Checketts' project: that bear is a perfect logo for the Grizzlies
Bill Laurie almost did it, is one of the more popular posts here but I came across something in the NBA:Relocation and Expansion article that needs to be added to that story.
From the PDF of Reading: NBA Expansion and Relocation which I promise to condense into a blog post soon.
Before the 2001–2002 season, the Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA had to make a location decision. The team decided to move out of Canada and created a short list of possible locations that they believed could sustainably and successfully support the franchise. San Diego, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Memphis, and Louisville were on the list. [...] St. Louis had been a contender the year before the sale, but after the failed purchase of the team by St. Louis Blues (NHL) owner Bill Laurie, he declared he would not open the Savvis Center to a an NBA team of which he was not the owner.
While I regret that the NBA didn't allow Bill to move the Grizzlies to St. Louis in the first place, Mr. Laurie himself may have robbed St. Louis of one its better shots at a team. Still, the past is the past; I'm confident that if St. Louis was on the NBA's radar a decade ago it looks better now (recession aside). Especially considering how the Hornets and Grizzlies are fairing in their respective markets. (The Hornets were another one of those teams Bill Laurie said no to unless he could own them. ) Oh Laurie, why couldn't you have been more like Kroenke.
