--The Grizzlies' new president of business operations is Greg Campbell, who had been the team's vice president of finance. He's replacing Andy Dolich, who resigned last December to take a position with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.
Campbell's experience and his familiarity with the franchise gave him the edge on filling Dolich's spot. Campbell has been responsible for the overall financial reporting of the organization and the corporate planning process to the ownership group. He oversaw payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, NBA league reporting, budgeting and cash-flow forecasting. --Grizzlies majority owner Michael Heisley decided to bring back rookie coach Marc Iavaroni for a second year.
"None of the basketball operations staff was very satisfied with our performance," Heisley said. "There are several areas that needed to be addressed.
"It was his first year. He made some mistakes. Probably one of the biggest was not focusing on the defensive side of the equation. We had a lot of discussions along those lines. It was very productive and I decided Marc deserved an opportunity to rectify some of the things that didn't go right."
--The Grizzlies will have up to $12 million to spend on a free agent this summer, but don't expect them to be footloose and fancy-free.
"We do not have the financial base that the large-market teams have, and we have to be more cautious about how we spend our dollars," Heisley said. "There's only two ways to build a team. You can go through free agency. But the free agents have got to want to come to your team. Some will not do that, especially with a small-market team. There are very few small-market teams that can build through free agency. San Antonio built their team through the draft. Now that they've won championships, people want to come.
"I'm trying to win. But you can't just buy your way to a championship. People ask me, will we use cap room? I'm not going to just use it to use it. We cannot afford to basically have one of the highest payrolls. We can't have $60 million in salary because we don't have the fan base to support it. But I'm going to do the best job I can."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We need to add some physical defenders, I think we need to get people in here with that type of a mindset. I think we can always improve our shooting, we could probably use a strong front-line player who's a proven scorer inside." -- Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni, on what the team is seeking in the offseason.
