KP
Starter

From
http://www.oregonlive.com/canzano/
[font=arial,sans-serif]Introducing, the new, new, new, really, seriously new Bonzi
Storytime...
Dec. 2003 I flew Portland to Memphis for what amounts to Bonzi Wells' unveiling ceremony in a Grizzlies uniform. I walked into the Pyramid in Memphis, and found a former college assistant I'd covered years ago standing in the hallway. He was then an assistant with the Grizzlies and he told me, in no uncertain terms, that he believed Bonzi Wells would finally turn things around.
"(Coach) Hubie won't go for his s--," the assistant said. "When we traded for him, we agreed that either Bonzi or our franchise was going to change because of this deal. And the point was made that it was going to have to be Bonzi, because we're not changing who we are."
Further down the hall, there was a throng of Memphis media waiting to meet Bonzi for the first time. Television reporters, radio people, etc. All lined up, neat and proper, outside the Grizzlies locker room.
"Bonzi will change here," one of the print reporters told me, "Jerry West won't put up with him if he doesn't. Plus, Portland was the wrong environment for him. Too much media scrutiny."
I wandered further down the hall, where there was a back door to the arena and who should I find standing there?
Bonzi himself.
Later, in the locker room, he was asked the same questions that he'll be asked by Sacramento's media this week, and by Portland's media when he first arrived. Because it's always just been a matter of time before Bonzi goes Bonzai.
"What happened at your last stop?"
"Can you be a good teammate?"
"Can you change?"
Bonzi said all the right things. The interview ended.
I remember a particular television reporter, female, black hair, who turned to me after interviewing him for the first time and said, "He's not as awful as people in Portland make him out to be. He's actually charming."
"Hey, give him a chance," I said.
Good luck, Sacramento.
--^wonder what he means by that?
Thats at least 2 hate pieces he wrote about Bonzi... think he has a grudge?
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