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OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 1:48 am
by ctorres
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... -talks-if/

Griz CEO Jason Levien, whom principal owner Robert Pera has entrusted to run the franchise, is gauging the value of several players on the roster. There also have been exploratory trade conversations centered on forward Zach Randolph.


I don't get why the Grizzlies can't just stand pat and see how the team fares come playoff time. As it stands, they're a 4th seed. They went 7 games with the Clippers last season and 7 games with the Thunder two seasons ago. They can actually make the Finals as a 4th seed.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 1:51 am
by AmazingJason
ctorres wrote:http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/jan/08/grizzlies-rudy-gay-unruffled-by-trade-talks-if/

Griz CEO Jason Levien, whom principal owner Robert Pera has entrusted to run the franchise, is gauging the value of several players on the roster. There also have been exploratory trade conversations centered on forward Zach Randolph.


I don't get why the Grizzlies can't just stand pat and see how the team fares come playoff time.


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Didn't you see CEO in the 1st sentence?

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 1:55 am
by Stannis
What the hell!

They are 22 and 10. That is pretty good. They are digging themselves a hole by clouding their team with trade talks. They could really do some damage in the West.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 1:57 am
by seren
My understanding, and I might be wrong on this, is they are not shopping these guys to get rid of all of them. Rather looking for moving one max contract to go under the tax. Memphis is a small market team. They don't have a sizeable TV contract, average ticket sold goes for 25 dollars. They simply don't have the revenues to sustain a luxury tax team.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 1:58 am
by Thugger HBC
When will people understand the NBA is a business?

When the Spurs owner said his team had to go to the finals just to turn profit he probably was telling the truth.

But even if he was story telling it a business first.

besides if players are affected by trade rumors, I wouldn't want those cats anyway.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 2:35 am
by biggyfuzz
4th or 5th best record in the league but at the end of the day it's all about BUSINESSS

sad but whatever

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 2:38 am
by Brooklyn_Yards
Do they still have their amnesty?

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 2:41 am
by Thugger HBC
Brooklyn_Yards wrote:Do they still have their amnesty?

Yeah, but how does that help them save money?

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 2:47 am
by br7knicks
ctorres wrote:http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/jan/08/grizzlies-rudy-gay-unruffled-by-trade-talks-if/

Griz CEO Jason Levien, whom principal owner Robert Pera has entrusted to run the franchise, is gauging the value of several players on the roster. There also have been exploratory trade conversations centered on forward Zach Randolph.


I don't get why the Grizzlies can't just stand pat and see how the team fares come playoff time. As it stands, they're a 4th seed. They went 7 games with the Clippers last season and 7 games with the Thunder two seasons ago. They can actually make the Finals as a 4th seed.


exactly. they're a great team. keep it for the next 2-3 years. i know they're a team that likes to shed salary. but give the memphis people some sort of team

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 2:57 am
by Brooklyn_Yards
Thugger HBC wrote:
Brooklyn_Yards wrote:Do they still have their amnesty?

Yeah, but how does that help them save money?

It prevents them from paying luxury taxes, I doubt they'd use it on Gay or ZBo but they have the option if they really are dumping salaries. They'll find takers without question for Zbo.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 3:02 am
by Quick Kick
br7knicks wrote:
ctorres wrote:http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/jan/08/grizzlies-rudy-gay-unruffled-by-trade-talks-if/

Griz CEO Jason Levien, whom principal owner Robert Pera has entrusted to run the franchise, is gauging the value of several players on the roster. There also have been exploratory trade conversations centered on forward Zach Randolph.


I don't get why the Grizzlies can't just stand pat and see how the team fares come playoff time. As it stands, they're a 4th seed. They went 7 games with the Clippers last season and 7 games with the Thunder two seasons ago. They can actually make the Finals as a 4th seed.


exactly. they're a great team. keep it for the next 2-3 years. i know they're a team that likes to shed salary. but give the memphis people some sort of team


The problem is the Memphis people dont care enough to go the games....even though they start at $2 per ticket. Not only that, but they just dont get enough nationally televised games.

If this is how its going to be for the NBA going forward, they may as well fold all their small market teams and just have a 10 team league. 5 big market West teams and 5 big market East teams. All these teams with good young talent are forced to trade them off just to save a buck, essentially turning them into farm systems.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 3:02 am
by Thugger HBC
Brooklyn_Yards wrote:
Thugger HBC wrote:
Brooklyn_Yards wrote:Do they still have their amnesty?

Yeah, but how does that help them save money?

It prevents them from paying luxury taxes, I doubt they'd use it on Gay or ZBo but they have the option if they really are dumping salaries. They'll find takers without question for Zbo.

They can do the same and save the payroll by trading the player, they aren't paying out that kind of money by way of amnesty.

I dont think they are a tax team, but at any rate they want to shed payroll all together.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 3:07 am
by Thugger HBC
Quick Kick wrote:The problem is the Memphis people dont care enough to go the games....even though they start at $2 per ticket. Not only that, but they just dont get enough nationally televised games.

If this is how its going to be for the NBA going forward, they may as well fold all their small market teams and just have a 10 team league. 5 big market West teams and 5 big market East teams. All these teams with good young talent are forced to trade them off just to save a buck, essentially turning them into farm systems.

I really think they want someone to fix their mistake for giving Rudy that kind of money, and was hoping the CBA would cure their woes.

PHx and Houston could absorb that salary via trade with no issues.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 3:26 am
by 21shumpshumpst
PER!!!! TS%!!!!!!!

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 3:31 am
by nykballa2k4
Amare for Z-bo!!

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 5:35 am
by Knicks_Fan2
Let's see what deals they make before assuming the priority isnt competing.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 6:02 am
by QueenzAllDay
The Griz have a great team that can make a run for the Finals and they want to break it up?!

I don't get it. Business or not. I don't get it.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 1:04 pm
by spree2kawhi
this is so stupid. I wouldn't even know who to replace either with.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 1:09 pm
by Falstaffxx
Thugger HBC wrote:When will people understand the NBA is a business?

When the Spurs owner said his team had to go to the finals just to turn profit he probably was telling the truth.

But even if he was story telling it a business first.

besides if players are affected by trade rumors, I wouldn't want those cats anyway.


For team owners, it's not really a business in the way that term is usually used. They tend to have other ventures where they make their real money - team ownership is more of a vanity project that they do because they like owning a team.

Re: OT-Griz shopping Zbo too?!

Posted: Wed Jan 9, 2013 4:17 pm
by kosmovitelli
seren wrote:My understanding, and I might be wrong on this, is they are not shopping these guys to get rid of all of them. Rather looking for moving one max contract to go under the tax. Memphis is a small market team. They don't have a sizeable TV contract, average ticket sold goes for 25 dollars. They simply don't have the revenues to sustain a luxury tax team.


That's pretty much the gist of it and the plan previous owner Michael Heisley suggested last year a few months before he sold the team. The Grizzlies have the 5th highest payroll in the league while they used to rank in the bottom 5 in attendance (it's better now with +2,000 tickets sold per game but that's not enough) and are one of the least valuable franchise in the NBA (29th last year according to Forbes team valuations). The Grizzlies have the lowest average ticket price in the league ($39.50 compared to an average of $101) and are the only franchise to offer a $5 ticket to convince fans to the Fedex Forum arena. As a result, they had the worst operating income last year (an operations deficit of $24.8 million vs $2.6 million the previous year). Offering a contract extension to Z-Bo, Gasol and Gay has put the team in a difficult situation considering the size and structure of the market.

That's why Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was interested in buying the team but only if he could move it to Cali. Heisley, who was 75, wanted to sell but he also wanted to keep the team in Memphis. The Grizzlies' lease at the FedExForum and huge potential penalties generated (in case the team is moved) make a potential relocation difficult and near impossible (the NBA Board of Governors would need to approve the move anyway). A recent economic study implied the total economic impact of the team was $223 million and the team generated $5 million in local tax revenue on a yearly basis. Local taxes would increase if the team was moved. Considering Memphis needs the Grizzlies more than the team needs Memphis, there's a good chance the new ownership will probably try to renegotiate the current financial terms for the arena.

Before the season, the new ownership (Robert Pera, 34 and founder and CEO of Ubiquiti Networks is the new owner and one of the 10 youngest billionaires in the world) had one main goal : increase season-ticket sales by 3,000 in 2012-2013 and so far average attendance only rose to 16,471 (from 15,704 in 2011-2012). That's why they want to lower payroll and have some flexibility. Memphis can't afford three max (or near max) players with Gay, Z-Bo and Gasol. And they know you don't need 3 max contracts in order to win in the NBA. They have the example of the Clippers : a superstar (Chris Paul), a sidekick (Griffin) and a bunch of good role players on short term contracts and who can easily be replaced. The Clippers have lots of flexibility and friendly contracts. That's basically the previous Lakers model under Jerry West.

I don't think they want to jettison Gay or Z-Bo, they're only trying to find a way to replace either player with a cheaper player. They know that player won't be as good as the one they will trade away (wether it's Zbo or Gay) but they think they can remain a playoff team and maybe a contender if they trade Gay for the right player(s) or the right package. After they traded Melo, the Nuggets remained a playoff team, the Hawks traded Joe Johnson and they're still a playoff team. The Grizzlies want to follow the same path, they don't want to rebuild, they just want to avoid the tax and have some cap flexibility going forward. The Grizzlies strength is at the 4/5 with Z-Bo and Gasol. I think they can afford to trade Gay. I think their idea is to replace Gay with two or three cheaper players who (together) can replace Gay's production at a lesser cost. Trading Gay will probably also mean they could afford to use the MLE next summer. The team would have more flexibility. They're just looking for the right deal before pulling the trigger.