Understandably, no fan wants to hear that their owner is cheap, because it's essentially saying their owner doesn't actually want their team to win. Grzzlies fans, I understand your pain, because I know this will hurt.

But there's no way around it: the Grizzlies, and especially owner Michael Heisley, are cheap.

It's not even that they immediately re-signed Rudy Gay in order to avoid having to match a frontloaded contract. It's not even that they decided not to give Ronnie Brewer a qualifying offer (which would allow them to match any offer made to him) because they didn't want to risk being stuck paying Brewer that next season if nobody wanted him.

It's that they're currently engaged in possibly the most ridiculous contract negotiation I've ever heard about with rookie Xavier Henry.

Why is it so ridiculous? Unlike in most other sports, the NBA has a system where rookies have a slotted salary based on their draft position. The whole point of the system is to prevent rookies from holding out like this. You can see that scale here.

NBA teams can only pay their rookies between 80 percent and 120 percent of those figures, so technically, there is a "negotiation." But because the difference is so small, pretty much every team just pays the player 120 percent of the rookie scale. And why not? The rookie can't do anything to seek his real market value, so it's only fair for the team to throw him a bit of a carrot and give him as much as possible while complying with the rules.

Except that's not how the Grizzlies roll. The Grizzlies have decided they'd rather pay Henry around 80 percent of the scale, and Henry is balking. The official explanation by GM Chris Wallace is that the team wants their rookies to "earn" increases with good play. But that's completely nonsensical. When a rookie signs his rookie-scale contract, he locks in his salary for the next four years (with the final two years being a team option). He doesn't just lock in one year of salary. As well as Xavier Henry plays, there's absolutely no way he can "earn" an increase until his next contract.

So really, the reason this is happening is because the Grizzlies are cheap. They're willing to dig down in the sand and piss off their first-round draft pick over what basically amounts to six-tenths of one percent of their player payroll ($300,000 on a $50 million payroll). That's not fiscal responsibility, that's frugality at it's worst.

At this point, I'm hoping Henry finds a way out of this deal and onto another team. He deserves better.

Source: http://www.sbnation.com/2010/7/16/1572905/xavier-henry-grizzlies-contract-holdout-cheap

Would love to throw some cash and Walker at Memphis for Henry.

Of course, if they're doing good business and acting like this, it's beyond just being cheap.

Solace wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

Solace wrote:Shows they may be having some financial troubles. Perhaps they have to do things like this, in order to have kept Rudy Gay. Maybe letting Rudy Gay go would've been a better option. On the flipside, the comparison of $300k out of $50 million is nonsensical, because that will happen every year and if they saved that much per player, it's actually significant.

Of course, if they're doing good business and acting like this, it's beyond just being cheap.

I dont see the point of having an unhappy player who will be itching to leave as soon as they are a free agent. Gasol and OJ Mayo are almost as good as gone from that team. I can also see them trading Gay in the future.

Memphis will be the Clippers East.

No, of course it's a stupid strategy. But, maybe there's other motivations behind it, aside from simply being cheap. But, I 100% agree. Stiff a player on money like this and you will have an unhappy player who may disappear when the going gets tough.

I understand Memphis is trying to save money but they aren't a free agent destination. They need to be somewhat accommodating to the rookies in hopes they will stay around.

All this over 300K is pretty sad. Been better off trading down in the draft or letting Rudy Gay walk. You should not be paying a guy like Rudy Gay the max if 300K is breaking the bank.

AnubisADL wrote:

Solace wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

Solace wrote:Shows they may be having some financial troubles. Perhaps they have to do things like this, in order to have kept Rudy Gay. Maybe letting Rudy Gay go would've been a better option. On the flipside, the comparison of $300k out of $50 million is nonsensical, because that will happen every year and if they saved that much per player, it's actually significant.

Of course, if they're doing good business and acting like this, it's beyond just being cheap.

I dont see the point of having an unhappy player who will be itching to leave as soon as they are a free agent. Gasol and OJ Mayo are almost as good as gone from that team. I can also see them trading Gay in the future.

Memphis will be the Clippers East.

No, of course it's a stupid strategy. But, maybe there's other motivations behind it, aside from simply being cheap. But, I 100% agree. Stiff a player on money like this and you will have an unhappy player who may disappear when the going gets tough.

I understand Memphis is trying to save money but they aren't a free agent destination. They need to be somewhat accommodating to the rookies in hopes they will stay around.

All this over 300K is pretty sad. Been better off trading down in the draft or letting Rudy Gay walk. You should not be paying a guy like Rudy Gay the max if 300K is breaking the bank.

This is the important point. I agree. I don't agree with the article, as it is being hypocritical in the criticism of the Grizzlies, though. You can't call them cheap and use as one of your examples, the fact that they paid max to a player. That's beyond ridiculous.

AnubisADL wrote:

Solace wrote:

AnubisADL wrote:

Solace wrote:Shows they may be having some financial troubles. Perhaps they have to do things like this, in order to have kept Rudy Gay. Maybe letting Rudy Gay go would've been a better option. On the flipside, the comparison of $300k out of $50 million is nonsensical, because that will happen every year and if they saved that much per player, it's actually significant.

Of course, if they're doing good business and acting like this, it's beyond just being cheap.

I dont see the point of having an unhappy player who will be itching to leave as soon as they are a free agent. Gasol and OJ Mayo are almost as good as gone from that team. I can also see them trading Gay in the future.

Memphis will be the Clippers East.

No, of course it's a stupid strategy. But, maybe there's other motivations behind it, aside from simply being cheap. But, I 100% agree. Stiff a player on money like this and you will have an unhappy player who may disappear when the going gets tough.

I understand Memphis is trying to save money but they aren't a free agent destination. They need to be somewhat accommodating to the rookies in hopes they will stay around.

All this over 300K is pretty sad. Been better off trading down in the draft or letting Rudy Gay walk. You should not be paying a guy like Rudy Gay the max if 300K is breaking the bank.

Tsk, tsk. This will come back to bite them in the ass