The Trouble with Being Earnest - Part 3

My response to Zack's post below, which was a response to Chip's post earlier in the week.

We are committed to building around Pau. If that was a lie, then why did the team sign Darko Milicic, aka the big man Pau had been requesting for years, and trade for Juan Carlos Navarro, Pau's best friend? The team attempted to build around Pau, albeit briefly, and the results were not pretty. They decided to ship Gasol out before he became a potential problem or lost any value.

We aren't trading Pau for cap space. It it true that Kwame Brown's expiring contract was the centerpiece of the trade that sent Pau to the Lakers. However, it also gave the Grizzlies 2 additional first round draft picks (one that became Darrell Arthur this summer), as well as the rights to Marc Gasol (who could be the starting center this year) and the services of Javaris Crittenton, who has shown a lot of potential. They didn't trade Pau for only cap space, as they could have if they had traded him to Miami for the expiring deals of Jason Williams and Ricky Davis. The deal was criticized by many, but so were the deals that saw Vince Carter and Baron Davis get traded. Their former teams are doing just fine now and so will the Grizzlies.

We need 50 games to properly evaluate the roster. The team had played 45 regular season games at the time of the trade. Of course, they had also played 8 preseason games prior to that, meaning that the front office and coaching staff actually had 53 games to evaluate the team.

A lie is something that is told when there is an intent to deceive. The front office probably believed all of those things when Wallace and Iavaroni were hired last summer. Circumstances changed their viewpoint, so rather than stubbornly sticking with what they said months before, they decided to try something different, something drastic. In any case, they didn't lie to the fans, because I've already pointed out that each of those things could be shown to be true. They did change their strategy though. And that is something that we should all be thankful for.

The Trouble with Being Earnest...Part 2

The eternal optimist Chip wrote a post earlier this week called The Trouble with Being Earnest.

The cynic is here with a rebuttal.

Bottomline: Don't trust what pro sports management say.

Rewind to a year ago...heck 9 months ago...

Here was the company line from Heisley/Wallace/Iavaroni:

--We are committed to building around Pau.
--We aren't trading Pau for capspace.
--We need 50 games to properly evaluate the roster.

Now for the reality:

--Pau was traded and rebuilding without him began.
--Pau was traded for cap space.
--Pau was traded before the 50 game mark.

So, in my humble opinion, take what Heisley and Wallace say with a grain of salt. Being earnest is only going to force them to lie.

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.