Of all the reasons to think the Grizzlies might actually make it to a 20th anniversary in Memphis, the presence of David Stern in the commissioner’s office has to rank near the top. He believes in the city. He helped steer the Grizzlies to Memphis over New Orleans, Louisville and Anaheim. Long before Heisley entered the picture, the NBA had been engaged in quiet talks with Memphis leaders about bringing a franchise here. “I saw something here in terms of the community, in terms of its commitment to work together, in terms of the commitment that FedEx had to the community as the largest employer,” Stern said. “It was, to me, a unique confluence.” And it hasn’t worked. Or, it hasn’t worked as well as most would have hoped. Stern declined to call Memphis an NBA “trouble spot” Wednesday but did concede “it’s a place we’d like to see do better.” His explanation for the struggles was revealing. Stern didn’t say Memphians have to do a better job of supporting the Grizzlies. He said the franchise has to do a better job of connecting with the town. “They’ve got to focus more on — ” Stern paused here, choosing his words carefully. “They’ve got to do on the sales side what the team does so wonderfully on the social-responsibility and community-relations side.” In other words: Memphis is a viable NBA market, the Grizzlies have just screwed it up. — Memphis Commercial Appeal
