Paging the Kemmons Wilson Family

I've proposed a few trades recently. (Who wouldn't prefer Monta Ellis over Rudy Gay right now?) But our best chance at turning around 9 straight seasons of failure (unless you count 0-12 in the playoffs as success) is changing the owner. We need a new owner who meets the following criteria:

• Worth a billion or more
• Ties to Memphis
• Passionate about basketball
• Is able to absord significant financial losses
• Is willing to let basketball execs make basketball decisions (within reason)
  

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who qualifies personally, and the list of Memphis billionaires is short.

However, one name on the list jumps out at me: Kemmons Wilson.

I only met met Wilson once, when I was about 12, and I don't know any of his surviving sons or much about them.

Bob Wilson could play with his Cesnas while someone with basketball experience manages his basketball team.

However I do know these facts:

1. Kemmons Wilson left his sons assets worth about a billion dollars.

2. Spence, Bob, and Kemmons Jr. are all active members of Memphis area organizations, and married to locals. (Spence barely qualifies with a wife from Jackson, TN.)

3. Kemmons Wilson once owned a professional basketball in Memphis with Isaac Hayes when his sons were in their 30s.

4. Wilson Hotel Corporation already manages the most successful part of the Grizzlies, St. Jude's Memphis Grizzlies House.

St. Jude's Memphis Grizzlies House is associated with the Grizzlies and managed by the Wilson Family Business. Is that combo a fomula for success?

Are those three facts enough to guarantee that a marriage between the Wilsons and the Grizzlies would be successful or even that the Wilsons are interested? No.

Would Heisley listen if the Wilsons made an offer? Definitely.

Are Grizzlies fans desperate enough to stop the Wilsons in the street and beg them to buy the team? I hope so.