| Chatting with the Big Cheese - Part Three |
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| Written by Chip Crain |
| Monday, 07 December 2009 11:52 |
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This is the 3rd installment of the exclusive interview 3 Shades of Blue had with majority owner Michael Heisley of the Memphis Grizzlies. The first part and second part covered the team as a whole, the Allen Iverson situation, the rookies and Mr. Heisley's involvement with the team. Once again this interview was conducted on Dec. 1, 2009 so some items discussed may already have become a bit dated. We apologize for that. 3SOB: Well you've been so much more involved the past few years. What would you say you have learned the most? What is it that you look back and say I wish I had know this then and I would have done this differentlyMH: I don't know if I've learned that. I think that quite frankly that after spending five years with Jerry West, talking to Jerry numerous times since he's a good friend - in fact I talked to him today - it isn't like what I do I do in a vacuum. I guess the reality is that I always knew this was a very, very tough thing to do. It is frustrating as hell and quite frankly building a winner in a small market is far and away the toughest challenge I have ever had. And if people don't think I am trying to build a winner they're crazy. For example that L.A. game, I didn't sleep that night. I never went to sleep. A lot of times that happens but when when you're the owner... Everywhere I go people know I'm the owner. The day after a game like that if you don't think you think I take it personally... let me tell you. It is painful!   When I was a fan I could always say those bums! Well I am that BUM! I think you can identify with this. If you owned a basketball team, you were identified with a team, a lot of your reputation is identified with the basketball team and the basketball team lost a lot, you would have to be a very remarkable person not to feel somewhat pained and not to feel somewhat of a loser. Now I've been fairly successful in my life and I have not been successful as the owner of the Grizzlies. I would like to deliver a championship team to Memphis. Probably it would be a culmination of my life, but it's not easy to do and just hoping for it and wishing for it isn't enough. It's not easy and it's not easy to do in a small market. The odds are tremendously stacked against you. That the way it is. At one time I read somewhere that only 16 cities have won the NBA Championship. 3SOB: I'd like to get back to that small market difficulty, what is it when you look at a draft lottery system that makes it difficult to ... MH: When you look at the lottery system in the NBA there are a lot of things that don't help the small market teams. The NBA was never built to have small teams. It was always built as a star league. If you look at the NBA or baseball or whatever the worst team always gets the first pick. The next worse team gets the second pick. We don't. We have a lottery system where maybe the 12th team gets the top pick. What that means is just because you are the worst team doesn't mean you're going to get the best player coming out of the next draft. In fact, when I look at it, the last time I did the analysis, the best record to have to get he number one pick was to be was to be fifth. Does that make any sense? I don't run the league and I don't have much say in how it was set up. I just have to play by the rules and that is what we do. Jerry used to get absolutely apoplectic when we were sitting there looking to get something, like when Odom was number one. We were hoping to get Odom. We didn't get Odom. 3SOB: Or Durant or Horford.   MH: Right. Exactly. We got bumped back to fourth. Any one of those guys, we could have had Durant and Horford. All three of them would have been tremendous. My point is that you can't sit around and complain about the system. 3SOB: But that's not a small market/large market issue. How is it that... MH: I would say it is. It's a small market/large market issue very simply because when you think about it. If you are going to be a small market team, chances are you're going to be at the bottom and you have to use the draft. You can't build through trades and you can't build through free agency. Quite frankly free agents don't want to come to small markets. If I could give LeBron James $5 million more do you think he would come to Memphis? 3SOB: No. He'd lose $100 million in endorsements. MH: Absolutely! So anybody that is a free agent out there it may not be a first reason to not go to a small market but it is going to be a factor. If you're L.A. or one of the bigger markets or you're the next tier to the bigger markets you basically have a significant advantage. Now I'm not saying you can't get there but if you're lucky like San Antonio was...they didn't get there initially by trading to get someone there. And don't get me wrong. I think they are one of the best run franchises in the league. I'm not criticizing them but I am saying they got two of the greatest players in the game by winning the lottery and getting the number one pick and they didn't have the worst record. They did it twice. So that's what I'm talking about. It's not easy for a small market team to win the championship and all you have to do is  look back and say how many small market teams outside of San Antonio can you think of that has won the championship? 3SOB: I can't think of any one lately... MH: Right. So it isn't an easy job is it? And everybody wants to say you don't want to pay enough money. That isn't the answer. New York is the perfect example. Paying money doesn't win a championship and they [New York] are a big market team. You have to blend and put it all together and you have to have a hell of a lot of luck. But I'm not going to try and convince people. They're going to think what they want. That's one of the rights they have, and you'll always hear me say "The fans, the paying customer, has the right to express their opinion.". I was one. I used to go to the Bulls games. I used to say things that even Madonna would be shocked hearing. I took me a long time to get over when the Bulls disbanded, when they could have won the championship again and I could have seen Michael Jordan. |
Comments
I don't believe the small market thing is an excuse, I think it's reality. It's very tough. What alot of people forget is that there are 29 other teams in the league. Even being a top 10 team and trying to build from there is a good effort. When the Grizz were at their best in those 3 years, there was an awful lot of whinging and calls for coaches to be replaced. The crowds during those winning years weren't good either. It's very tough. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try though.