Memphis Owner Regrets the Pau Trade

Apparently, Kwame Brown couldn't fill the emotional void the trade of Pau Gasol left in Memphis. Via TrueHoop, Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski catches Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley tossing his general manager, Chris Wallace, under the fleet by asserting, "Maybe our people should've shopped (Gasol) more and maybe we would've gotten more, done a better deal."

Henry Abbott gamely points out what Heisley said right after the trade in an interview with the Memphis Commercial-Appeal:

"I'm the guy who is making the decisions. If people want to (complain) don't get on (general manager) Chris Wallace about the trade -- get on me."

Wojnarowski also quotes Heisley calling Gregg Popovich to the carpet for the Luis Scola trade, which seems less like honest debate and more like retribution for Pop's harsh remarks about the Grizzlies franchise in February. Sure, the Scola trade won't appear in San Antonio's end-of-season pizza party PowerPoint. But comparing it to the Pau deal is intellectual frotteurism at best.

It's starting to seem like this trade is going to haunt Memphis, though. Remember late February, when rumor had it Memphis wouldn't trade Mike Miller solely because how harshly Wallace and Heisley were judged for the Gasol deal? It's like the Crappy Team version of the Mavericks choking in Game 3 of the 2006 Finals.