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(female announcer)production funding for "sports files" ismade possible in part by.. (male announcer)infinity of memphis has moved to germantown road just a half mileroad of wolfchase galleria and is proud to support w-k-n-o for its quality broadcasting and serviceto our community. quality and service --no wonder infinity of memphis feels athome on w-k-n-o. my guest today on "sports files"is the general manager of the

memphis grizzlies, chris wallace. [theme music] despite a recent four-gamelosing streak and injuries to zach randolph and tony allen,the memphis grizzlies have compiled one of the league's toprecords through the first 30 or so games of the season. and even with marc gasol'spending free agency looming at season's end, much of the team'ssuccess this season can be attributed to stability.

yes, stability. this just a year after arguablythe most unstable season since the team arrived in memphis. there was a change at headcoach to begin the season and a massive upheaval in thefront office to end it. and through it all, generalmanager chris wallace kept to himself. the major decision maker inpersonnel moves since his arrival in 2007, wallace becamenothing more than a figure head

while team president jasonlevien took control of both the team's basketball and business decisions. wallace remained on the staff but his input was hardly requested. instead, he kept his distance,contemplating his future. then grizzliesprincipal owner, robert pera, decided to relieve levien ofhis duties late last spring, elevating wallace back to hisposition of chief decision-maker on the basketballoperations side.

as the late jerrygarcia once said, "what a long,strange trip it's been." today grizzlies general managerchris wallace makes another visit to the show as we discussthe chances this team has to win it all. or are therechanges on the horizon? it's all next on "sports files." chris, great to haveyou back on the show. happy new year to you.

happy new year to you, too, greg. before we talk grizzlies,let's talk college football. i know you lovecollege football. your west virginiamountaineers, your home state, they were in action monday,the autozone liberty bowl game. put up a good fight,fell to texas a and m. i'm sure you were over thereand had a chance to watch them. i was at the game. i met with coachholgersen when he was here.

both teams were here for our game against houston on friday night. hung around at the hotel with them. saw oliver luck, andrew's dad. our athletic director is movingon to be the number two guy at the n-c-a-a. so, it was fabulous for me tohave west virginia down here in memphis, my adoptedhometown, in a bowl game. everything was greatbut the final score.

why are you such a big college football fan? college football is my favorite sport. i was exposed to it at a very early age. dad took me to my first game when i was five years old at west virginia. i saw roger staubach and navy. i've seen so many good playersover the years play particularly the penn stateteams, joe paterno coach. ted hendricks of miami.larry nance.

tony dorsett at pitt,i saw numerous times. dan marino. great miami teamsof jimmy johnson, michael irvin, all those guys. i've been to probablyabout eight to ten bowl games. everybody who knows you around here knows how biga fan you are. you are always at thetouchdown club meetings. and i'll tell you what.

college football launched me in an indirect way into what i do now. okay, let me get to that. you decide you'regoing to go to kansas. you go to kansas. you're a hugecollege football fan. you start the blue ribbon yearbook. you're talking basketball here.so, why not football? well, i reached afork in the road.

i want to start a publication. so am i going to the left with basketball or to the right with football? i just looked at all thecompetition of the newsstands. this is the early '80s.1981, for example. there just seemed tobe more competition, a harder road in frontof me with football. (greg) makes sense. that there was lesscompetition in basketball.

so, i went that way. alright, let'stalk about this team. this year, this season sofar, 23 and 8 as we tape this. it's a lot different for youpersonally from what it was last year. how tough was that last year? and how great is it to be backin the saddle doing the things you love to do asa basketball exec? well, i wasn't working on aday-to-day basis last year.

i was kind ofwatching from afar, following the team obviously with a tremendous amount of interest. it's much better to beback in the line of fire, so to speak, right therewith the great front office. we have an ownership group. we're working together tobring that first championship to memphis. i would much rather be activeand in the fray than stepping

back and sort of being a glorified fan, so to speak. was it really hard to biteyour lip and to stand in the background and not say anything? no because i felt it was best. no one asked me tomove to the background. that's sort of a misconception. i moved there myself because ididn't want to be considered someone that was meddling,trying to get in the way

of a new regime. so, i voluntarily moved back andlet everybody have their space. i know you won't get intospecifics but when robert pera approached you and decidedto make the change in the hierarchy, you're thrust backinto the position that you came here to be in, to run the show,to run the basketball operations -- you came here in '07, '08.what was that conversation like? what was that conversation liketo have robert on your side? to be honest with ya,it's a gift from heaven.

because if it wasn't forrobert and joe bringing me back, i probably wouldn't beworking in the n-b-a this year. i would be doing the samething i did last year which is a prolonged vacation. now there is a positive. and that is you don't have tosweat the games quite the extent you do when you're active and you're living and dying on every basket. but again, i'm abasketball professional.

i've been in the n-b-asince 1986 with seven teams. i feel unfulfilled because i've never been on a championship team. so, the further on the outside, i'm not getting closer to that goal. in any occupation, greg, whenyou get away from the action and you're outside thecircle, outside looking in, it can be verydifficult to get a job. i always found it is easiest toget a job when you have a job.

(greg) right. so, you know, i was running therisk of being yesterday's news if robert didn't bring me back. so, here you are with this teamplaying as well as anybody in the league. do you have enough pieces inplace with this team right now, with this roster, to win it all? well, i don't think you ever getsatisfied and lull yourself into a false sense of securityuntil you win a championship.

then you can say,"we have our team." you are alwaystinkering, trying to get better. every team in the n-b-a is.we're no different. we're on the phone virtuallyevery day discussing trade possibilities, otherteams, looking at free agents, monitoring the d league. we've got a better vantage pointnow that we got chris mack as our director of minorleague operations and the whole iowa energy thing going.

but, again, you can never stop.and look at recent years. there have been some terrificin-season additions last year and i can't claimany credit for it. but the administration did a great job bringing in james johnson, swinging a trade for courtney lee, picking up beno udrih late after he had been released by the knicks. i felt from my vantage point ifjames johnson and lee weren't acquired when they did, i don'tthink the grizzlies would have

made the playoffs last year. they held the fort down until marc gasol came back and was healthy. a few years ago, wepicked up leon powe, who didn't play a great deal butwas a tremendous addition to our looker room and did producewhen he did get in the game. so, it's great to pick up someof these guys for the stretch run if you can do it. now we don't want to compromiseour future in any addition.

we obviously have to be carefulof the financial ramifications. every team in the league does. you have to watch the luxury tax. we're aggressively out there andwho knows where that's going to take us. you also don't want to ruin chemistry. the chemistrybetween these guys, the continuity,especially with the big four, it's been here a long time.

with that said, dallas goesout and gets rajon rondo. houston picks up a josh smith. when you see thosemoves within your division, what do you think? those are terrificmoves for those two teams. those are big-timeestablished players. they've dipped a little bit inthe last couple of years due to some other circumstances. now you put them on a teamthat's got a chance to win big.

they're going to go back to thelevel play they were when they were all-stars. we're not going to justbe reactionary and say, okay, dallas,houston made a move, we have to make one, too. it has to be the rightmove that fits for this team. i can't really predict whether a move will occur or not at this point in time. (greg)what do you think this

team can use just fromthe outside looking in? (chris)we can always use more outside shooting, particularlythe three-point variety. more help on the perimeter, guysthat can maybe create their own shot, someone that anygiven night can go for 15, 20, 25 points. everyone else is lookingfor that kind of guy, too. so, we're very happywith the group we have. but, you know, again, you can never get complacent

in the n-b-a. i go by this mantra. you're never as good as youlook when things are rolling and everybody is patting you on the back when you're going down the street. and you're never as bad aswhen you're losing and they're kicking you to the curb. it's alwayssomewhere in the middle. you guys did approach rayallen a few years ago before

he signed with miami. is that not correct? that was an off-season move.that's different. it wasn't an in-season move. most of the in-season moves thatare made as far as adding free agents, you know, we andvirtually every other team are involved with those players. it's sort of likecollege recruiting. you get some and some you don't.

players are looking for thebest situation for themselves to showcase theirskills for, you know, a brief period of timethe rest of the year. so, it's a little differentsituation than recruiting a vince carter, say, in the offseason who is looking to sign a multiple year deal. he has plenty of time to look over and assess the various situations. this is more of abang-bang thing.

he signs within a few days. players that areplaying overseas, getting out ofcontracts, coming home. d-league, obviously, theplayers have no choice. they'll just takewhoever picks them up. okay, you say that youare always on the phone. how many phone callswould you get in a week? just a guestimate. it's not just me,it's the entire group.

it's stefansky. we're all involvedin talking to teams. is this something on a daily basis, would you say? i would say virtually every day of the year we're talking to somebody. some days there's multiple.i mean, well over ten calls. other days, it's just a few. the intensity of trade talksin the n-b-a starts to pick up around december 15th.

because all the free agents thatare signed in the summer are not eligible to be tradeduntil after december 15. it obviously culminates thethird thursday of february each year when the tradingdeadline ends that afternoon. so, we're in thetrading season right now. marc gasol is havinga tremendous year. everybody knows it's the finalseason of his current contract. how confident are you that marcwill be back with the grizzlies? we will re-sign him.

i can't tell you the exact datethat it's going to get done. but we've re-signedmarc twice before. and since this team got good andwas going to be a contender four years ago, we'vere-signed zach randolph twice. we've resigned marc gasol twice.we signed mike conley. and we twice signed tony allen. and we signed rudygay during all that, as well. so, we've never struck out on the guy that's a prime target here.

so, you're sayingyou'll sign him? we're going toget it done, yeah. why would he wantto go anywhere else? chris, what does that say aboutthis organization and about the continuity of these guysthat they all want to stay? they want to re-sign.they want to play here. that should also say somethingto free agents out there when thinking aboutmemphis down the line. we stick to our guys.we've taken care of them.

we've got tremendous continuity. i don't have any analyticalresearch here to try it out but i would say our core guys havebeen together -- it's got to be in the top five in the leaguein terms of their time together. that helps you win games. continuity is a very importantvariable to have on your side the chemistry, also, is enhancedwhen players know if they produced they'regoing to get rewarded. players want to go to a placewhere they can contend here.

we play in as good a facilityas there is in the world. we've got great fans. memphis is aterrific town to live in. all the guys thatcome here, you know, love it. so, why would you want to leave? the grass is greener on this side of the fence. i hear you, i hear you.you've sold me. vince carter, one of thebig off-season acquisitions, obviously didn'tdecide to go back.

bring back mike miller.he's in cleveland. what has vince beenfor this team so far? let's start from thelocker room standpoint. he's a tremendousperson to add to the team. he's got a greatbasketball mind. he's a selfless guy who is willing to help particularly younger players. players look up to him becausevince carter has been one of their basketball heroes.

and he just lovesto compete, fit in. he doesn't come in withany sort of prima donna. seems genuine. as genuine as you can get. that's a guy that you say, wow,if he wanted to come in and be a big-timer, you could certainlyunderstand with what he's achieved in the league. he's going into the hall offame with top 25 scoring. right.

he's as good a teammate as i've ever seen in my time chris, all-star rosters, as you know, are limited. this season, with whatthe grizzlies are doing, the performances out thereon the court by marc gasol, by mike conley,by zach randolph. how many representatives shouldyou have in the all-star game, honestly? we still have a month or more to play before the voting takes place.

i mean, i don't think there'sany question marc gasol should be voted in. starting center. absolutely. he's as good asthere is in the game. at that position, he's agenuine m-v-p candidate. mike conley is having thebest year of his career, in my opinion. he's deserving ofall-star recognition.

and i'd love to seezach randolph go in again. he's as good acombination scorer-rebounder, power forward positions we have. that will alltake care of itself. when you win, theindividual accolades follow. and when you win,the fans come out. when you put out a goodproduct, the fans come out. the fans have been unbelievable. i think six selloutsafter the spurs game.

it's been quite theaccomplishment since the arrival of this organization here inthis city to turn these fans into n-b-a fans. but it's been quite phenomenal. the grizzlies have been aterrific addition to the city not just for what they havebeen on the court but they bring memphis together in a waythat very few endeavors do. (greg)i agree. you see all segments of this,of memphis society at our games.

i don't think there's a morediverse crowd in professional sports than a grizzly crowd. i've always said, greg, this is the foremost basketball city in the south. when you consider theroots of the game here, go down to the high school levelto great teams like melrose, and tremendousplayers, penny hardaway. great history. yes.

larry finch, johnny newman. i could go on and on about allthe great players that have come out of memphis. on the collegiate level, whatthe tigers have achieved during the history of their program andthe likes of gene bartow who we still hold dear inour hearts, dana kerr, josh pastner, calipariand final four trips. two times in thenational championship game. at the professional level, we'vehad three a-b-a teams here.

(greg)right. before the n-b-a team came with the tams, the sounds and the pros. the n-b-a has been here over adecade playing in the finest arena in the country. i felt when i camehere and we were down, that it wasn't because thisis not a basketball city, it is. we had to give them ateam to get excited about. when we did, the fans came.

and they've have been phenomenalin our home court atmosphere in the fedex forum, particularlyin the play-off season, is as good as itgets in the league. by the way, you are a walking encyclopedia of local basketball knowledge. very impressive! you know who else is impressive?your coach dave joerger. there was a lot of talk when lionel hollins was not brought back.

and was this the right move?and here is young dave joerger. had never been a head coach in the n-b-a but had been in other leagues. dave has been phenomenal. dave is chronologically youngbut he's well beyond his age in basketball experience. i mean, he was a very successfulchampionship coach in several minor leagues. if you can win inthe minor leagues,

that's the most difficult levelof basketball in my opinion to coach because it's chaotic. players are coming and going. guys get selfish becausethey realize that hey, i don't think i can get where iwant to go by being a teammate. i've got to go put points on the board to have the n-b-a look at me. some guys pack it in and leaveyou in the middle of the year to go overseas.

so, it's just constanttransition and chaos. it's teams folding, coming backwhen he was -- this is before the d-league. so, he cut his teeth at a level where you didn't have great advantage. it's not like he's at alabamafootball in the minor leagues or a big market team. the guy also learnedfrom the ground up. he was an assistant.

he was taking thetickets, doing the promotions, going around town, sellingsponsorship and all that. and so, he was notjust a young assistant, hot shot assistant beingelevated two feet over to the head coach's chair. this guy had beenprepared and groomed. plus he had beenwith us for six years. he knew all of our players. he worked with them for several years.

he was the assistant coachin charge of the defense with lionel hollins. and he turned our defense aroundwhen we became an elite team. so, he was welldeserving of this opportunity. and because he camethrough the organization, he knew our players andwhich buttons to push the way an outsider would not have known. and they knew him. and so, that commonalityworked to his credit.

he's just done a terrific job. he is so good by the seat ofhis pants drawing up plays, late game situations. the case in point, the shot thathe got courtney lee for the game winning tip inagainst sacramento. all good coaches are great plagiarizers. he stole that from allengentry a few years ago. so, i think dave is justfantastic and has a phenomenal future in thisgame as a head coach.

final thing for ya.i got about a minute. but trying to meet that delicatesegue from basketball to "downton abbey." "downtown abbey" returns tow-k-n-o sunday night at 8:00. and i know that you -- and i imagine your lovely wife visited. we went to the castle out inthe countryside and toured the downton abbey. we were right there on site.it was a fantastic day.

and i can't wait for thisyear's episodes to start. what makes you a fan of the show? well, i love england. i just like to hearenglish people talk. [laughter] there's just atradition behind that show. it's just, i think, as goodas it gets on television. so, count me in as a fan. absolutely, we're happyto have you as a fan.

is england your favorite placeoutside this country to visit? no, that would be israel. (greg)israel? israel is my favorite country.italy is way up there -- greece. got to say that withkosta koufos and calathes. we love greece. i've been there,like, 15 or 20 times. i've been to 26 of them that i did enjoy myself and find interesting.

chris, we alwaysappreciate your time. again, continued success.it's been a phenomenal story. hopefully it will continue.thank you so much. take care.it's been my pleasure, greg. we'll take a break."overtime" is next. (male)three.. two..one.. [buzzer sounds] so, the new yearis upon us, 2015.

and every year at this time wetend to make some resolutions for the new year. you know, things likevowing to lose weight, or eat healthier,or workout more or.. well, you catch my drift. so, i thought for thisweek's "overtime" segment, i would compile a wish list for 2015 dealing with the local sports world. not quite resolutions, nor is ita list of predictions but rather

something i think wewould all love to see. so, here we go. in 2015 the memphis grizzlieswould like to finish as hot as they started this season when they had the best record a high seed in the west, threeplayoff series wins and a spot in the n-b-a final. then, since we'rethrowing out wishes, why not a shocking n-b-a worldchampionship and a parade right here in downtown memphis.

of course, toachieve that lofty goal, marc gasol would have to continue his torrid start to the season. so, here's a couple ofwishes for big spain in 2015. a starting spot on the westernconference all-star team and more importantly, a shiny, new contract with the grizzlies at season's end. for the memphistigers basketball team, the hope is the new year willprovide renewed enthusiasm from

the fan base as the tigers makea run at the american athletic conference title. the start of the 2014-'15 season has been disappointing to say the least. the tigers are void of qualitywins and have lost by double digits to the four bestteams on their schedule to date. but in 2015 there is a renewedcommitment by the blue and gray. the team gels, peaks attournament time in connecticut and earns its wayinto the big dance.

now after a spectacular 2014season where they won ten games, the tigers football team followsit up with another big season. after sharing theconference title last season, the tigers win the first everconference title game and own the crown by themselves. the tigers end up the highestranked non-power five team and find their way intothe new year's six. quarterback paxton lynch isnamed the league's offensive player of the year and the tigers average a stellar

40,000 a game. well, could 2015 finally be theyear tiger woods plays at the fedex saint jude classic? probably not but sincewe're making a wish list, here's to another stellarf-e-s-j-c and hopes for an incredible field thatwould somehow include woods. and while we're at it, i wishthe p-g-a could somehow include in their by-laws a provisionmaking it mandatory for every tour member to play eachofficial tour stop at least once

in a five year period. of course, the playersare considered independent contractors so this wishmay be more or less a dream. 2015 will be the first year for the newly named memphis open tennis tournament. the event will now be jointlyrun by the racquet club and the united statestennis association. memphis has a great history withthe a-t-p tour and after years of dwindling attendanceand lackluster fields,

here's hoping that 2015 willbegin a resurgence and a move in the positivedirection for the event. the memphis redbirds, like thememphis open tennis tournament, also made some dramatic changesin 2014 and hoping the pay-off begins in 2015. the redbirds are now owned bythe parent saint louis cardinals and with $4.5 million inrenovations being put into autozone park, theupgrades should enhance the fan experience of attending a gameat one of the top minor league

baseball venues in the entire country. the cardinals new contract withthe city of memphis secures the affiliation formany years to come. other wishes for the new year,the continued emergence of ole miss as a national titlecontender and hugh freeze as one of college football'smost innovative coaches. mississippi state quarterbackdak prescott as one of the favorites to win the heismanand the bulldogs to once again challenge in the s-e-c west.

the arkansas razorbackscontinued improvement under coach brett bielema who havefigured out a way to win with old-fashioned football. and the tennessee vols to seizecontrol of the s-e-c east and become a beast undercoach butch jones. so, here's to all local athletesin their continued pursuit of excellence throughhard work and dedication. may they fulfill theirquests for championships, scholarships and pride.

let's make 2015 the best sportsyear in recent memory for all the area teams and athletes. and that will do it for now. the memphis tigers take thefloor once again tomorrow at fedexforum as they face tulane. and we'll have the replaytelecast for you tomorrow night at 10:30 right here on w-k-n-o. also, you can see any of ourprevious "sports files" shows by checking out ourarchives at wkno.org.

just click on 'kno tonite followed by the "sports files" icon. until we talk to youagain, have a great week, happy new year,we'll see you next time. (male announcer)infinity of memphis moved to germantown road, just a halfmile road of wolfchase galleria and is proud to support w-k-n-ofor its quality broadcasting and closed captioning providedby w-k-n-o, memphis.