[mezzanine]

Bad idea in 2001, bad idea in 2010.

And I am glad Michael Heisley is still screwing it up in Memphis.

Now, being from Vancouver, I am clearly and deeply biased. I am naturally going to be antagonistic towards the carpetbagging boob who came to town and bought the team and promised not to move the team until he did a whole year later.

(Which, as statements in Grizzlies history goes, ranks behind Steve Francis describing his post-draft visit to Vancouver by saying, “I looked up at the mountains to see if I could see any bears walking around,” but ahead of Doug West saying “After I got traded [to Vancouver] I stood at the bar and drank 17 Heinekens.”)

Read more: http://sports.nationalpost.com/2010/...#ixzz14OdmPOV3

The team under Heisley's ownership has been rather dysfunctional. The 73-year-old billionaire financier bought the Vancouver, B.C. team for $160 million in 2000 and moved it south a year later to Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies have lost money ever since in each season save one, and tore through eight head coaches and four player personnel chiefs. Over the past four seasons the team has a cumulative winning percentage of .357, fourth worst in the league (among 30 teams), and the lowest attendance, 2.28 million.
Worth $257 million, the Grizzlies are second from the bottom in value and the third most leveraged (with debt 58% of enterprise value). The NBA team average debt to value is 29%.

Heisley has been contemplating his exit for years but can't find a buyer at his asking price of $300 million-plus, including from among his minority partners. Many feel burned by his failed prior attempt to sell the team. Animus among the owners has driven away talented executives. Coaches show little interest in coming.

http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/01...r=contextstory