Allow me to explain myself...

I have gotten more than a few emails about a comment I made on the show yesterday. I was alerted that the comment is being discussed on the Grizzlies message board under the heading... "Verno: Mayo trade was just a smokescreen."

There are always going to be people that disagree with me whenever I say something that they do not want to hear. Let me say, as a fan of the team, I hate to think about reality too. I am not going to write a novel on the subject, but just consider the following...
In the last few years we have had 3 extremely important assets that could be used to improve the team.

What happened with the Eddie Jones expiring deal? What was attained by trading Pau Gasol? Why would salary cap space this summer not be used? Why has every job in the organization that has come open been filled with a cheaper alternative?
I have been talking about all of this for a long time. Still, I am amazed that some cannot accept the cruel truth of the situation. The Grizzlies priority is not basketball. Nobody with a sane mind could argue that.

Remember, on my very show it was sold to us that there we were going to be one of the few teams going into this summer with significant salary cap space. We were going to be able to "be a major player." What changed?
You can come up with your bologna answer, but then you have to go find legitimate answers for the other questions I have posed. Suddenly you realize that my explanation for the transactions of the past few years fits across the board.

I hate the truth about this situation. The "plan" is to be awful and save money. I hope in three years that we will look up and the Grizzlies are competing in the playoffs. I hope this "plan" works out. But the "plan" is based on finances and sold to us on a basketball level, like everything else that has happened. (Let me give you an example of how a financial move is made and then sold on a basketball level... Kinsey is waived so that they don't have to pay him, his roster spot is never replaced for the sake of "flexibility.") The truth is that they carried the minimum on the roster so that they would only have to pay the minimum, not because they needed roster flexibility... but the move is sold as a basketball move, not a financial move.
What I am saying is that every move with this organization is a financial move and then it is the job of Chris Wallace and everyone else to sell it as a basketball move.
The Grizzlies motto this year, and next year should be "Finances First!"

I typed longer than I intended, but let me finish with this... the truth is found in the actions, not in the words. Pretty poetic, huh?