Over the weekend, Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera and coach Dave Joerger apparently worked out their differences.
Despite Joerger’s visit to Minnesota and Pera’s willingness to let him do so, the two communicated in a way they have not in the past, and the coach went as far as saying that the two are basically “married” at this point. So for the time being, it appears everything is back to normal for the Grizzlies with the exception of Jason Levien’s absence.
But why did things get so out of control? What made Pera tick and consider the idea of blowing everything up? Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated explained why all is not well with the Memphis Grizzlies and why Pera wanted Joerger out:
The genesis of the Joerger-Pera problems, according to league sources, dates back to last September. Pera — who fancies himself a pretty good player — challenged Tony Allen to a game of one-on-one. Allen, on Twitter, accepted. Pera, a Silicon Valley billionaire who bought a small controlling interest in the Grizzlies in 2012, poured tens of thousands of dollars into producing the matchup. He invited the media and instructed the public relations staff to issue a press release promoting the event.
The problem? Allen had lost interest. Joerger, a first-year head coach, didn’t like the idea of the game — like many in the organization he found it goofy and unbecoming of a professional team, according to sources — but it was Allen’s indifference that caused it to be called off. Yet Pera directed his frustration at Joerger and, according to a source, directed upper management to fire him.
Said a source familiar with the situation, “He absolutely wanted Dave out.”
It was the first of several early season clashes between Joerger and Pera. When the Grizzlies opened the season 2-3 — including double-digit defeats to Dallas and New Orleans — Pera flew to Memphis and held individual meetings with players, sources say. He began offering bizarre suggestions. He suggested Mike Miller, a longtime Grizzlies player who was re-signed in the offseason, could become a player-coach. He brought up the idea that Joerger could wear an NFL-style headset and take instructions on the sideline. When the Grizzlies faced Golden State in early November, Pera insisted that Joerger give significant minutes to fourth-year power forward Ed Davis. Davis played just one. Again, according to sources, Pera insisted that Joerger had to go. Only after it was explained how dysfunctional the franchise would look if it fired a first year head coach six games into the season did Pera back down.
All of that sounds pretty wild and borderline crazy. For what it’s worth, it appears Pera is denying just about everything written about him by Mannix and tweeted to him personally on Monday:
Wow..@ChrisMannixSI What happened to journalistic integrity? No wonder people are calling me crazy. I would too if any of that was true
— Robert J Pera (@RobertPera) May 26, 2014
@ChrisMannixSI Btw..you never contacted me. If you want to get your “source” on TV/radio, let’s be open and have a talk. Name your time
— Robert J Pera (@RobertPera) May 26, 2014
Here is how Mannix responded:
@RobertPera Due respect, made multiple requests through the Grizz p.r. department. Ask Ross/Jason.
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) May 26, 2014
@RobertPera I’m easy to reach. Your people have my number. — Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) May 26, 2014
@ChrisMannixSI Why don’t we just talk here so there is full transparency? #FactsOnly — Robert J Pera (@RobertPera) May 26, 2014
Mannix has yet to reply to Pera’s tweet above. It’s unclear if Mannix went a bit out of his way to write negatively about Pera, but he did throw in a cheap shot about how the owner “fancies himself a pretty good player” in the article – probably an unnecessary comment from a reporting perspective.
With the crazy drama in the front office out of the way for the time being, the Grizzlies can now begin focusing on basketball again. First on the to-do list: re-sign Zach Randolph, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
Randolph, 32, has until June 30 to trigger a $16.5 million player option on the final season of his contract and already had begun preliminary discussions on a long-term extension with Memphis, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Randolph is an extremely popular figure in the Memphis community, and has expressed a strong desire to finish his career in the city where his NBA career has truly blossomed.
Randolph has talked directly with Pera in the past week and he and his agent Raymond Brothers sensed a serious commitment to keep Randolph in Memphis with a new deal.
“We have a great level of comfort and trust with Robert Pera and Chris Wallace,” Brothers told Yahoo Sports on Monday. “Chris and I have been working together for years. He is a good guy.”
ALL ABOUT IBAKA:
Serge Ibaka was supposed to be out for the remainder of the playoffs, so how exactly did he miraculously come back in Game 3? Miraculously, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
After suffering the calf injury two weeks ago, Ibaka was disconsolate. He didn’t see it coming. No one did. They wouldn’t leave it to Ibaka’s toughness and tenacity. The medical staff set incremental benchmarks for him to reach. As one source said, “This wasn’t a case of, ‘How do you feel?’ “
Once the Thunder arrived back into Oklahoma City early Thursday, something surprising had happened: The swelling had subsided some 50 percent. The blood was gone, and suddenly the MRI gave a clearer indication this wasn’t a four-to-six-week calf sprain, but a milder prognosis.
Now, Ibaka was walking. Now, he was talking bolder. Game 3, he told everyone. He was walking, and the Thunder had been running out of time. He was pushing Thunder officials to let him get onto the court and start shooting. Presti understood he had to amend the rigid public stance that Ibaka held no hope of returning.
The power forward gained that much more respect for putting himself on the line for the team from Kevin Durant, by Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report:
“That’s everything you want your teammate to embody,” Kevin Durant said. “A guy who gives himself up for the team, gives his body up for the team. No matter how this game would have gone tonight, I gained so much more respect for Serge for laying it all on the line for us, putting his body out there and sacrificing his health for the betterment of the team.”
Whether Ibaka felt pain during or after the game or not, talking about it is not in his interest:
“My pain is pain, and I don’t want to be here to talk about the pain,” Ibaka said. “Most importantly, we got that win tonight, and the focus is about next game.”
His return has changed everything about the series between the Thunder and Spurs. Gregg Popovich understands this, and delivered the utmost respect for Ibaka as a defensive player, from Sam Amick of USA Today:
Gregg Popovich on Serge Ibaka: “I think he’s the best defensive player in the league.” — Sam Amick (@sam_amick) May 26, 2014
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Shaquille O’Neal, who has always said that he won a championship in Miami on Dwyane Wade’s team, stated something different on Sunday, from Ethan J. Skolnick of Bleacher Report:
What Shaq said on TNT: “D-Wade doesn’t mind being the other guy. He’s won all of his championships being the other guy.”
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 26, 2014
Okay then, Dr. O’Neal.
OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:
Before things got cleared up in Memphis, it was reported by Marc Stein of ESPN that the team may have been looking to bring in Jeff Van Gundy as more than just a coach: “One of the prime options under consideration by the Memphis Grizzlies in the wake of last week’s management shakeup and the looming departure of Dave Joerger to the Minnesota Timberwolves is making a run at Jeff Van Gundy to be their coach and run their front office, according to NBA coaching sources. Sources told ESPN.com that the Grizzlies have serious interest in trying to convince Van Gundy to serve as coach and team president in a job structure modeled after the new dual role brother Stan Van Gundy has secured with the Detroit Pistons.”
The Los Angeles Lakers will interview Alvin Gentry for the head-coaching position, according to Broderick Turner of Los Angeles Times: “Add Clippers associate head coach Alvin Gentry to the list of candidates the Lakers plan to interview for their head coaching vacancy, The Times has learned. After talking with Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak by phone Friday, Gentry has an interview with Kupchak and vice president Jim Buss on Wednesday to talk about replacing Mike D’Antoni, according to several NBA executives who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.”
Dan Le Batard of ESPN explained why talking about LeBron James going back to Cleveland right now is silly: “The Cleveland Cavaliers yet again won the draft lottery, and this immediately set off the predictable national clucking about whether James might choose to go back home after this season. This clucking ignored a lot of things, of course. It ignored that comic-font screed Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert wrote the day James left, calling James a coward amid burning jerseys. It ignored that, while James has been building a relationship with Erik Spoelstra, the Cavs have somehow fired the other coach James grew to trust (Mike Brown) not once but twice. It ignored that James is a very proud man who has found his adult voice in Miami on social issues, as evidenced by what he had to say about Sterling. And it ignored that basketball’s King knows his value, is about to have all the options in the world placed at his feet and that choosing the option of putting profit again in Gilbert’s pockets would make him better at forgiveness than he is at even basketball.”
In the same article from Le Batard, Erik Spoelstra says it would be difficult to coach the Heat if he cared about James’ feelings: “[Assistant coach] Dave Fizdale was just reminding me of a time last year when [LeBron] was really angry at me,” Spoelstra says. “I couldn’t remember why LeBron was so upset with me during one of the huddles. I wish I remembered. It would have been a great story for you guys, but I don’t.” You don’t care that he was angry? “No,” Spoelstra says. “I don’t try to go out of my way to get them angry. They’re upset at me, they’re upset at each other sometimes. That’s the game, and that’s also when you are truly building a family. There are enough times when they don’t like me. If I actually cared, I don’t know if it could work.”
Dwyane Wade doesn’t understand why people seem to like counting him out, from Ethan Skonick of Bleacher Report: “I don’t know, I don’t know,” Wade told Bleacher Report after Sunday’s practice. “I don’t know, man.” It’s almost as if some are waiting for him to walk—or limp, trudge or slink—away. “I don’t know why,” Wade said, laughing. “I think I’ve been good for the game. I don’t know why anybody would want to get me out of here. I don’t know. I have noticed that. And they’re quick to move me out of the way. But, you know, it just makes the story better. Because I won’t let them move me, I won’t leave. I mean, I’m only 32 years old. Like Chris (Bosh) said (to the media), it’s not like I’m 40-something. So, I don’t know. I guess it’s just the way they want to do me.”
James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.