Every year in the NBA 30 teams contend for a championship. Realistically about six franchises at the most have a legitimate chance of competing for an NBA championship. It is so difficult to build a championship team without at least 1 if not 2 franchise level players in the NBA.
Most franchises that compete for a championship are big market teams with large payrolls. The San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder have designed a formula for success that put small market teams in the chase for an NBA championship.
The Memphis Grizzlies have taken a page out of their books and have built one of the Western Conference’s top teams, which would make it three small market teams in position to win an NBA championship this season. The main difference from the Grizzlies and the Spurs/Thunder is that unlike the other two, the Grizzlies have never been in position to acquire a difference making franchise player.
To build a contending team in the NBA you need to acquire assets. It’s a lot like Playing Monopoly. The way that you acquire assets is you draft them, trade for them, or sign them. Most teams even if they are small market usually hang on to their drafted players for two contracts. Once you are drafted in the NBA you sign a 4 year contract (the first two guaranteed) and then have two one year team options.
After your four years with your original team the player is what is called a restricted free agent. What that means is they can entertain offers from other teams and can get signed to an offer sheet. Basically an offer sheet is an offer form another team. Their original team has the right of first refusal to match the offer and re-sign the player. It favors the franchise as it gives them a chance to hold on to their asset for another 4-5 years. After the second contract the player is considered an unrestricted free agent and are free to sign with whatever team that has enough cap room to sign them. Their original team loses the right to match offers.
Jerry West and the Grizzlies parted ways after the 2007 disastrous season where the Grizzlies finished 22-60. They had three desirable assets in Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay, and Mike Miller. Chris Wallace was hired from the Boston Celtics to replace West in the Grizzlies front office.
Wallace didn’t waste any time in blowing up the roster and rebuilding the Grizzlies into a contending ball club. Here are some of the bigger moves that the organization made to build their roster to what it is today.
· 2007 Draft they select Mike Conley 4th overall selection in the first round. Mike has developed into one of the top 12 point guards in the NBA and has been a starter for most of his career averaging 12.5 Points and 5.4 Assists
· February 1, 2008 the Grizzlies traded the best player in team history Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kwame Brown and Marc Gasol. The Team took a lot of negative press for that deal. At the time Pau was a disgruntled star that was frustrated by losing. Most thought the asset in the deal was the underachieving Brown when in actuality it was Marc Gasol an unknown at the time. Marc has averaged 13 points 8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks since joining the Grizzlies and has developed into one of the NBA’s top 10 Centers.
· 2008 NBA Draft the Grizzlies trade the draft rights of Kevin Love to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for O.J. Mayo. Many believed that this move was a lopsided move in favor of the Timberwolves. Kevin Love is one of the NBA’s top power forwards while O.J. Mayo is no longer with the Grizzlies. Mayo averaged 18 points a game as a rookie and was a scoring contributor to both playoff seasons for the Grizzlies who is now currently averaging 21.5 points a game and is one of the league’s top 3 point shooters. They also acquire rotation player Darrell Arthur in a three team trade
· On July 17 2009 The Grizzlies trade Q Richardson to the Los Angeles Clippers for Zach Randolph. Randolph has been a cornerstone of the franchise who’s averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds a game since joining the Grizzlies. Randolph is one of the NBA’s top low post scorers and rebounders.
· On July 13 2010 The Grizzlies sign one of the NBA’s top perimeter defenders in Tony Allen to a free agent contract.
· On January 4 2012 The Grizzlies acquire Marreese Speights in a 3 team deal. Speights is a very solid rotation big for the Grizzlies
The Grizzlies had two opportunities to acquire difference makers. The first was in 2008 with trading Kevin Love for OJ Mayo, but in defense to the Grizzlies Love is yet to make 1 playoff series yet with the Timberwolves and Mayo did give them scoring and shot making not to mention a contributor to two deep playoff races. Also as short minded as it sounds they ended up acquiring Randolph and had Gasol on their roster. They needed scoring more than a big and got some mileage out of Mayo.
The second was drafting Hasheem Thabeet in 2009 instead of James Harden. No one knew of Harden’s ability at the time as well as many teams behind the Grizzlies would have drafted Thabeet if the Grizzlies passed on him.
Many teams want to emulate the Celtics, Spurs, Lakers, Heat, and Spurs. Many people talk about formulas of putting together championship level teams and copying these four great franchises. Drafting well, moderate spending, and developing assets is the cornerstone of any great franchise. In all four cases they have acquired very good players to build around their stars.
The one thing that everyone is forgetting is that the Celtics and Lakers can afford 9 figure payrolls and all four have superstars on their rosters.
· The Los Angeles Lakers had Kobe Bryant, traded for Pau Gasol, and developed Andrew Bynum after drafting him without the trade with the Grizzlies they probably would not have won their last two championships
· The Spurs have done a fantastic job in drafting players with Tony Parker, Many Ginobli late in their respected drafts. But they were able to become a superstar team with striking it rich in 1997 and winning the lottery with Tim Duncan. Without the lottery win in 1997 you could say things could have gone dramatically different for the Spurs Franchise.
· The Oklahoma City Thunder have pulled off some great drafts with James Harden and Russell Westbrook as well as finding Serge Ibaka late in the first round as well as acquiring a solid starting center in Kendrick Perkins and only giving up role player Jeff Green in return. Sam Presti has done a fantastic job with acquiring assets and making his team into a title contender. What put them on the map was drafting Kevin Durant with the 2nd pick of the 2007 NBA Draft. Without Durant it would be hard to imagine them being a title contender as quickly as they were
· The Boston Celtics changed their franchise from a lottery cellar dweller to a championship team in 2008. After drafting assets such as Rajon Rondo,Al Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins, and Tony Allen The Celtics reshaped their organization with trading Al Jefferson along with five other players for Kevin Garnett. Also they acquired Ray Allen from The Seattle Supersonics who were trying to get off contracts and acquire picks. Without this move who knows how long it would be for the Celtics to compete.
· Last, but not least The Miami Heat. After having a very lackluster 47-35 first round playoff exit in 2010 the Heat went out and dumped money to acquire cap room to sign LeBron James and Chris Bosh to build their empire.
As you can see all five of these franchises were changed due to the fact that they were in position to acquire franchise players. The Spurs and Thunder were changed by the draft and the other three did it mostly with trades and free agency.
The Grizzlies have done it mostly by drafting solid players and developing them as well as making some solid trades for good players. One of the biggest accomplishments is that they were able to keep most of their assets in tact and didn’t lose them to teams because of money. They Grizzlies are about $4 million dollars in the tax which isn’t too bad considering the talent that they have on their roster.
Retaining talent is a problem for small market teams. This season the Thunder had to trade James Harden for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, and picks. The main reason for the trade was the Thunder couldn’t afford to go deep in the tax threshold to sign Harden because of their small market status.
The Grizzlies are currently the NBA’s best team with a record of 9-2. Obviously the NBA 82 game season is a marathon and not a sprint. A lot can happen within a season to bump you off target. It is refreshing to know that teams can build without living in the top 3 for years or having access to $85 million in payroll.
The Grizzlies are a small market team without a legitimate franchise player. In the NBA that’s the equivalent of going to a gunfight with a squirt gun. There is no formula to winning in the NBA. Basically every team is trying to do the same things. Draft well, develop that talent, and spend wisely. It takes a lot of hard work and a lot of luck. Everyone is going to make mistakes and hit roadblocks it is just how the business works.
For the Grizzlies lets hope they can continue their successful ways and throw another hat in the ring for an additional contender for an NBA Championship. I think the game needs one.
