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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: ITS OFFICIAL GRIZZLIES ARE MOVING TO MEMPHIS | ||||
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| BaLLooN NoT | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 8:45 PM |    | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00  | NBA owners approve Grizzlies' move to Memphis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press NEW YORK -- It's official: The Vancouver Grizzlies are moving to Memphis. NBA owners gave unanimous approval to the move Tuesday, clearing the way for the Grizzlies to play in Tennessee next season. It is the league's first franchise relocation since the Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1985. The league's Board of Governors also approved the sale of a minority interest in the team to a group of Memphis-based investors led by J.R. "Pitt" Hyde III and his wife, Barbara. Hyde is founder of AutoZone, an auto parts company. "We are gratified by the community's enthusiasm and remarkable level of support for the Grizzlies," NBA commissioner David Stern said. "The city of Memphis, Shelby County, the NBA pursuit team, the business community and the local investors have come together with (owner) Michael Heisley and the Grizzlies organization to assure that a successful NBA franchise in Memphis will be a reality." Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton said the city was elated. "A number of citizens, as well as elected officials, have worked very hard to make this dream of an NBA franchise for Memphis a reality," he said. The Grizzlies were added to the NBA as an expansion team April 27, 1994 and began play in 1995, winning their first game at Portland 92-80 with a roster that included Benoit Benjamin, Kenny Gattison and Blue Edwards. That was one of just 15 victories in the franchise's first season, and the team continued to struggle after that, winning just 14 the next season, then going 19-63 in its third year. Vancouver won just eight of 50 games in the lockout season of 1998-99. They improved to 22-60 in 1999-2000 and 23-59 last season. Vancouver never made it to the playoffs and used lottery draft picks for Bryant Reeves, Shareef Abdul-Rahim, Antonio Daniels, Mike Bibby, Steve Francis and Stromile Swift. Francis was immediately traded to Houston after the 1999 draft in a three-way trade that involved 10 players. Last week, Bibby was traded to Sacramento for Jason Williams. Also, the Grizzlies reached agreement with the Hawks on a trade sending Abdur-Rahim to Atlanta for Lorenzen Wright, Brevin Knight and the third choice in the draft -- F.C. Barcelona forward Pau Gasol. "This is an exciting day for the people of Memphis," Hyde said. "It's time now to turn our focus to building a competitive basketball team that will be a positive force in the city." Heisley purchased the Grizzlies from John McCaw for $160 million on April 11, 2000. In Heisley's first season as owner, he projected losses of about $46 million. The team averaged just over 13,000 fans per game, down 2 percent from the previous year, playing to 70 percent of capacity. Heisley began shopping for a new home for his franchise and early in the process said he was looking at six cities: Las Vegas; Anaheim, Calif.; St. Louis; New Orleans; Louisville, Ky.; and "to a certain extent, Memphis." With Hyde leading local corporate efforts to attract the team, which has lost four of every five games during its six seasons, Memphis quickly emerged as the favorite. FedEx, headquartered in the city, joined the effort and backers said they expected major state support for an area that will cost $200 million to $250 million. Memphis will be the smallest market in the NBA and the Grizzlies will play temporarily in The Pyramid, a $65 million arena opened in 1991, until a new arena is built. The Pyramid seats 19,000 for basketball. The decision ends years of searching for a major league sports franchise for Memphis. In 1974 and 1993, the city was a finalist for NFL expansion teams, but lost out both times. The former Houston Oilers used Memphis as a temporary home in 1997 before moving in 1998 to Nashville, where they became the Titans. Over the years, Memphis has had minor league teams in baseball, basketball and football. NBA Franchise Moves 1951: Tri-Cities Blackhawks became Milwaukee Hawks '55: Milwaukee Hawks moved to St. Louis '57: Rochester Royals moved to Cincinnati '58: Fort Wayne Pistons moved to Detroit '60: Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles '62: Philadelphia Warriors move to San Francisco '63: Chicago Zephyrs became Baltimore Bullets '63: Syracuse Nationals became the Philadelphia 76ers '68: St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta '71: San Diego Rockets moved to Houston '71: San Francisco Warriors moved to Oakland '72: Cincinnati Royals became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings '73: Baltimore Bullets moved to Washington '77: New York Nets moved to New Jersey '78: Buffalo Braves became the San Diego Clippers '79: New Orleans Jazz move to Utah '84: San Diego Clippers moved to Los Angeles '85: Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento 2001: Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis  SIG PIC CREATED BY AUSTIN 3:16 E-Mail Me METS will go ALL THE WAY THIS YEAR !!!!!!!!!!! (ok maybe not this year but i aint chainging this) Yankees & the Braves SUCK !!!!!!!! Resident Strip Club Pimp | ||||
| Ants in My Pants Billy Prettiest Butterfly in the garden All Blow job poems ©Fez 2002-2003. I'm obsessed with Alkey's penis. | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 8:52 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Apr. 01 | A new point guard and a new city. Now if only they can start winning some games (which will be much tougher without Abdur-Rahim). Thanks for the info, Balloon Not. | ||||
| The Sleeper Being a Minor is a Threat to my Social Life PoseUr i ahve 2 threads at teh top, i feel like maynard | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 8:54 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | Ugh, another hick town gets a team. Fuckin redneck bastards. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I like the idea of a chick with a horse. | ||||
| mikeWOW | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 9:23 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Sep. 00 | im gonna make a shot in the dark and say there attendance will be around 7,000 a game ahahha "i hate people that dont get it!" | ||||
| Spork | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 9:40 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01 | The poor basketball fans in Vancouver really got screwed in this whole deal. The NBA basically appointed their first GM, Stu Jackson who made great picks like Big Cunt Reeves and Steve "Canader, I hardly know her!" Francis, a guy who didn't even want to play there... it was a little bit messy. Plus, the league really screwed the Griz and the Raptors for those few years where the best draft pick they were allowed to have was like 6th overall or something? I think the one move that really killed the team though was not taking British Columbia native Steve Nash. I was the manager of my highschool basketball team and we had to play against Steve Nash - that fothermucker kicked the living crap out of us - single handedly. He was a talent to watch play highschool ball. If the Vancouver fans had a local boy to cheer for, they would have probably had a little better showing at the gate, not to mention that Steve Nash is actually good - the best free-throw percentage in the league. You can't expect fans to support a team that crappy for that long, but there were the hard cores in that city that loved their team even if they sucked. Oh well, at least now all the entertainment dollars can go into the Canucks, but it never should have gone down the way it did.  Graduated and Rooned by Rone on 6/16/01 | ||||
| Unicron | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 9:54 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Mar. 01 | The Vancouver Grizzlies were one of the biggest royal screwjobs in history. Stern and the NBA never gave them a chance. Toronto got better as time went on because they had somewhat smart management, eventho8ugh the NBA was screwing them as well. But put the NBA and stupididy together, you got the Grizz. I'm not a big fan of the NBA, but i just hate seeing fans getting screwed but corparations. And us fans just sit and take it like a good little bitch. | ||||
| The Sleeper Being a Minor is a Threat to my Social Life PoseUr i ahve 2 threads at teh top, i feel like maynard | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 10:00 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | I don't think the NBA is at fault here. They gave Toronto and Vancouver the same chance. Toronto drafted 1 superstar player, made some good transactions and are now a contender. Vancouver had some good talent with Abdul-Rahim, Bibby, Dickerson, and others. However, a lot of players do not want to play in the Great White North. The Francis debacle prioved that, and that reflected poorly on the team and its status in the league. This is the main reason Vancouver is moving rather than any actions the NBA passed. I am also sad this happened because Vancouver is a much cooler city than Hick-town Memphis, but i guess it eventually had to happen. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I like the idea of a chick with a horse. | ||||
| Spork | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 10:06 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01 | True, there are a lot of players who don't want to play in Canada, but the remarks Francis were making were just plain ignorant. I will be the first to say that I am from Vancouver and I chose not to "play" in Vancouver (they seem to pay computer people better here and tax them half as much) despite being born and raised there, but Vancouver is certainly not some sort of bumblefuck/sticks town. It's as though Steve Francis had no idea that Vancouver is only a 2.5 hour drive up the I-5 from Seattle. But you know, the Grizz should have drafted Steve Nash (someone from British Columbia would definitely have no problem playing there!). So yes, the Grizzlies were poorly managed to a degree, but they really did have the NBA crippling them as well, and it was the NBA that so pushed for them to get Stu Jackson (who was Gary Bettman's replacement as the assistant commissioner to Stern). It was basically a patronage appointment of a GM. Then there was a lot of stuff that was screwy about the sale of the team to Michael Heisley wherein he said one thing to the fans in Vancouver and did entirely something else. His plan was to move the team from day one, but he did it under the guise of trying to keep the team in town. The guy even sang "O' Canada" at a game to demonstrate some sort of fake kinship with the crowd. Basketball really would have taken off, there definitely was a huge potential market for it - it was just handled badly on ALL sides. There are a lot of fingers to blame on this one. Graduated and Rooned by Rone on 6/16/01 | ||||
| Unicron | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 10:17 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Mar. 01 | It's just another casr of the League and owners screwinf loyal and good fans. The NBA is the worst offender in this. The NHL hasn't been much better ever since we got Bettman. The man ruins tradition and the history of the NHL, and then wonders why he is booed everywhere he goes. People like Stern, Bettman, and Selig need to be removed from office and people who know something about the sport they are presiding over should take their place. Tagliabue hasn't done too badly. He's no Pete R., but he has done alot of things for the fans who lost teams in Cleveland and Houston. He couldn't block the moves, but he brought back to these citys what they so dearly missed, and that, i think, should be commended. One Commish that "gets it" This message was edited by Unicron on 7-3-01 @ 10:23 PM | ||||
| Spork | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 10:24 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01 | I hate to do this, but I don't mind defending Bettman a little bit. Here's a guy who didn't know a damned thing about hockey coming into the league. It seems bizarre yes, but I think he legitimately loves the game, the guy is a fan. His predecessors Gil Stein and the HATED John Ziegler were nightmares as presidents of the league. For anyone who remembers those days of the 21 team league, they'll remember how much those guys were booed. Ziegler didn't even go to all the Stanley Cup games! Bettman has done a lot in trying to expose the game to the U.S. market. It seems like a losing battle in some regards, but in others he is doing a noble job. Hockey in Florida, Arizona? It SUCKS that Canadians teams were forced to flee from Quebec City and from Winnipeg, especially in these cities where fans sold out EVERY night. But you know it's the Canadian government's fault more than anyone else's. Gary Bettman instituted the equalization fund wherein Canadian teams who sold X amount of season tickets receive money from a pool from the teams to make up for the shitty exchange rate. He really has done things to help Canadian teams, and I think that we should be careful not to link him to all of the circumstances that are hurting the Canadian teams right now. Graduated and Rooned by Rone on 6/16/01 | ||||
| The Sleeper Being a Minor is a Threat to my Social Life PoseUr i ahve 2 threads at teh top, i feel like maynard | posted on 07-03-2001 @ 10:31 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | quote: Fair point, but there have still been a lot more teams moved in the NFL and the NHL in the last 15 years than the NBA. So maybe the question is whether or not Tagliabeau or Bettman should of blocked the moves. Maybe it is a matter of how to help the teams situation where they wouldn't have to even consider moving. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I like the idea of a chick with a horse. This message was edited by The Sleeper on 7-3-01 @ 10:35 PM | ||||
| WookiePoolParty | posted on 07-05-2001 @ 3:05 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Mar. 01 | Ok, when was the last time a team was in a new city for just 6 years? (I actually don't know if there's a yes... it just seems really short.) Vancouver's a great town, but they have a similar problem to Tampa Bay- horrible decision making being blamed on a bad market. How come the Buccaneers sell out game after game? Tampa's fine, the Devil Rays blo-ow!! It shocks me that the NBA owners believe that Memphis will be able to sustain a major league level of interest. I mean geez, look what happened to the Maniax! :-) Look at the NHL minds: "We want to put a team in Ohio." "Ok. Cleveland or Cincinnati?" "Columbus!!" When does Wheeling enter the league? The Memphis Grizzlies will be asking to move to Lexington by 2006. (Oh, and let's move to Tennessee without the best player in franchise history while we're at it...)  | ||||
| Snoteater | posted on 07-05-2001 @ 10:53 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Apr. 01 | quote: Columbus is the biggest city in the state of Ohio. We live for the one, We die for the one. | ||||
| Psycho Bitch | posted on 07-05-2001 @ 3:30 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jul. 01 | Fuck me if I'm wrong ;) but....The Devils were established as the Kansas City Scouts in 1974 and moved to Colorado in 1976 to become the Rockies I believe. Then moved again to New Jersey in 1982, I think they might hold the record for the shortest time before leaving... Am I correct? ~~Psycho Bitch~~ Newbie and Metalfan's "bitch" for the next 8 days.... | ||||
| WookiePoolParty | posted on 07-05-2001 @ 6:00 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Mar. 01 | quote: Yeah, but that's only when Ohio State is in session... And Psycho bitch blurted: quote: You're wrong. "I always fall asleep to the sound of my own screams... and then I always get woken up in the morning by the sound of my own screams. Do you think I'm unhappy?" | ||||
| The Sleeper Being a Minor is a Threat to my Social Life PoseUr i ahve 2 threads at teh top, i feel like maynard | posted on 07-05-2001 @ 7:58 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | The Seattle Pilots were established in 1969 and then moved a year later to Milwuakee and became the Brewers. I would think they own the record. Dammit Wookie, you stole my thunder. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I like the idea of a chick with a horse. | ||||
| MashedPotatohead NIGGA PLEASE! All the bitches in here are crazy! | posted on 07-05-2001 @ 9:04 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | quote: Sorry to disappoint you, but Sacramento was having sellouts (even before Webber/Williams) even though they sucked ass every year (they only had Richmond). Sometimes, trying to 'globalize' the game won't work. The exchange rate sucks, dealing with customs EVERYTIME they travel can get annoying. Memphis may not be the best move either. They might not have as much disposable income to support a team Sig Pic Under Construction | ||||
| Rowelentless Black Rock Coalition Do you have a basketball in your car? | posted on 07-06-2001 @ 1:13 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: May. 00 | Who knows the Grizz may make the finals within 2-3 years. Look at the Titans, the OTHER Tenn. team. But then again this is the NBA and if Memphis wants to reach a playoff game they are gonna have to get more experience. | ||||
| Psycho Bitch | posted on 07-06-2001 @ 9:56 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jul. 01 | quote: You got me Wookie, I was wrong.....guess you get to fuck me now ;) ~~Psycho Bitch~~ "The definition of insanity is repeating the smae behavior over and over expecting different results" Newbie and Metalfan's "bitch" for the next 7 days.... | ||||
| WookiePoolParty | posted on 07-08-2001 @ 2:25 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Mar. 01 | quote: Geez, I always get myself backed into a corner on these things. "I always fall asleep to the sound of my own screams... and then I always get woken up in the morning by the sound of my own screams. Do you think I'm unhappy?" | ||||
| The Sleeper Being a Minor is a Threat to my Social Life PoseUr i ahve 2 threads at teh top, i feel like maynard | posted on 07-08-2001 @ 6:51 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | Wookie, if you're feeling uncomfortable, i can always step in for you. After all, i did provide factual evidence. :P Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I like the idea of a chick with a horse. | ||||
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