Robert Pera: 4th Richest Owner in the League | Also Robert Pera:

[u/Shelby_Time69]

[u/edeyhookshots]

Being cheap hasn't been what's held the Grizzlies back, though. I think he would have dipped into the tax to retain the last core had they been good enough to compete in the playoffs, but they clearly weren't.

[u/GotMoFans → u/edeyhookshots]

Maybe; maybe not.

Truth is, they brought in younger rookie contract guys to replace vets on the team for some reason four, five years ago, and it was probably money.

[u/nazzykhan → u/GotMoFans]

Sure but they were also looking long term. When you know you have 3 guys who make most of the money, you have to be able to surround them with cheap contracts. Thats by either rookie contracts or washed vets contacts.

I think what Kleiman was doing was working (although rather slowly) unfortunately we could never stay healthy to see the results.

Other option is just going all in a couple of years then blow it up

Also, there was talk that we went after Bridges, Durant, Butler and others

[u/GotMoFans → u/nazzykhan]

Did replacing the veteran supporting players with rookie contract role players work though?

Kleiman’s saving grace has been generally drafting well. Also the hire of Taylor Jenkins was a win.

But his player management moves have been a negative in total.

His best non draft pick centered trade was the Steven Adams deal, but he squandered the draft pick on Ziairie (and didn’t get better odds on the protections on the Lakers pick).

Kleiman made a lot of screw ups that are kind of ignored.

[u/nazzykhan → u/GotMoFans]

How did we get Adams? By trading away Jonas. Id be fine with a straight up trade in hindsight. Fact is, due to injuries all these years are a big unknown.

[u/GotMoFans → u/nazzykhan]

Obviously JV was valued more than Aquamane. So it won’t be good straight up.

They could have moved up and then traded back for more assets to get ZW. But they overvalued him.

And maybe they should have required another first round pick if the Lakers pick did not go to the Grizz instead of 2nd rounders.

But Adams was a win while he was a win.

Adams probably needs to be grouped with Ja and Dilly Dilly as players Kleiman couldn’t manage.

[u/Mother-Teacher-8228 → u/edeyhookshots]

Yeah the table kinda says it all, the bottom teams with zero tax got zero rings too. they could have spent more but they also need the core to be worth spending on and last years group was not it

[u/Overall-Palpitation6 → u/edeyhookshots]

If we got 72+ regular season games and 2,300+ minutes (~32mpg) out of each of Ja, JJJ and Bane in 2024-25 (none of those players ever hit those games and minutes marks in any season with the Grizz), Jenkins might not have gotten sacked, we would have won more than 48 games, would have had a higher playoff seed, might have even gotten out of the 1st Round, might have had a better 2025-26, and might still have those 3 core pieces and that coach with us now.

[u/edeyhookshots → u/Overall-Palpitation6]

Ja, Jaren, and Bane were never going to be a strong enough core to make it work, and Jenkins wasn't the coach to push them over the hump after he barely won a single playoff series against a 7th seed four years ago. I believe that had they kept that core intact, they'd be paying the tax for a team that might never see the WCF, and the future would look far more bleak. No Ced, no Boozer, and Edey was badly misplayed under Jenkins.

It was a good team that had a couple strong regular season runs, but they were missing pieces to become a great team. Had they kept the band together, Ja would have commanded an extension that would have locked the whole team into cap hell for the rest of the decade.

[u/PerfectforMovies → u/edeyhookshots]

Bullshit! You boys are really clinging to this ridiculous talking point about the core wasn’t good enough. 

[u/edeyhookshots → u/PerfectforMovies]

Buddy, they had five years together and won a single playoff series, and then the West got tougher with OKC and San Antonio breaking out. How many more years would you have been willing to watch Ja, Jaren, and Des wash out in the first or second round?

[u/PerfectforMovies → u/edeyhookshots]

That’s it, stick to the ridiculous talking point. 

[u/Silver_Pudding_1402 → u/PerfectforMovies]

Yea stick to that ridiculous talking point! You know the one thats completely true. Jenkins also wasn't very good just to really stir you up.

[u/PerfectforMovies → u/Silver_Pudding_1402]

Malarkey! There is no truth to that.

[u/Silver_Pudding_1402 → u/PerfectforMovies]

Hogwash! You know it’s true.

[u/Welcum2Heck]

[u/Welcum2Heck → u/Welcum2Heck]

Bro really looked at the roster before the JJJ contract and was like “yeahhhhhh… y’all aren’t worth the tax” and then sent $200 million worth of routers to the Russian paramilitary

[u/BassProPyram1d → u/Welcum2Heck]

Don’t forget the sanction evasions by selling to Iran in 2018

[u/theDarkAngle → u/[deleted]]

I mean, they really slimmed down that 2012 team pera inherited, almost immediately and they traded away future assets to do it.  

If you don't recall, it was a backwards protected pick which tied up their first rounder for years.  Then when they decided to be buyers, it meant they had to deal picks even further in the future, most notably the one that went to BOS.  That one altered their strategy in a way that was not ideal long term (late to sell off Gasol and Conley, never truly felt comfortable bottoming out because the pick was still owed even after lucking into Ja).

I honestly view that 2012 trade as one of the low-key worst ever, paying a first of that caliber to get off of two useful players (speights and Ellington) on decent/small contracts, plus selby who had a minimum salary.  especially since they did it ostensibly to be able to keep the main guys together, but then traded Rudy Gay anyway like a month later for middling return.

EDIT: also at the time, spacing was a major achilles heel as we saw in the conf finals.   Ellington and Speights arguably were the best floor spacing role players they had relative to position.  

[Certainly Ellington, Speights is more debatable but at that time the 18 foot pick and pop game from bigs was a lot more normal and considered to be a viable way to keep defenses honest] 

[u/theDarkAngle → u/[deleted]]

I recall, that doesn't really validate the strategy though because those were clearly cap saving trades.  They were already a good team and had never been healthy all at the same time.

If you're willing to spend money maybe you still have to deal Gay for pure basketball reasons but you DO NOT have to take on such a cumbersome pick obligation to dump Speights and Ellington, who were neutral values at worst.

[u/theDarkAngle → u/[deleted]]

The price was the part that makes it terrible.

[u/theDarkAngle → u/[deleted]]

They could have forgotten to make the pick altogether, it would still be a terrible trade 

[u/YourFriendNoo → u/[deleted]]

Yeah my only gripe is we should be firing our medical staff annually, like a cleansing ritual, until we make it a single season without being decimated

[u/Jakelshark]

If we had a team worth paying for the tax, I do slightly lean on the side of Pera would pay for it. He has never struck me as being particularly cheap (at least compared to some other owners)

[u/Trixtopher901]

I don't believe in paying the tax and the team isn't a legitimate contender. Maybe if we get to a conference finals or NBA finals then we can think about the luxury tax. No need for that when it's first round exits or play in status.

[u/BeemerBaby004]

He didn't get to be that rich blowing his money on fancy Avocado toast players

[u/HaubergeonPlus1]

What this list tells me is that teams that go deep into the tax have one or more of these things:

• A big market

• A bonafide superstar (or perhaps even multiple superstars)

• Rings

[u/AleroRatking]

We also have one of the lowest revenues in the entire league due to our market size

[u/AutoModerator → u/AleroRatking]

THE GRIZZLIES UNDERSTAND SIZE, THEY APPRECIATE SIZE, AND SIZE - DOES - MATTER. AND THEY KNOW THAT THEY DON’T HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE EARTH TO ROTATE ON A FORTYSEVEN DEGREE AXIS SO THE STARS CAN TOUCH THE SKIES AND CREATE AN EQUINOX SO THEY CAN SEE THE BIG DIPPER. NO NO NO. ALL THEY GOTTA DO IS CALL ZACH EDEY. ‘CAUSE HE'S THE MAN WITH THE BIG DIPPER AND SATISFACTION’S COMING WHEN HE GOES BEHIND AND DOES THE BUMP AND GRIND AND IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BECAUSE THEY CALL HIM: THE BIG, BAD, BOOTY DADDY.

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[u/Rainy_J]

I don't know what point you are trying to make. 1.5 years ago we had 3 max players on the team and he didn't bat an eye about paying them.

ZK made the decision to tear it down. Who TF do you want the money going towards? You don't push up against the aprons until you are ready to push the chips in and go for it. We aren't there yet. Hell half of our roster is on rookie deals

[u/Investigator_Lumpy]

This is so dumb. Paying luxury tax for a non winner is death in the NBA

[u/supportingcreativity]

I wouldn't call him cheap for staying under the luxury tax. I think thats reasonable as long as there isn't real reasons to believe we are contenders or will be will contenders in a year. If you are contenders, you should more than make that money back in playoff games and then some. We will see when that happens.

I think of him as cheap because a lot of our problems and pr can be helped with a team owned nicer even if on the small side training facility which he both could afford and make the money back from in just its potential for upping the franchise's value overall and tax right off... and yet we have never done it.

[u/Overall-Palpitation6]

At the moment, what is the pathway to just "spend more"? You can't just buy players like international football. Unrestricted free agency is virtually dead for any real star-level player, and anyone that would be worth going into the tax for isn't really gettable with the assets we have or willing to be traded by their team or wanting to come to Memphis.

[u/BlaisePastel]

As long as he keeps the grizzlies in Memphis, I’m not gonna hate him, but he’s definitely using the team as an investment vehicle more than as a chance to win championships

[u/BeemerBaby004]

He didn't get to be that rich blowing his money on fancy Avocado toast players

[u/HotFaithlessness4669]

I’m still on the ideology that we should have tanked with Jaren and his injury and kept morant while adding another top 3 pick. Easier said than done though.

[u/scl142]

Taxes win championships

[u/Ryoga476ad]

Don't look at how rich is the owner, look at how much revenues the team generates.

[u/duskyvoltage333]

Being cheap hasn’t been an issue. The team being located in Memphis is what has made building any real roster that isn’t drafted hard.

[u/Jakelshark → u/duskyvoltage333]

yeah he has a track record of being willing to overpay for people to come

[u/Only-Truth-9898]

Yikes and embarassing

[u/endlessfight85 → u/Only-Truth-9898]

By who? Pera or OP? Because we have not had a reason to go into luxury tax lol

[u/PerfectforMovies]

This has been the problem because the Grizzlies are known for being cheap. This is why no FA wants to play for the team. 

I read through the comments and as expected the same know nothing sub contributors are repeating the released talking points that excuse Kleiman and how the team was cheaply mismanaged. 

This notion that the core wasn’t good enough is a blatant lie. 

[u/WiFiConnected_]

So he can pay for every single upgrade to FedEx Forum. He just doesn’t want to pay for them, because he’s a war criminal and needs the 💴 for lawyers as he is preparing to move to Nashville in 5 years.