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 was posted on Monday. Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 will be linked as soon as they are released.
3 Shades of Blue appreciates Mr. Heisley taking the time to do this interview.
3SOB: Going back to the business side, many times you have stated your intent on selling the team at some point in the future. What do you see as an exit strategy?
MH: Let me try...see I got one thing I want to discuss with you. See there is a problem with me and some reporters and from your background it is especially a problem for me but I’ll get back to that later.
We made a concerted effort to sell the team when we went out about two years ago and we hired Credit Suisse and a sports marketing group to market the team and there were people brought to us. That’s how we ended up with two or three people looking at the team. When that didn’t go forward I said to Memphis people right here in a chalk talk that I’m not going to be part of any effort to sell the team. I’m not going to hire somebody to sell the team and so on. But I’m very, very honest. I’m not going to sit here and tell you we’re not going to sell the team. And then six months from now have somebody walk in and offer me a satisfactory price for the team and take it and everyone will say you know You’re a liar. That statement really sort of gets to me pretty quickly.
So that’s what I told them. That’s exactly what happened. We’ve had people call up and I give their names to Stan (Meadows). We’re not interested in entering into any kick the tires situation. If somebody comes up and makes a legitimate offer to us we will take the legitimate offer and that’s what I said.
Why would I do that? Number one because I think that Memphis would be better off with an ownership that is local. That doesn’t mean you have to come from local but they’re here. They are gonna move here, they’re gonna live here, they are here and in this office on a daily basis. Okay? I think it would be better for the franchise. I’ve done pretty much what I can pretty well do. November 14th two years ago the New York Times wrote an article entitled “A basketball Team in a League of their Own.” They basically identified that we were the largest philanthropic sports team in America. That never even made a blip in the Memphis papers. Big enough to get in the New York papers but it didn’t get in the Memphis papers.
I was very proud of that. I was much more proud of that then getting into the playoffs. That is what drove me. I love basketball. I love the Bulls. Though I own the Memphis Grizzlies, I love the Bulls. I watch every game. I have season tickets and so on and so forth. I still have season tickets on the floor. I use it primarily like I do the Cubs tickets, for business, employees use it, but I still support the Chicago Bulls.
I felt as I got to be much more successful in my life I could do some philanthropic work and when I first got in it. My daughter, my youngest daughter, I talked into getting a graduate degree in that and we started a foundation and I found out it isn’t an easy thing to do, finding the right places for the money. A lot of people want money but that doesn’t mean you are doing anything with it to help anything. So it’s not that easy and I thought, being around the Bulls, people love to be involved with in projects with sports teams. America is a sport team society and if I could bring a sports team into a city and really make a difference I would.
That gets me to one of those things that came out in one of your blogs about what I said to the people in Vancouver and what I didn’t say. Now I’m a big boy and I realize that about 20% of what gets quoted in the news media is accurate, 50% is somewhat accurate and about 30-40% is downright [worthless]. The reality is I never promised the people of Vancouver I wouldn’t move. The news media kept asking and I kept saying I have no plans to move. I have no intentions of moving unless it becomes obvious it won’t work out here and then they said how long is that going to be and I said I can’t give you a time. I don’t know. Then they said what do you mean and I said when I get to the point that I am convinced this franchise is not going to be viable in Vancouver then I am going to move it. That’s what you’ll never find in records if you go back you may find that somewhere in the Vancouver Sun I said that when I announced I was going to make a move.
The big mistake I made was long in advance I told the people in Vancouver I had gotten to that point. If I had been smart I would have just shut my mouth up and gone on and done everything and when I was ready to move gone in and told everyone. What I told people is when I made up my mind I would let them know. So I brought the press there and that is exactly what I said to them. That was history okay.
And I moved and the reason I moved was Vancouver took the team there. They went to David Stern and they had a thing called Save the Grizzlies. They made a commitment to the NBA and that is the reason that David Stern let us move. They were to bring in so many thousand of tickets, season ticket holders. The reality is they brought in 100. The season ticket dropped about 1500 season ticket holders and they were projected to drop even further. I had a much worse financial situation. I was paying $6 million a year to rent the arena. I didn't have any sky boxes. I didn't have any revenue from the concessions. I had no parking revenue. So I lost over $50 million in the first year.
So I offered to sell to local owners if they promised to stay in Vancouver. Several parties looked at the books. No one made an offer so this story about my moving after I promised not to move thing is just pure bull.
What really bothers me is all of a sudden people in the news media, and you in a way are a part of the news media, basically take a statement that was made either intentionally in error or just in error and then it becomes part of your life for ever more because all anyone has to do is pick up the newspaper on the internet and it says that Mike Heisley made a commitment to the people of Vancouver. I fought that battle in Vancouver for 3 months when I was leaving. Nobody ever produced a clip or a statement that I said I was going to do that other than a reporter just put it down. A reporter just put it in the papers, and everybody believed it.
3SOB: That is how I got the comment.
MH: Absolutely, that is how everyone gets it. And I'll tell you the second thing you put in there. You said that I said that Pitt Hyde and [the local owners] did not make an offer and then Pitt Hyde [and the local owners] said I am going to improve my offer. #1 those two statements were made at two totally different times. Pitt Hyde, what started it was, Geoff (Calkins) reported that the local owners had made an offer and the local owners had not made an offer. About a month later I said 'I have no offer from the local owners' and that got put in the paper. Ron Tillery put it in the paper. When Pitt Hyde said he made me an offer, and I am not going to discuss it but I will tell you, when Pitt Hyde made me an offer it was at a later date.
The second thing is, with your background in business, you should know that any comment like I have made an offer is not definitive. For instance, if someone came to you and said I want to buy your team, I want an exclusive for 6 months and this is the thing. I am going to go out and try to raise the money. Is that an offer or not?
3SOB: Well, you are talking about the Brian Davis situation...
MH: No I am not talking about Brian Davis. He did do that. I am just asking you is that an offer or is that not an offer? Okay, the 2nd thing I got was if someone said I offered you a price and then with that price they had 5 things that would reduce the price what is the price of the offer?
3SOB: The real price would be the reduced price.
MH: Right but you don't know what that price is. You don't know if there was a real offer or if someone wanted to be given an option for 6 months while they try to put the deal together.
3SOB: So what you're saying is...
MH: No. I am not saying a damn thing. I am just saying to you since you don't know any of this you don't know if we acted on that offer in good faith or that we didn't act on that offer in good faith. There is nothing wrong with people making an offer that has all of those things but if the news media wants to put the biggest price they can in it then they put the biggest price they can in the article. And if someone says they made an offer the easiest thing for a reporter to do is say can I see a piece of paper that showed what that offer was. Otherwise I don't think you are really qualified to say if an offer was made or what the offer was. My point is nobody's ever bothered to do any of that stuff. I'm not going to tell you what the transactions are between me and the local owners.I'm just saying that nobody knows what those transactions are and as I said in my responses to the newspaper media it is a private discussion between two parties.
I put together between 50 and 75 deals in my life. None of them got negotiated in the newspaper. None of them will ever get negotiated in the newspaper. Not that I've got anything against the newspaper. I just don't think you get there that way. They get negotiated in a room like this between two people who are trying to get together. My point is that sometimes local ownership or someone else buys this team we'll put it together and when there is a real offer or a real acceptance then I will let them know. Right now I am keeping myself quiet.
While that is going on I am getting the hell beaten out of myself in the newspaper. It's just, I guess when I read your blog you more than anybody should be able to understand how deals go together and you should have a feel when somebody says I made an offer it may not be an actionable offer.
3SOB: But you're saying...
MH: I'm not saying a thing. I am saying you don't know what they offered. I am saying that if you want to put in the paper someplace what the offer is, show me the offer. Now if you want to go and get their offer then you would be in a pretty good place to say what I did and what I didn’t accept.
Now I hope we can have more discussions in the future and I don’t want to get anyone in trouble. And I don’t want anybody to look bad by what I’m saying because they did make me an offer, which was unacceptable.
3SOB: You mentioned that if someone came to you with a great number, a real offer, that you would consider it. What number are you looking at now?
MH: I'm not willing to negotiate this in the media.
No one has to tell me what a great person Pitt Hyde is. Pitt Hyde is an inspiration to anyone who gets to know him. He's one of the most philanthropic people I have ever met in my life. Staley Cates is a very, very philanthropic person and between the both of them most of what the Grizzlies have done philanthropically has been done between those two people. They choose not to get publicized for it but they do a tremendous amount of that themselves. Quite honestly it has been a great relationship for me because it enabled me to accomplish what I set for myself when I came here.
What they decided to do with regards to the situation as the minority owners, it is their choice. There was no fight over anything. What actually happened was preordained in the contract we signed 7 years ago. I didn't come up with anything new. I didn't do anything and they didn't do anything. They were perfectly within their right and so on to do.
They had a right to only suffer [a certain amount] a year in losses. I have a right in the contract for what they don't take, if the losses are greater, then I have a right to transfer that into equity. I chose not to do that for 7 years. The NBA wanted some of this debt converted into equity. We basically went to them and gave them the option and said 'what do you want to do to turn this into equity under the formulation of the contract. They chose not to do it and so we did what the NBA asked and converted a percentage of that debt. We've still got more debt to convert at some point. That diluted the minority owners to 5.8% of the team.
That doesn't change my opinion of them. It doesn't change my feeling about their participation with the Grizzlies. It is up to them how they want to participate. Like I said, I still have a high degree of respect for them. I'm not in any kind of fight with them. I don't know why it has become something that gets aired in the news media. Somebody someplace decided to do it.
But that's it. I just wanted to give you my take on it. I'm not going to get into that battle. I'm just trying to give you my take on where we are.
3SOB: Last season you had one of the 7th highest payrolls in the NBA. You were in the luxury tax. You were paying dollar for dollar penalties for being in that area. Next year we are going to be much lower than the salary cap at this time.
MH: Right now we are going to be the lowest or next to the lowest depending on what Philadelphia does.
3SOB: You mentioned in the email to Chris that you had personally lost over $140 million over the last 7 years or that the team had lost that amount. Do you think that with the lowered salary and the reduced overhead that the team is going to be close to break even next year and is that a goal going forward?
MH: Just look at Chicago. Chicago's record over the last 10 years has been worse than ours. I've been to the playoffs more times than they have. They've been the worst team in the league like 3 or 4 times. I've been the worst team once.
Their record, even though they play in the East which by any stretch is a hell of a lot easier than the West these last 7-10 years, but Chicago sells out every game. They have local TV revenue of $30-40 million dollars which is about my total revenue so how am I going to compete with Chicago?
Of course, Chicago makes a lot of money for their owners and we lose a lot of money for ours. That's a real problem with the league that they will have to face up to. It took baseball a long time to face up to it, They did it and they saved the game.
You know Major League Baseball had fallen behind basketball in popularity after the strike when Selig put it in. I have a friend in baseball who said not one team lost money last year in Major League Baseball because of revenue sharing.
I can tell you that probably better than 50% of NBA teams lose money.
To be continued... 
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Michael Heisley Tells It Like It Is - Part Two
Memphis vs Phoenix - 4.8.08
Memphis recovered from an off night against Golden St to get their 2nd win of the season at Minnesota on Sunday evening. Led by the resurgent Mike Miller who broke threw the 20 pt barrier for the first time in 9 games, the longest such drought of the season, Memphis pulled away in the 4th quarter to continue their .500 play over the last 12 games of the season. Rudy Gay continues his strong play that has him among the leading candidates for Most Improved Player in the league averaging over 20 ppg for the season. If he continues this pace he will be the 3rd player in Grizzlies history to pass that barrier.
Phoenix lost a tough game to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday to fall 2 games behind the Lakers for the Pacific Division lead. The Suns also dropped to 6th in the Western Conference race despite clinching a playoff birth. Shaquille O'Neal has regained some of the moxie that at one time made him the most feared player in the league averaging 12.6 ppg and 10.6 rpg as a Sun. Grant Hill has returned from injury to give Phoenix another experienced scorer to pair with 2 time MVP Steve Nash. Phoenix still has to take every game seriously despite clinching a playoff spot to prevent a 1st rd match up against one of the elite teams in the West.
Point Guards: Mike Conley vs Steve Nash
Phoenix has wanted to get 34 yr old Steve Nash more rest during the regular season for a long time. Once again they failed this year as he is averaging 34.6 mpg this season, less than one minute off his career high. Still Nash is a bit more rested this season as the Suns aren't running as hard as they used to do. Hash is still averaging 17.4 ppg and 11.2 apg but that is still below the pace he set the last few years. Mike Conley is young enough to play a lot more minutes but he isn't experienced enough and he has more than just a fill in behind him in Kyle Lowry. Still two heads aren't better than one in this instance.
Advantage: Phoenix
Shooting Guards: Mike Miller vs Raja Bell
Mike busted out of a mini-eight game slump to explode for 34 points against Minnesota. Throw in 10 rebounds and 6 assists and Miller had one of his best games of the year. Raja Bell isn't likely to allow a repeat. The 31 yr old veteran is known as a defensive specialist with a long range shot of his own (39.8%). The difference is Bell has almost no shot inside the arc (41.9%). Miller's shooting is more well-rounded but can he get his shot off against the defensive minded Bell?
Advantage: Phoenix
Small Forwards: Rudy Gay vs Grant Hill
Rudy Gay is having a breakout sophomore season. The 21 yr old has improved in almost every statistical category this year and has been getting better at the end of the year. Grant Hill has been healthy now for two straight seasons after battling numerous injuries previously. Hill is coming back from a slight injury however and isn't 100% right now. Hill hasn't been the force he was earlier in his career but is still a solid veteran who knows how to help his team win. He just doesn't have the skills capable of containing Rudy for a full game anymore to stay with a player like Rudy.
Advantage: Memphis
Power Forwards: Hakim Warrick vs Amare Stoudamire
Stoudamire toiled for his first few years out of position in Phoenix. Finally Phoenix acquired a true center allowing Stoudamire to move to his more natural power forward position. If the last 10 games are any indication he likes the move as he is averaging over 30 ppg during that span. Warrick got his opportunity to play with the trade of Pau Gasol and has made the most of the chance by averaging 16.6 ppg and 7.0 rpg as the starter. Not quite Gasol numbers but not the drop off many expected either. Warrick is very thin for a PG however and Stoudamire might be the most physically intimidating PF in the league.
Advantage: Phoenix
Centers: Darko Milicic vs Shaquille O'Neal
Shaq is no longer the most feared center in the league but he isn't the overweight old man he was in Miami earlier this season either. Shaq has adapted to his diminished role offensively by focusing on rebounding raising his season average almost 3 boards a game since the trade. Darko has been inconsistent all season but his best games have come against the bigger slower centers. Shaq fits that description to a tee. Darko needs to step up again in this game but his play of late doesn't suggest he will.
Advantage: Phoenix
Benches: Memphis vs Phoenix
Phoenix' bench is led by the Brazilian lightning bolt, Leandro Barbosa. Barbosa is 3rd on the team in scoring averaging over 15 ppg and when he is on the court Phoenix can outrun anyone in the league. The Suns have never been big on using bench players, preferring to run their starters longer minutes but age has taken its toll. Boris Diaw, Gordon Giricek and even Brian Skinner have averaged serious minutes this season. Memphis' bench is spearheaded by 3 rookies and a big man. Kyle Lowry is the main spark off the bench but Javaris Crittenton and Juan Carlos Navarro are capable of putting on fireworks shows at any time as well. Unsung here Jason Collins allows the rookies to play more aggressively on the perimeter with his physical interior defense but offers little in the way of offense.
Advantage: Phoenix
INJURY UPDATE: Shaquille O'Neal is out for tonight's game with a bruised leg.
Javaris Crittenton, sprained right thumb, is expected to play tonight.
Relevant Blogs/Commentary:
Born and Raised
Brigth Side of the Sun
The Rising Suns
Monday, April 7, 2008
Links: Unsung Team, Blogger MVP/ROY Rankings, Iavaroni Rumors
We picked Jason Collins as our Unsung Player. Hardwood Paroxysm picked our entire team. Ok, I concede -- they win.
Queen City Hoops has the honor of hosting Round 10 of the Blogger MVP/ROY Rankings.
411mania.com picks up on the "Marc Iavaroni is in trouble" vibes.
Hoops Addict lists Javaris Crittenton among their Players with Upside.
Jeff Wong (The Score) wants to know: Have you ever CDR? (Too bad I didn't get this up before the blasted game. I hate referees and poor free-throw shooting!!! *sigh*)
Enjoy our ongoing series of posts this week about our interview with Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley.
Michael Heisley Tells It Like It Is - Part One
3 Shades of Blue was honored to have a sit down meeting with Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley. Being that it is not always the case that bloggers get an opportunity to get the inside information from someone who really knows what is going on, and as was made clear during the interview we haven’t always gotten it right in what we wrote, it was a rare and appreciated gift of time from the person who really does know what is happening.
The interview took place on Friday afternoon before the Chalk Talk and Warrriors-Grizzlies game and was quite long so we will be breaking it up into several blogs. Mr. Heisley was open and forthright to every question we asked and at times possibly too open. For that reason and that reason only some items have been edited. Not to protect the blog but to protect the team and Mr. Heisley. Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 will be posted around lunch time each day this week.
3SoB: I know you set some ground rules right off the bat, no talking about player or personnel moves...
MH: I tell you what, ask me whatever questions you want. I will basically, I will be extremely co-operative. I will answer them to the best of my abilities. You might ask me a personnel decision and I might say I’ll answer it. You might ask me a question and I might tell you what I’m doing. So don’t feel anything is out of bounds. Ask me and I’ll answer it. If I don’t feel I can answer a question I’ll tell you I can’t. If I answer the question, you might not agree with it, but you will find out to the best of my ability it is the truth.
3SoB: That’s all I can ask. I don’t know if you’ve read our site at all but...
MH: Actually I have. Stan (Meadows) gave me some of your stuff.
3SoB: We try to be as honest as we can with a bent towards humor. Today we are going to be a little more serious. My first question is pretty straight forward, what is your vision of the team going forward? How long do you expect we can return to the playoffs? How long before we are competing for a championship?
MH: My vision for the team is we are in the process of rebuilding the team. We got a nucleus of 5 young players that we are trying to build a team around. That doesn’t mean that they will be with us for 5 years but it is the nucleus we are going to build around. That includes young players like Rudy Gay, (Hakim) Warrick, {Mike) Conley, Kyle Lowry and (Javaris) Crittenton and they’re the young players that are there. We’ve got 2 or 3 draft picks in this next draft coming up and they will be added to that situation. If we do trades or acquisitions and so on we are basically going to be looking at the age of these people. Something I believe in, I don’t know if we’ve always followed but I have a lot more to say about now is that you basically have to do what you’re saying. You have to basically look at your team, look at the year that you want that team to mature and you got to start working toward bringing that team to maturity.
In other words I don’t want a guy who is 32 now that I think is going to be part of my championship team in three years. He’ll be 35 or 36. Obviously I want to try and build my team around the same so that I at least have my core maturing at the same age. That doesn’t mean you can’t bring in a veteran but the core of the team has to be somewhat maturing at about the same time. You don’t want a team maturing as you go out because after about 6 years the guy who’s maturing is gone and you never seem to catch up so we’re going to try and build the team that way and I think we’ve got a good start and we’ve got some very good players.
How long? Well when Jerry West came here I would have told you that we had not won more than 20 games in the history of the franchise, I told him I wanted to get into the playoffs. He shocked me and we got into the playoffs 18 months after he got here. That was a huge, huge jump and I think we had some fortunate things to happen to us. I think we had some great coaching. I think Jerry made some great decisions. That’s where we got but I think the key was Jerry always wanted to win a championship but in reality our #1 focus was trying to get to the playoffs. This time I think my focus is more on getting much further and have a legitimate chance to win a championship.
I don’t believe the team that took us to the playoffs ever had a chance to develop into [a championship team]. If we had gotten LeBron James we could have possibly made a run to the championship but those are the kind of things you can’t predict. You need luck.
So that is basically my vision for the future of the team.
3SoB: Just real quick, you mentioned Rudy, Hakim, Conley, Lowry and Crittenton. Darko’s 22 years old. Granted he’s been in the league 4 years and this season he’s had a lot of injuries...
MH: I think that’s a good point. I think Darko’s a part of the team. I think the reason you’re looking at it is that Darko’s been in the league for a length of time, you would hope the question is have we seen what Darko is going to be or are we seeing what he is and what he might be might be even better. That’s what we’re hoping. When we brought Darko in our hope was to basically get some of things we’ve gotten out of him and that is #1 defense and I think he’s done a fantastic job against some of the other big men in the league. #2 is rebounding and I think he can do a better job on rebounding, and if we got some offense out of him that was a big plus. I think we need to get more of what we’ve seen from him game to game rather than some of the ups and downs that Darko has.
I was just giving you something off the top of my head (when I mentioned those other players). That goes back to what I was talking about before. We don’t want to bring in a guy who’s 28 that might even be a little bit better than Darko as a free agent. We would rather bring in a guy who’s going to mature at about the same time. If Darko’s can get better, he’s got get better too. I think that is the somewhat of the responsibility on the shoulders of the coaching staff and so on to get these kids better.
Take Boston for example. They’ve got Garnett and Allen who are fantastic scorers and everything else but in reality what they also got was a defensive coach out of Houston. They basically turned the team over to him and he was a great defensive coach. (Kevin) Garnett brought his enthusiasm to the team but my remembrance I don’t ever remember Minnesota ever playing defense anywhere near as good as this team plays defense. They got Pierce who everyone thought could play defense but he never really did. He bought into the system and now they’ve got one hell of a defensive team. Matter of fact, we outscore them! We score more points per game than they do. They just don’t let anyone score more than about 80 something points against them and we let teams score 120 against us.
3SOB: It makes it a little harder to win that way.
To be Continued...
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Unsung Player: Jason Collins
When rooting for a disappointing team that is mired in the bottom of the standings, you find ways to entertain yourself. One thing I have done is to pay closer attention to the subtle nuances of our young players like Mike Conley, Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, Javaris Crittenton and Darko Milicic. However, when discussing C Jason Collins, the words "subtle" and "nuance" don't really fit the bill.
(AP Photo/Nikki Boertman)
When Collins came over in exchange for Stromile Swift, many people questioned why a team would trade an athletic F/C capable of crowd-pleasing dunks and blocks for a far less mobile big man who gets confused with his equally non-descript twin brother constantly. Well, Collins showed his value to me within his first few games in Memphis when he began to do something that the Grizzlies hadn't seen in quite some time. Quite simply, he told opponents: "No easy buckets."
This goes beyond the tough interior defense he is known for. He doesn't play dirty (I'm looking at you Bruce Bowen) and he doesn't give unnecessarily hard fouls, but opposing players know that he's not going to give them an easy layup if he's in the area. That might seem like a simple thing, and I'm sure on most NBA teams it is a regular occurrence. But the Grizzlies have been lacking that player for several seasons and it makes a noticeable difference now that they have that intimidating enforcer in the paint, even if he only plays 15 mpg. He averages almost as many fouls per game as rebounds, but his fouls are rarely ever of the ticky-tack variety that allow for an "And 1" situation to occur.
So even as I watch another season limp towards its inevitable finish with my team staring the lottery squarely in the face again, there is a one more thing I have found that provides some comfort -- the toughness of Jason Collins, our Unsung Player.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Links: Slow News Week
Hakim Warrick wants your Final Four picks on his blog.
The Memphis Grizzlies sponsor a team in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association: the Memphis Rolling Grizzlies. Hat tip: Living in Lakeland, who actually participated in a game. Click for pictures.
This guy thinks that the Grizzlies should be listed among the Top 10 Worst Franchises in Pro Sports. I won't argue with him, because their history speaks for itself, but he is taking liberties in assuming that the future doesn't look brighter than the past.
Check out Odenized and Hoop Tube for great NBA videos daily.
A few general NBA posts:
Hardwood Paroxysm gives the best analysis of the San Antonio Spurs I've ever read.
J.E. Skeets (Ball Don't Lie) - An NBA fan's guide to the Final Four
Buster Gunning (RealGM) - Isiah: East is Beast
The Most Overpaid Players of 2007-08
Deadspin (via Ball Don't Lie) - Who is the NBA's Least Valuable Player?
Memphis vs Golden St - 4.4.08
Memphis just completed their second season sweep of the year and now try to prevent Golden St from sweeping them for the 1st time since the team's inaugural season in Vancouver. The Grizzlies righted their ship too late to make the playoffs and too early to remain at the bottom of the lottery list. Basically the worst of both possible outcomes but with the lottery you never know what will happen so does losing actually accomplish anything but a negative attitude? The Grizzlies are playing .500 ball over the last 10 games with wins over the Lakers, New York twice, Sacramento and Charlotte. Not exactly the cream of the crop outside of LA but still something the team can use to build on.
Golden State has dropped out of the playoffs with back to back losses at San Antonio (116-92) and at Dallas (111-86) and will be playing their 3rd game in 4 days. There may be an emotional drop after being the first team with a record above .500 to lose to Dallas since the Jason Kidd trade. After this game the Warriors head to Conference leading New Orleans so this game has to be considered a must win for the the Warriors if they want to make the playoffs.
Point Guards: Mike Conley vs Baron Davis
Mike Conley has been having better games lately but still hasn't shown a capability to string them together. In his last four games Conley scored 6, 17, 2 and 18 points. Tonight would be an excellent time to reverse that trend. Baron Davis brings the total package into this game and has been healthy for the entire season. Averaging 22.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 7.6 apg, Baron Davis has become one of the elite PG's in the league. While his shooting can be suspect at times (43.2% from the field, 33.1% from the arc) he is still the player that Golden St turns to for big baskets.
Advantage: Golden St
Shooting Guards: Mike Miller vs Monta Ellis
Mike Miller has been struggling lately scoring the ball with a total of 37 pts combined in the last four games and has failed to break 20 pts in a game since scoring 34 pts at Madison Square Gardens against the Knicks on March 21. That span of 7 games is the longest that Mike has failed to score at least 20 pts since going 7 straight from Dec 21-Jan 4. Monta Ellis is a free agent this summer and playing like he wants a big contract this summer. The Mississippi native is averaging just under 20 ppg (19.9) on 52.9% shooting from the field. Not a great perimeter shooter (25%) Ellis relies on speed and a quick release to get his shot off over taller SGs.
Advantage: Golden St
Small Forwards: Rudy Gay vs Stephen Jackson
Rudy Gay is back on top of his game after struggling with the lead role a bit after the Gasol trade. Rudy has emerged as a candidate for Most Improved Player in the league this year. Rudy is among the top 40 in the league in both 3 pt shots made and dunks. The only other player on both lists is Kobe Bryant. Stephen Jackson has to be one of the stranger team captains in the league. Formerly considered a malcontent in San Antonio, Atlanta and Indiana, Jackson usually guards the toughest opponent and that has had an effect on the notoriously streaky shooters accuracy this season. Barely shooting over 40% from the field (40.7%) he makes it up with clutch long range accuracy (37.6%) and a tough mental attitude. It is strength against strength in this game but Jackson has not been playing well on this road trip.
Advantage: Memphis
Power Forwards: Hakim Warrick vs Al Harrington
It is not for certain that Harrington will start this game but that is the norm for Don Nelson coached teams. Harrington has been a disappointment this season after his strong play last year after the trade with Indiana. Across the board his numbers are down this season. Hakim Warrick has been a major surprise for the Grizzlies since the Gasol trade, nearly replicating Gasol's offensive numbers while spreading team's defenses to cover his better range. His defense has improved mostly by the Grizzlies option to play zone defense more to cover for Hak.
Advantage: Memphis
Centers: Darko Milicic vs Andris Biedrens
Darko injured his shoulder against the Knicks but is said to be playing tonight against the Warriors. That is important because Biedrins is the Warriors secret weapon. He is quick to loose balls and offensive boards and has enough speed to be a threat on breaks for the lightning fast Warriors. Darko was playing some of the most consistent ball of the season prior to the injury so everyone is hoping it wasn't anything serious.
Advantage: Golden St
Benches: Memphis vs Golden St
Memphis has a 1-2-3 punch off the bench with Lowry, Navarro and Crittenton combining to add pace and athleticism to the bench. When they are shooting well they cause a lot of teams matchup problems. The Warriors counter with size off the bench from the likes of Michael Pietrus, Kelanna Azubuike and Matt Barnes. The retirement of Chris Webber has no effect on the Warriors. Brandon Wright has yet to show the ability to play the NBA game and may be joining Patrick O'Bryant who is a bust as a lottery pick from 3 years ago.
Advantage: Golden St
Relevant Blogs/Commentary:
Golden State Of Mind
The City
Warriors World
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Guest Post: It's That Easy
Today we have a guest post from Jonathan Kiersky who has written for Divingin2Memphis and is the new owner of The Hi-Tone Cafe in Midtown Memphis.
Memphis needs Derrick Rose. And by Memphis, I don't mean the Tigers. I mean the Grizzlies. And it could happen, without much having to go right. (I'm staring at you 2003 Ping Pong balls…)
Here's the scenario- the Miami Heat, in desperate need of any talent, but really in need of someone that can get the ball across the half court line, get the #1 overall pick. Memphis gets the second or third pick in the upcoming draft. Memphis would then package Mike Conley Jr, Javaris Crittenton and their pick to Miami for the #1 overall pick and some cap filler like (cough) Earl Barron. Memphis takes Rose and Miami takes either Michael Beasley or Brook Lopez. Pretty simple, no?
The deal is a win-win operation for both clubs. Miami now has Conley and Crittenton to run the point next to Dwayne Wade, Shawn Marion, Beasley/ Lopez and Udonis Haslem. Their bench has Dorell Wright, Crittenton, Ricky Davis, Mark Blount and Daequan Cook. Memphis now starts Rose, Miller, Gay, Milicic and Warrick with Lowry coming off the bench. (And wider ranging deal with Miami would have the Heat send Shawn Marion to the Grizzlies in some sort of sign and trade, but I doubt the numbers and players could be matched up.) With the expiring deal of Kwame Brown and some other pieces not being re-upped (I'm looking at you Andre Brown and the living corpse of Casey Jacobsen), a second round pick and some signings in the off-season (as well as whatever Juan Carlos Navarro can bring you in trade), suddenly the Grizzlies are relevant again. The Heat all of the sudden look, well, undead.
Look, there certainly are other motivations for the Grizzlies to get a once-in-a-generation point guard into their lineup. First, this city adores Derrick Rose. Second, we need to see him play more than just one year in the FedEx Forum. We deserve that as basketball fans. You hear it all of the time, but this kid really can change an NBA game just by stepping on the court. Third, and this is a very big third, name the top 10 point guards in the NBA right now? (I'll give you the requisite two minutes to name the top 7 and after that all we're doing is arguing semantics.) Now name the top 10 power forwards or small forwards depending on which position you believe Beasley play in the pros. The lists can be compiled in twenty seconds each. The point is both simple and clear- if you get the chance to get a great point guard, you snap him up any possible way you can think of. If you have a game changing point guard who is in the middle of completing on of the great runs for your hometown college team, a team that half the city considers their kids, who will immediately bring credibility and exposure to an otherwise questionable and folly ridden franchise, you do anything short of kidnapping the children of the GM with the #1 overall pick.
Pretty clear, right?
Jonathan Kiersky
What Do We Call Them?
Dallas had its Tres J's. Boston has the Boston Three Party. Memphis has three small guards coming off the bench that have sparked the team more than any bench players since Mike Miller won the 6th man award and Hubie had his 10 man rotation.
These guys need a nickname!
Kyle Lowry, Juan Carlos Navarro and Javaris Crittenton have become the best story on the team this season. 'The Great' Kyle Lowry, as Memphis radio heads used to call him, was expected by most Grizz fans to be a spark off the bench. Juan Carlos Navarro came in with the 'La Bomba' nickname and the cute smile and instantly became a fan favorite. Javaris Crittenton is the baby of the three at only 19 years of age but all three should be considered rookies even if Crittenton is the only one who has never played professional basketball before this season.
College teams routinely go small and use three guards. Texas had 5-11 AJ Abrams, 6-0 DJ Augustin and 6-2 Justin Mason playing big minutes this year. North Carolina has 6-4 Wayne Ellington, 5-11 Ty Lawson and 6-5 Marcus Grinyard starting for Tarheels.
But this is the NBA. Teams aren't supposed to be able to get by playing three guards, much less three small guards. Kyle Lowry is a generous 6-0. Juan Carlos Navarro is listed as 6-3 and Javaris Crittenton is supposedly 6-5 but he looks more like 6-4...at best. These guys are small, unselfish and very, very fast. The pressure they put on defenses is incredible.
Okay, maybe I am falling under the spell of Kinsey Fever again but all year we have wanted to see uptempo basketball, with three point bombs and slashes into the lane and now we finally are getting it from our 3 rookies off the bench. 
They have earned a nickname. I just can't think of one to give them. Beale St Blue and Yellow Fever doesn't really work for me. The Oreo Cookies? No, that plays on race and is offensive to me and just about everyone in the city. Three G's sounds fun but may be too esoteric for some people to catch the meaning.
Anyone have any better suggestions?
Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments section below. It should be interesting to see what people come up with.
Post Game Thoughts - New York Knicks
Grizz Win 130-114! A blowout at the Forum. Streamers floated down from the sky and everyone left happy.
Why does it feel like another loss?
Victories seems Pyrrhic these days. Sure it was great to see the young players step up and produce in a game. The problem is that the win cost the Grizzlies two spots in the lottery game. They dropped from 3rd to 5th with a win over the New York Knicks, a team that seems depressed that they can't tank enough to catch the hapless Miami Heat who the Grizzlies also have to play next week.
A sparse crowd that was no where near the amount of tickets sold for the game saw the Grizzlies put together their best effort of the season against a team more interested in their lottery position than their record. Ideally, one would look at this game as something to build on for the future.
Does anyone truly believe that this season's Grizzlies are a team that can score 130 points on any given night? Do people look at this game as the first step in the rebuilding of the once solid franchise?
But there is good news here. First, while technically 5th in the standings the Grizzlies are still tied with New York for the 4th lottery spot. Tie-breakers aren't used in the lottery so if the season ends with both teams having the same record then both teams get the same number of ping pong balls. The head to head match ups are of no concern.
Rudy Gay was Kobe-esque in the ease and fluidity of his game. His 21 pts on 7-11 shooting was so easy it looked like that ad for the Grizzlies where players are working out on the court by themselves hitting shot after shot. At times it even felt like he was on the court, all alone, hitting shot after shot.
(Hat tip: Odenized )
For the game the team shot 60% from the field. Before you say that it was just the Knicks remember that this follows a 53.9% shooting night against Atlanta, 47.5% against the Clippers and 49.4% against the Lakers. Something is working with the offense. The team is hitting their shots at a rate unmatched all season. They are starting to shoot like the Phoenix Suns that we wanted when Marc Iavaroni was hired.
Juan Carlos Navarro was 4-6 from the 3 pt line running his season total to 146. That leaves him 12 short of the tying Kerry Kittle's NBA record for three pointers in a season. With 7 games remaining including Friday night's game against the Warriors, a game at Miami and two against Minnesota it is definitely within reach.
Javaris Crittenton was a major bright light. He had a terrific game with 23 pts (a new career high), 9 rebounds (tying a career high) and 3 assists (one short of his career high) including a beautiful bounce pass through traffic to Kyle Lowry for a layup. Not bad for a former 3rd string bench player who spent most of the night playing Small Forward for the Grizzlies.
Kyle Lowry was the pugnacious bulldog Grizzlies fans love to watch play. He also showed off in front of shooting coach Mark Price by going 5-8 from the field to go with his 6 assists and 2 steals.
That has been one of the main reasons the bench has been so productive of late. Memphis routinely has Kyle Lowry, Juan Carlos Navarro and Javaris Crittenton on the court at the same time and frankly teams can't handle that combination of speed, passing ability and youthful exuberance. These three players seem to really enjoy playing together and make life miserable for opposing benches. The Knicks tried to go big and it did allow them to have a huge night on the offensive glass (17 offensive boards) but it didn't allow them to catch up.
One of the reasons that Knicks were so effective on the glass also had to do with the one true negative of the night. Darko Milicic, who has been so effective preventing opposing teams from controlling the glass this season, appeared to injure his shoulder early in the game and did not return. That meant the Grizzlies had to go with Jason Collins and Kwame Brown in the middle. Collins played his normal defensive game.
Kwame was the story of the night. The rarely used $9 million expiring contract (and does anyone think of him in any other terms) had his best game since coming over in the trade. He was actually important to the early success of the team with 6 pts and 6 boards in the first half. It looked like an easy double-double for Kwame as the Knicks resorted to fouling him to keep him at bay offensively. Clearly exhausted after playing 31 minutes he only finished with 8 boards but it was still good to see him out there gaining confidence every minute he was on the court.
The test of the team's new found success comes Friday night against the desperate Golden St Warriors who lost to the Dallas Mavericks last night to fall one game behind Denver for the last playoff spot.
It should be a great game to watch.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Memphis vs New York Knicks - 4.2.08
Memphis slipped back against the Hawks after starting to take some positive steps forward in the preceeding games. Fatigue appeared to be part of the problem although I can't blame that solely for the weak showing against the Hawks. The Grizzlies youth will not make a smooth rise to success but the effort exhibited in the 4th quarter showed the young guns haven't quit on the team, the coach or the city yet. Right now Iavaroni and the Grizzlies are looking for something positive to build on for the future.
New York is taking a different approach to the end of the season. Instead of searching for something positive to build on, the Knicks are clearly looking to lose games to increase their chances of getting something positive in the draft. The Grizzlies took this approach last season when there were clearly two players that could make a big difference on a team. It isn't so clear this season that such a player exists in this draft, at least not along the lines of an Oden or Durant. Only time will tell if David Stern's favorite team has better success in the lottery than the Grizzlies did last season.
Point Guards: Mike Conley vs Nate Robinson
There aren't many PG's in the league that Conley can look down at but Nate Robinson is one. That isn't to say that Robinson is going to be physically pushed around by Conley. If Kyle Lowry is a middle linebacker among PG's then Nate Robinson is a strong safety. Not as big as a linebacker but still capable of laying out a player not paying attention to him. Robinson struggled against the speed and power of the Grizzlies point guards last time and will probably struggle again since he isn't a good set up PG. If hot Robinson can outshoot either Grizz PG but both Grizz PG's are better at getting the team involved.
Advantage: Memphis
Shooting Guards: Mike Miller vs Jamal Crawford
Miller had one of those games at MSG earlier this season. 12-16 from the floor, 7-11 from the arc, 34 pts, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and Crawford looking like he didn't know what hit him. It may be too much to expect a similiar performance from Mike especially after the lackluster effort exhibited against the Hawks. That has always been Miller's MO, when he is hot he is deadly but when he's not he's invisible. Crawford can be deadly when hot but when he's not then he is terrible which is worse than invisible. It is one thing to realize you are having a bad game and defer to others. It is quite another to not realize you are having a bad game.
Advantage: Memphis
Small Forwards: Rudy Gay vs Wilson Chandler
Rudy Gay put on a show in the 4th quarter against the Hawks but it was against the Hawks backups predominantly. Then again this entire game will have Rudy up against the Knicks backups and they aren't as good as the Hawks backups. Wilson Chandler has never looked good for New York but he did have a career high the last time these two teams met scoring 17 pts. The last two games Chandler has scored a total of 12 points.
Advantage: Memphis
Power Forwards: Hakim Warrick vs Jared Jeffries
Why is Chandler starting for New York? Oh yeah, the Knicks want more ping pong balls. Hakim hasn't looked as sharp lately under the strain of increased minutes but he should be well rested for this game. Jeffries was supposed to be the missing piece for Isiah when he signed him to a big contract from the Washington Wizards. So far that money hasn't been as poorly spent as Jerome James' contract but it is close. 53 starts over two seasons isn't exactly what Knick fans expected. 3.3 ppg and 3.1 rpg aren't either.
Advantage: Memphis
Centers: Darko Milicic vs David Lee
David Lee is the type of player every great team needs. He's a modern day Kurt Rambis. The guy who is there to make everyone else look good and in the process actually puts up great numbers himself. He is all about winning and playing to win. So what is he doing in NYC? Darko has been up and down but mostly up lately. If he can catch a pass and be aggressive to the rim he is very good but Lee isn't a big banging type of center. In fact he isn't a center at all and Darko may struggle with his quickness and range. Defensively Darko doesn't like to fight for position and Lee refuses to allow people to set up the way they want.
Advantage: New York
Benches: Memphis vs New York
Quentin Richardson has been starting some games for New York but as bad as he is been playing it makes no sense to put him on the court at all. Which is why Isiah just might start him anyway. Randolph Morris, Renaldo Balkman, Malik Rose and Fred Jones all make appearances off the bench but like everything with the Knicks the pieces don't fit together well. Memphis' bench has been really playing well together with the three guard offense of Lowry, Navarro and JCritt causing teams fits to control. Jason Collins provides the muscle and occassional inside scoring for the bench.
Advantage: Memphis
Relevant Blogs/Commentary:
Knicks Nation
Father Knickerbocker
KnickerBlogger
Posting and Toasting
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Power Rankings 3-31 & 4-1
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| Power Rankings for 31 March & 1 April '08 | ||||||||||
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