An ominous article about Kaplan and the sale on front page of ESPN.com

[BloopOracle]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14964753/delay-minnesota-timberwolves-sale-exposes-memphis-grizzlies-ownership-drama



The uncertainty surrounding the potential acquisition of the Minnesota Timberwolves by a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies has exposed turmoil within the Memphis ownership group, clouding future control of both franchises, sources told ESPN.com.

Grizzlies minority owner and co-executive chairman Steve Kaplan, a California venture capitalist, had planned to sell his Grizzlies stake to buy 30 percent of the Wolves with a path to eventually take over as controlling owner. However, sources tell ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe, a dispute between Kaplan and Grizzlies owner Robert Pera over shares in the team led to a behind-the-scenes battle that took months to resolve.

It was recently settled after Kaplan threatened to initiate an arbitration procedure, sources said. The terms of the settlement are confidential and multiple sources declined to comment on them. NBA owners cannot formally sue each other under league rules and minority owners typically must sell shares in one team before buying into another.

The resulting delay has put Kaplan's deal with Wolves owner Glen Taylor in jeopardy. Kaplan and an investor went to Minneapolis earlier this month to meet with Taylor to help salvage the process.

Meanwhile, sources say Pera has been distant from Memphis over the last year, and has excluded minority owners from any meaningful participation in team decision-making, which is his right as controlling owner. Kaplan is worried that the market for his minority interest will dry up once potential buyers complete their due diligence on Pera's ownership techniques, sources said.

In selling his minority stake on the open market, Kaplan has been asking for close to $100 million for his 14 percent share -- pegging the team's value at roughly $700 million -- a big enough number to turn off some potential investors, sources said.

The drama could drag on, in particular because of an unusual clause in the Memphis ownership agreements Kaplan can trigger in October of 2017 -- on the five-year anniversary of their purchase of the team with Pera.

At that time Kaplan and fellow minority owner Daniel Straus, an East Coast health-care magnate and the team's vice chairman, have an option to make a bid for controlling interest in the team at a price of their choosing, sources said. At that point Pera would have two options: buy out Kaplan and Straus at that named price, or sell his shares to them based on the same valuation. Control of the decision ultimately rests with Pera.

The so-called "buy-sell" clause is merely an option, and it is unclear if Kaplan or Straus would ever actually trigger it -- especially since Pera could simply for them to pay up if they name a wildly high price.

It is relevant because it would give Kaplan a possible path to team ownership if his deal to buy into the Wolves doesn't become finalized.

Kaplan had been making plans to become involved with the Wolves and consult on front office, coaching and roster moves, sources said. He was expected to spend time traveling with the team to get to know the players during the season. Those plans have been scrapped and inside the Wolves there is a growing assumption that Taylor will remain as primary decision-maker for the near term. This has been received as good news by incumbent general manager Milt Newton and interim coach Sam Mitchell, sources say.

[Monster]

Thanks for posting that's some very interesting stuff and explains a lot.

[Coolbreeze44]

We all know Glen doesn't have a good track record in making major organizational decisions. But it doesn't mean Kaplan will automatically be a front office whiz. The only thing we can say for sure is he doesn't have the bad record Glen has. To me the story doesn't really mean much until Kaplan gains some power within the organization. That could take years, or maybe never even happen at all. I'm much more concerned about what Glen does right after the season. I half expect him to roll with the status quo, but on the other hand I wonder how a sane person could do that. Nonetheless I think those moves or non moves will have a much bigger impact on the future than whether Kaplan gains a minority interest in the team.

[Monster]

We all know Glen doesn't have a good track record in making major organizational decisions. But it doesn't mean Kaplan will automatically be a front office whiz. The only thing we can say for sure is he doesn't have the bad record Glen has. To me the story doesn't really mean much until Kaplan gains some power within the organization. That could take years, or maybe never even happen at all. I'm much more concerned about what Glen does right after the season. I half expect him to roll with the status quo, but on the other hand I wonder how a sane person could do that. Nonetheless I think those moves or non moves will have a much bigger impact on the future than whether Kaplan gains a minority interest in the team.

Glen has gone outside of guys he has connections with a couple times I can think of. Once with hiring Dwayne Casey who is having that success many thought he would eventually have in the league as a coach. Another time that was full outside of his peeps was David Kahn who also brought in Rambis who was a total outsider. Adelman was also an outsider and that didn't go well overall after seeming like we had finally got something right for once. Imagine if he had done the what seems to be a more typical Glen Taylor thing and handed the reins to Hoiberg instead of David Kahn which a few of us called for or were very interested in back then. A lot of us were not happy with Flip worming his way back and at this point it's looking pretty much like a great move. I don't want to make Glen out to be some great basketball mind or personnel selector because he has had his share of missteps that have been well documented but at least the guys he has brought in that were his guys have had some legit moments of brilliance or competency either with the Wolves or when they moved on to other gigs. That's not exactly comforting but it's something I guess.

[Phenom]

In typical Wolves fashion. Everything has to be a clusterfuck.

[Monster]

In typical Wolves fashion. Everything has to be a clusterfuck.

Yeah and in classic Wolves fashion how many times has that happened when things were finally looking up? Some of its just damn bad luck.