Michael Heisley And The Three-Year Plan.

"Nov 2, 2010; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33) and Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol (16) during the game at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE “We’re committed to putting a contending team on the floor, and the target is three years. I’m looking for  three years from today Memphis to have a team than contends and then turning that team into a team that competes for championships.”"

Sounds simple enough, right? It’s not hard to build a pseudo-contender in today’s NBA or anything.

But that’s what Memphis Grizzlies Owner Michael Heisley said on the night of the NBA Draft in 2008. How often does a guy say something like that and back it up?

Michael Heisley is a lot of things, but he’s a not a liar. He’s candid, open and honest and sometimes to a fault.

So when he put the Grizzlies on the clock on draft night, his intentions became more clear.

Some say that the Three-Year Plan was kick-started with the trade of Shane Battier for Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift at the 2006 draft. Gay was being pegged by everyone to be a future star in the league, but the Grizzlies traded a key cog of their three consecutive playoff teams to get him.

In all actuality, Heisley’s Three-Year Plan was kicked off with the trade of Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers in early 2008. The Grizzles felt like they had to turn the page on the old guard and with it, Gasol.

It is not that Gasol was a declining player, either. After leaving Memphis, he made three All-Star teams and the Lakers went to three straight Finals, and winning two.

Still, the Grizzlies felt like they got the better end of the deal. The Lakers won in the short term without a doubt, but in the long term? The Lakers are looking to trade Gasol right now and the Grizzlies seem poised to have another big year next year.

Heisley would go on to say that “every move we make will be with that goal in mind.”

How is that even possible? Not every move you make can be motivated by the promise of a championship, right? In the Grizzlies’ case, most every move did and that’s where we sit today, with the Grizzlies fresh off of a top-4 seed in the Western Conference.

In the next few weeks, we’re going to look at the most significant moves that took place in the name of the Three-Year Plan, why it was made and if it worked out.

It’s easy to sit back and second-guess any decision that your team’s front office makes. It’s even easier to look at the Chicago Bulls or Oklahoma City Thunder and say “see, that’s how you build a team!!”

Trust me, if the Grizzlies (or any other team for that matter) had the chance to draft Kevin Durant or Derrick Rose, they’d have already done it. Those teams got lucky and tripped into a franchise player. If you don’t get to draft a player like that you’re already behind the eight ball, they aren’t just growing on trees. The ones that are available all want to play in a big market or with their boys. If you play in a small market and you don’t already have an All-Star, then the climb is even more steep.

The Grizzlies didn’t have any of those advantages, and while you can argue whether they’re an actual “championship contender, ” you can’t argue that their status is far better today than it was then.

To be continued.