an older player so everything changes depending on what the opportunity is. I'm going to tell you point blank we are going to be fiscally responsible. Let me just make a point to you. At our average ticket price, somebody with a $12 million dollar salary I have to sell almost 5000 seats to every game to pay for his salary. People don't look at it that way. You have to put 5000 people in the stands EVERY NIGHT to make it worthwhile. People will say well there are people out there who do this. Well there aren't many people out there selling 4, 6, 8000 season tickets a night going out running into the luxury tax.

No one should ever assume that I didn't pay and didn't make the effort, and may also make the effort into the future to basically build this team by spending money. Because that is never been an issue. Jerry West will look you in the eye and tell you he was never turned down once on the issue of money. Not once. And we basically had at one time the 4th highest payroll in the league. That's something to say for one of the smallest markets with the 4th highest payroll in the NBA. We were trying to get there. We didn't get there by making mistakes. We didn't get to where we are today because when we tried to cut that salary back some of the guys got older. Some were from bad trades. Quite honestly we tried to go forward.

We traded Battier to try and get Rudy Gay in. When we first did it people said it was the worst trade. People in Memphis wanted to lynch me. I loved Shane Battier. I think he is one of the most outstanding guys. When my son and I interviewed him my son asked me what I thought and I said if he wasn't a basketball player I would put him in charge of one of my smaller companies. That's the kind of leadership guy he is. So no one had to tell me who he was. We had a great relationship. We made decisions to try and improve the team because Jerry felt Rudy Gay was an outstanding opportunity. We brought him in and in the first year he was very young. Rudy didn't catch on right away and everyone thought it was the worst mistake. I'm not so sure people don't feel different right now and next year or the year after people might think they like him even more.

Notice I take the ones who turn out good. I can also take the ones who turned out pretty bad...

3SOB: I'm not going to ask this next question...
MH: Why? What is it?

3SOB: Well, how are decisions being made now in the front office? Is Chris Wallace wielding the same influence Jerry West was rumored to have? Does Jerry West still have any influence?
MH: Jerry West is a good friend of mine. Obviously, I talk to him all the time. Obviously Jerry gives me his opinion. Obviously I listen to him some because he is a bright guy but Jerry West is not actively involved. He doesn't call me and tell me what he thinks I ought to do. In the course of playing golf together or something he may say something.

Chris Wallace is the General Manager. Chris Wallace is responsible for putting together ideas and so on. As opposed to when Jerry was here, I do take basically either approve or disapprove the decisions going forward involving the team. I am more involved. I don't necessarily come up with the trades. I do basically look at the trades. I can't say I can think of anything that Chris has wanted to do that we have turned down. Most of the player moves and trades it has been Chris that put it together. I did not call LA for example.

To be continued...