When he came out of retirement in April 2002 to take over as the Memphis Grizzlies' director of basketball operations, Jerry West hoped to turn around a floundering franchise that had never made the playoffs and whose best season maxed out at 23 wins.
Initially, it seemed West, regarded as the league's best executive after building the modern-day Los Angeles Lakers dynasty, had done the impossible, turning a hapless organization into a Western Conference contender that made postseason appearances in the last three seasons.
But after a dismal 2006-07 campaign, in which the team has posted 60 losses for the first time since 2000 and has dealt with the turmoil of an impending change in ownership, West announced Tuesday that he would step down July 1, adding another mark of futility to the Grizzlies' dubious franchise history.
West's five-year tenure was marked by tremendous player upheaval over the last two years after Memphis was swept out of the first round of the 2004 and 2005 playoffs. West's first big move was to deal malcontents Jason Williams, James Posey, and Bonzi Wells in a five-team, 13-player trade on Aug. 5, 2005, in exchange for character guys Bobby Jackson and Eddie Jones. The Grizzlies went on to win 49 games during the 2005-06 season, as star big man Pau Gasol made the All-Star team for the first time in his career. Still, Memphis endured another year without a playoff victory, falling to the Dallas Mavericks in four games during the first round.
After a third-straight opening-round exit, West again revamped the roster in the offseason, opting to add athleticism to a veteran-laden squad. On July 12, 2006, Memphis acquired forward/center Stromile Swift and the draft rights to swingman Rudy Gay in a trade with the Houston Rockets, hoping they would join second-year forward Hakim Warrick and 2006 first-round pick Kyle Lowry in creating the kind of run-and-gun offense necessary to keep up with the electric Western Conference.
But the Grizzlies were dealt a serious blow before the season even began when Gasol broke his foot playing for his native Spain in the 2006 World Championships, forcing Memphis to play its first 22 games without its leading scorer and rebounder. The Grizzlies tumbled to a 5-17 start and never recovered, prompting Gasol to make a trade request that has yet to be granted.
The dismal 2006-07 campaign is just the latest chapter in the unremarkable 11-year history of the Grizzlies' franchise, which began with a six-year stint in Vancouver, in which the team posted a 101-359 record and four 60-loss seasons. While in Vancouver, the franchise went through three owners, two general mangers, and five head coaches. Players were not immune to the rapid turnover, either, as the team traded away stars Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Mike Bibby and saw attendance at the GM Center bottom-out at an average of 13,737 in 2000-01.
Among the other crippling moves the Grizzlies made in Vancouver was the selection of guard Steve Francis with the second overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft. The Grizzlies were forced to trade the eventual Rookie of the Year when he refused to play for them, getting nearly nothing in return. The franchise also notoriously signed center Bryant Reeves to a six-year, $61.8 million extension in July 1997, only to see his point production fall to single digits two years later.
Memphis cannot hope to erase its checkered past anytime soon, as the team faces a tumultuous and uncertain future. Two big questions center around whether Gasol will be traded and whether the team can find a competent replacement for the highly-regarded West. But an equally-significant issue yet to be resolved centers around owner Michael Heisley, who has been trying to sell the Grizzlies for a year.
On Monday, Heisley announced he would take his team off the market if he does not get an offer by May 1. Former Duke stars Christian Laettner and Brian Davis expressed interest in buying the team in early March, but their bid fell short of the necessary $360 million.
