The Young International Players

Chris Wallace and Robert Pera had enjoyed an incredibly relaxed season, because the Grizzlies' record had simply been too good.

The worse a team's record was, the busier its general manager and owner became. They had to think about how to make the team stronger, about the summer draft, trades, and signings. They even had to consider changes within the front office itself.

The worse a team performed, the more of this messy nonsense there was. Take the Lakers and Knicks this season, for example. These two historic franchises had both been consumed by internal front-office power struggles, with no energy left to actually improve their teams.

As a result, both the Lakers and Knicks had crashed this year. One had gone from back-to-back champions to Western Conference bottom-feeders in just a few years, while the other had fallen from second place in the East last season to desperately battling for the eighth seed.

The Grizzlies clearly had no such worries. With the team performing well, everything was calm and stable. They only needed to keep the current roster intact to ensure that the Grizzlies remained the best team in the league.

Pera had even been so bored recently that he had passed the time by betting with Jordan. He had never expected to go into that bet fully prepared to lose, only to make a fortune because of Link.

This summer, the Grizzlies' only major task was to extend Link's contract. From the looks of it, a successful extension was merely a matter of time. Link did not want to leave Memphis, and Pera was willing to offer him the maximum price.

In that regard, the Grizzlies had it far easier than the Heat. Over there, they still did not even know whether they could keep LeBron this summer.