Lot’s of interesting news coming from Memphis owner Michael Heisley over the past few months, here’s another:
“I’m personally approving the decisions,” Heisley said. “I’m not going out and doing the work. Before, with Jerry (West), my position was that what Jerry wanted to do, Jerry did. I’m not making decisions now because of who the people are, but it’s necessary that I get involved. I’ll be involved with approving. I might just go along with what they want. I’m not going to just veto, but I’m going to have say.
“When Jerry retired, I had to make a decision about whether I was going to get more involved. I know it makes it sound like I’m the guy that’s going to make all of the decisions. I’m just saying that I’m going to review the big-ticket items.”
On getting a superstar:
“You look at Cleveland and New Orleans and how they’ve become successful through the draft,” Heisley said. “It’s awful hard to get there by paying large amounts of money for free agents who are toward the ends of their careers. We have decided that the way to get there is to build the nucleus. You can use free agents to fill a spot or two but not to create a superstar. … The point is that the core of this team is made up of people we primarily picked up in the draft.”
And:
“Like I’ve said before, this is the only way for us to get there — through the draft. You can’t get there by buying players. I’m not saying you don’t get free agents. But the core of the team has to come through the draft. And I’m not saying that there isn’t a lot of room for error. You get me the one or two pick, and I’ll nail it. You get me the fourth, fifth or sixth pick and I may not nail it. It’s not an exact science.”
There’s a bunch of information in the article, it’s worth checking out.
Michael Heisley getting involved has filled me with confidence. If I were a Grizzlies fan, this would scare the living daylights out of me. The only word I hear when an owner is saying he’s getting involved is interference. Good luck Grizzlies fans.
Just to leave you with a thought, do you think a cash-concerned owner would take a chance in free agency like Washington did on Gilbert Arenas or like Utah did on Carlos Boozer? I sincerely do not. Maybe Heisley is different, maybe he’ll surprise me, maybe, just maybe this helps the Grizzlies future. Hopefully it will.
