Popovich Retreats in War Against Grizzlies

Back when the Grizzlies pawned off All-Star Pau Gasol to the Lakers in exchange for That Kwame Brown, still-in-Spain and quite pudgy Marc Gasol and a couple low draft picks, critics were everywhere ... including the Spurs locker room. San Antonio chieftain Gregg Popovich humbly requested that other franchises stop creating superpowers for the hell of it, and glibly suggested the league create a veto committee to overrule blatantly unbalanced deals.

Turns out the younger Gasol is darn good, and the Grizzlies might have known what they were doing back in '07. Pau's eventual power forward replacement Zach Randolph in an All-Star, Memphis is in the playoff picture, and Grizz GM Chris Wallace is even being credited for his long-term vision. Heck, the Grizz might even catch up with the Spurs in the standings this year -- if S.A. hadn't beat Memphis Friday, the teams would be tied for second in the Southwest.

This is where Pop is asked if he wishes to issue a retraction. Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal sticks his hand in the nest.

"They gave up a great player but it helped them extend the franchise's success into the future," Popovich said. "It's shown that they've done a good job. Whatever they were thinking a couple of iterations ahead at the time has paid off for them."

It's not quite a mea culpa, but for Pop it qualifies as mildly conciliatory. And can you really ask for much more than that? Pop knows better than most the importance of fortune (see: Tim Duncan) and how it is to compete from a position of relative weakness (S.A.'s financial limitations have more in common with Memphis than with L.A.). But he's obviously still miffed Memphis handed L.A. a ticket to the Finals. (A ticket to two Finals series, actually.) Can you blame him?