On Friday, Henry Abbott – at TrueHoop – made the following observation:
Bringing Jerry West into the Warriors’ organization as an adviser will certainly lend credibility to the new ownership. Will it actually improve basketball decision-making? Hard to know. In his last job, he made the Grizzlies OK, but not as good as much-maligned Chris Wallace made them.
When I read this I immediately thought: Is Memphis really better today than they were under West?
I realize the Grizzlies have finally won a playoff game and advanced to the second round. But because the playoffs are a small sample, they are not as good as the regular season when it comes to measuring the quality of a team. So let’s compare the regular season performance of the Grizzlies under West and Wallace.
West came to Memphis in April of 2002. He then departed Memphis in July of 2007. So West was calling the shots in Memphis from 2002-03 to 2006-07. Here is how Memphis performed across those seasons in terms of regular season wins and regular season efficiency differential (offensive efficiency minus defensive efficiency).
- 2002-03: 22 wins, -5.27 efficiency differential
- 2003-04: 49 wins, 4.12 efficiency differential
- 2004-05: 45 wins, 2.51 efficiency differential
- 2005-06: 50 wins, 2.56 efficiency differential
- 2006-07: 28 wins, -3.34 efficiency differential
Chris Wallace took over in 2007. And here is what the Grizzlies have done across the past four seasons.
- 2007-08: 22 wins, -6.30 efficiency differential
- 2008-09: 24 wins, -5.86 efficiency differential
- 2009-10: 40 wins, -1.54 efficiency differential
- 2010-11: 46 wins, 2.44 efficiency differential
So West inherited a poor team. He then led the team to its best season in franchise history (2003-04 if we focus on efficiency differential, 2005-06 if we focus on wins). But when the players who produced these wins – Pau Gasol, Shane Battier, Eddie Jones, and Mike Miller – departed (as explained back in 2007 – a process that began in 2006-07), the Grizzlies got much worse.
And that means Wallace also inherited a poor team. Wallace has returned this team to respectability, but in the regular season it has yet to reach the level we saw under West.
Now people might still wish to focus on the playoffs. Let me note, though, that Memphis might have had a better experience in the playoffs had they chosen to lose a particular game back in 2006.
Back in 2006, the LA Clippers advanced to the second round of the playoffs. They were able to do this because they lost a game to Memphis towards the end of the season. That loss gave the Clippers a favorable match-up in the first round. Had Memphis lost that game, they would have had that favorable match-up and might have been able to win in the first round (before bowing out like the Clippers did in the next series).
Of course, Memphis didn’t lose that game. And the Grizzlies never did win a playoff game until this year. But again, I think we should evaluate West and Wallace in terms of regular season performance (the larger sample).
And I think that large sample says that West did a better job of leading Memphis (at least, so far).
– DJ
Wages of Wins Journal 
dr_john
May 22, 2011
The first problem with this is that when Jerry West was hired Dick Versace was also hired as the GM.
Second, Hubie Brown “led” the 03-04 team to its best season with players who were already there when West was hired, excepting the mid-season trade for Miller.
Third, when Pau Gasol broke his foot Mike Fratello was the fall guy. How do you treat the Iavaroni hire?
Lastly, I’d say they are there now, and more. Pay as you go.
Chip Crain
May 24, 2011
Dave – Your blog is correct on some points but I think you are ignoring something that needs to be factored into Wallace’s run as GM. Majority owner Michael Heisley has become a hands on, not hands off, manager since Jerry West left the Grizzlies. West was given absolute free reign with the team while Wallace has had to deal with meddlesome owner who has absolute control over final decisions, such as the drafting of Hasheem Thabeet and the trade for O J Mayo. Heisley also dismantled the Grizzlies scouting department making Wallace’s job that much more difficult.
To strictly compare Wallace and West without including the outside influence of Heisley, who has no basketball background, is ignoring the 800 pound elephant in the corner.
reservoirgod
May 24, 2011
@Chip:
Isn’t Heisley’s meddling a reflection of Wallace? If he was as good as West, Heisley wouldn’t meddle as much (or at all).
Chip Crain
May 24, 2011
@ reservoirgod – Actually Heisley took over the decision making before hiring Wallace. Now I don’t know about anyone else but I generally do what the man signing the checks tells me to do in my job.
reservoirgod
May 26, 2011
@Chip:
But isn’t that a reflection of Wallace? Would he meddle if he thought Wallace was competent enough to handle things without his input?