Beale Street Bears
Fansided

Memphis Grizzlies Will Experiment with a New Front Office Structure

By Ed Memphis

TARRYTOWN, NY - JULY 12: Jason Kidd, General Manager Glen Grunwald and Marcus Camby of the New York Knicks poses for a photo during a press conference on July 12, 2012 at the MSG Training Facility in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2012 NBAE (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
TARRYTOWN, NY - JULY 12: Jason Kidd, General Manager Glen Grunwald and Marcus Camby of the New York Knicks poses for a photo during a press conference on July 12, 2012 at the MSG Training Facility in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2012 NBAE (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
Memphis Grizzlies Rich Cho
Rich Cho joins the Memphis Grizzlies in the Front Office (Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Rich Cho

Rich Cho comes with prior general manager experience in Portland and Charlotte. This is not to mention his time as Assistant General Manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder, dating back to their days in Seattle.

With that said, he has had a hand in successful talent acquisitions, mainly due to his ability to read, seek, and articulate analytics, salary cap administration, and overall hoops strategy — all of which he will be contributing to in Memphis one way or another.

Cho not only comes with a few relationships around the league of his own, but he also has a few nice Draft feathers in his hat. One of those feathers is NBA All-Star guard Kemba Walker, whom Cho drafted ninth overall in 2011, which means Cho can draft well outside of the top-five Draft picks.

This is something the Memphis Grizzlies have not seen nearly enough of. Not only did he draft Kemba ninth, but he also drafted All-Star forward Tobias Harris mid-first round of that same NBA Draft, though he traded Harris the same night for the corpse of Corey Maggette. Hey, at least Rich Cho caught the bass before he threw it back in the water.

Another great move Cho made in his two stints as General Manager was the signing of undrafted free-agent Wes Matthews back in 2010. He eventually followed that up with drafting Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, but MKG was the consensus No. 2 overall pick in that Draft. Who would have known Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard would go on to become superstars while MGK would struggle to start or do anything in high production? I did not see it coming with “Dame Dolla” for sure, but Beal always had that stench of destiny if you ask me.

More from Beale Street Bears

Rich Cho also hired Steve Clifford, who turned out to be a very solid coach before Cho was replaced in Charlotte by Mitch Kupchak. A clear sign no matter how genius Cho was as an analytics and potential talent evaluator, his leadership skills or lack thereof were just too much to overcome. He was replaced by the total opposite in Kupchak, a guy who cannot evaluate good talent to save his life, nor is he regarded as an analytics guru like Cho, but Mitch is great at running an organization day-to-day.

Essentially, Michael Jordan gave up innovative vision in Rich Cho for a basketball politician in Mitch Kupchak. So far, Kupchak has not made Jordan’s decision look even halfway decent as I expected, but technically there is still time before Kemba bolts on the Charlotte Hornets in free-agency.

Now with the Memphis Grizzlies, Rich Cho will serve in a capacity that may be best for all parties invested, which is to allow Cho to head up analytics, salary cap, and personnel advice while not forcing him into a sole leadership role. Again, he basically replaces John Hollinger in analytics as Hollinger will remain with the team as of now, but in a more analytics advisory role.

One thing that is clear now on both Cho and Hollinger is that they are the math wiz type in school more so than the class president type. Cho is the head of the math wiz lunch table versus Hollinger being the potentially smarter, but more shy, best friend.

Regardless of such, Rich Cho is tasked with building a culture modern to league-wide success without being the guy staff hears orders from. My money says this will prove to be huge growth for the Memphis Grizzlies’ Front Office.

Home/Grizzlies News