Grizzlies questions keep on piling up
THE GRIZZLIES are being sold to a 34-year- old tech tycoon. Of course I’ll take questions.
I have no idea. But Mike Heisley said he’s going to invite him to Memphis for draft night, at the very least . Yes. They may run out of chairs. The Grizzlies have never had what you’d call a defined decision-making process. This isn’t the Oklahoma City Thunder, where you know that GM Sam Presti is calling the shots.
Heisley gets the final say, but not before everyone else gets to weigh in. That includes Chris Wallace, and Lionel Hollins, and Tony Barone, and Tony Barone Jr., and the taxi driver who picked up Heisley at the airport, and you get the general idea. Now add Pera to that mix.
Of course. Take the issue of Rudy Gay. Heisley says he’s not interested in trading Gay. Would Pera think about trading Gay were he in charge? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s hard to imagine the Grizzlies doing anything dramatic with the franchise in a state of f lux. Heisley says he’ll run any and all trades past Pera. But what if the sale somehow falls through? You can’t reshape the roster to fit the vision of a guy who may never own the team.
Indeed, it is. O.J. Mayo, Darrell Arthur and Marreese Speights are restricted free agents. Will the Grizzlies allow them to walk? The team needs shooters and a backup point guard. Is there any money to spend on free agents? What about the payroll? Might the Grizzlies be willing to pay the luxury tax under new ownership?
He says it’ll be business as usual. He’s flying in at the end of this week to start his basketball meetings.