Three Hundred and Three: Responsibility as the Core

In January 2000, Michael Heisley acquired the Vancouver Grizzlies for $160 million. In 2001, the Grizzlies moved to Memphis, Tennessee. In 2004, the team had a new arena - FedEx Arena, which is considered the most artistic arena in the NBA.

Since relocating to Memphis, the Grizzlies have reached the playoffs five times, and in the last year, the Grizzlies have grown into a force in the league. Last season, it reached the Western Conference finals in one fell swoop, which shocked everyone.

After Michael Heisley took over the Grizzlies, the changes in this team can be described as earth-shaking. You know, before Heisley took over, the Grizzlies were almost one of the most hopeless teams in the league. Even, "one" can be removed.

In the six years in Vancouver, the Grizzlies have a total record of 101 wins and 359 losses, which is the worst record for an NBA team in the six-year time span. In these 6 years, the Grizzlies have never made the playoffs, their winning percentage has never exceeded 30% in a single season, and they have only won 23 games in a single season. During the same period of time, another Canadian team, the Raptors, had already broken through the first round of the playoffs and had a phenomenon-level superstar like Vince Carter.

In the farewell game of the Grizzlies in Vancouver, the fans at the scene even raised the slogan "Thank you for the worst team in history", which is undoubtedly an indisputable complaint. There were also posters with the words "100 wins are better than nothing, thank you Grizzlies", but it's hard to tell whether it's nostalgia or irony.

In Vancouver today, there are no traces left by the grizzly. There are no Grizzlies-related flags, jerseys or old photos in the former Grizzlies home arena, or in the local sports bar.

A team that is so bad is considered unique.

It can be seen that Heisley is simply the savior of the Grizzlies. It was he who pulled this team out of the abyss. So, if he doesn't love the Grizzlies, it must be false. Now the Grizzlies are a team at the Western Conference Finals level, which is exactly what Heisley has been dreaming about for a long time.

However, the 75-year-old Heisley really can't continue to run the team. There are indeed bosses who are older than him in the NBA, but none are in worse physical condition than him.

Waking up every day, Heisley swallowed a bunch of colorful pills. Whenever a reporter asked him if he would trade someone, he didn't have the patience he had before, he just felt bored. And when he thinks of the cumbersome reinforcement plan during the offseason, he can't wait to let Chris Wallace take care of it.

As a result, Heisley had the idea of ​​simply selling the team. Maybe a younger, more energetic and ambitious owner would run the Grizzlies better.

At the most prosperous time in the history of the Grizzlies, Heisley chose to say goodbye to the team.

However, Heisley asked Wallace not to disclose this news to the players and coaches, so as not to disturb the morale of the army.

When the time comes, Heisley will naturally tell others.

Chris Wallace did, but the next afternoon, the news that Heisley wanted to transfer the team was still exposed.

There is no doubt that in this day and age, nothing can be hidden from reporters. And once the reporter knows, under the high timeliness of the Internet, the whole world will know about it within a few hours.

"It is not our side that exposed the news, but it may be the buyer. Have you contacted a few buyer candidates? I think it may be someone from their side who disclosed the news." After the news was exposed, Chris Wallace was in a hurry.

On the one hand, he has to respond to reporters' questions. On the other hand, he has to help Heisley deal with the team's business. Overnight, his workload doubled instantly.

At this time, Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins was sitting behind Wallace's desk, and he hoped to get some more detailed information.

The impact of the team changing the boss on the players and coaches can be small or large. After all, whether to change the boss or not, the wages in the contract must be paid and the ball must be played.

But it is also very likely that it will change the career trajectory of players and coaches. In the past two years, there have been many personnel changes in the team due to the change of boss.

In 2010, the Golden State Warriors changed owners. As a result, this year, Monta Ellis, the last representative figure of the "Golden State Gang" period, was kicked out by the Warriors, and Curry was officially righted.

In March 2005, Dan Gilbert became the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since then, he has made drastic reforms to the team's management, coaching staff, and team lineup.

In 2010, Russian local tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov bought the Nets. And now the Nets have confirmed that they will move to Brooklyn next season, and the rumors about the Nets' trade have never stopped.

However, after Wallace finished all the calls, he could only spread his hands to Hollins, "I don't even know who the new owner is, so I don't have any clue. You ask me what the team will become. ? God only knows."

"But at this point it was revealed that the team was going to be sold. I was afraid that the players' status would be affected. We just lost Rudy Gay, and Link just became the core of the team. At this juncture ,It is really......"

"I don't want to, and neither does Heisley, but the reporters do. They exposed it, and there's nothing they can do about it. I can only hope our lads are focused enough." So did Wallace. One of the first two bigs, this year's Memphis Grizzlies feel that they have been moving forward in adversity.

The next day, sure enough, many media outlets began to speak ill of the Grizzlies. They believe that in this situation, the mentality of the Grizzlies players may be affected. After all, there have always been rumors about the trade of Gay, Randolph and even Conley. And now that the team is selling out, there is no guarantee of the fate of these players.

In the eyes of the reporters, the Grizzlies should be in a state of insecurity. In this state, it is difficult for the team to produce results.

Last season, the Nuggets almost fell out of the top eight in the Western Conference when everyone was in danger. It wasn't until the deal about Anthony was completed that he came back again. The Jazz, in a state of self-confidence, has gone from a championship challenger to a mid-range team in the top eight in the West. As a result, after the transaction was completed, they were directly downgraded to become a lottery team.

With these lessons learned, reporters speculate that the Grizzlies' ending this year will not be any better.

As a result, on March 16, the Grizzlies unexpectedly lost to the Raptors very "appropriately", which caused public opinion to explode.

"The Grizzlies' fledgling record is about to die."

"The Memphis Grizzlies are in the most chaotic period in their history."

"Rumor: Hollins has started looking for another home while working."

Once the game was lost, all kinds of weird rumors came out. However, how many people really care about the reason why the Grizzlies lost today?

In this game, Link scored 25 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, still worthy of his status as a core player. In addition, Randolph and Conley also scored 18 points and 15 points respectively. The performance of the Grizzlies is very good.

However, the Raptors shot 46.7% of their three-pointers like a convulsion today, which is a full 14% higher than their average three-pointer this year! The Grizzlies just lost.

And even so, the Grizzlies only lost by 4 points.

But how can journalists control this? They just want to catch people's attention, and they don't care much about the truth.

Although no one in the Grizzlies is in danger, everyone is focused on the game itself. But the media is such a crap stick that it is really possible to turn the white into the black.

Therefore, Link still feels very guilty about the loss of this game. If this defeat can be avoided, there will be no such crap.

Therefore, when Link was asked by reporters after the game, "How do you think the team is being sold", Link was focused.

"I will prove that what most of you say is bullshit. We are fighters and we just want to fight. Nothing else will affect our desire to fight. Those false voices will be broken sooner or later .”

Link's speech was very firm, and he also used the words "I will prove it".

He is very clear that as the core of the team, in addition to enjoying the highest tactical status and the highest exposure rate, he also needs to do more practical things for the team and solve more troubles.

How to stabilize the morale of the army? Very simple, win! Link has undoubtedly put the responsibility of breaking the rumors on his shoulders.

Seeing Link's righteous speech, Randolph, who was sitting beside him, smiled gratifiedly.

That kid is looking more and more like a star.

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