Can Mully be trusted to keep signing players?

by UncleCliffy on Jun 29, 2007 2:01 PM PDT

Even after last night's wild sequence of events, Chris Mullin still has a lot of work to do. Not even counting possible trade scenarios, re-signing players such as Barnes, Pietrus, and Azubuike, as well as bringing in restricted and unrestricted free agents, has to be on the minds of the Warriors front office.

Mullin's track record of signing players, however, is now bordering on comical. Since he became GM, he has made five major multi-year signings: Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy, Adonal Foyle, Derek Fisher, and Mike Dunleavy for roughly 27 years and $248M combined. First, Fisher was traded in a salary dump. Second, the Warriors tried in vain to buyout Foyle's contract. Third, the DunMurphy combination was dealt in a deal that surpised just about everyone who had ever watched those two play and cost the Warriors an extra young player in Ike. Now, Mullin deals J-Rich, who everyone described as the heart and soul of the team, in what is basically another salary dump. It's not a true dump like the Fisher deal, as the W's clearly are getting some talent in return, but if J-Rich made half of what he currently makes, this deal would not have been on the table.

So, the questions are:

Can Chris Mullin, given his track record of signing players, really be trusted to continue to sign both free agents and homegrown talents?
Will players (and more importantly, their agents) trust Mully enough to sign with the Warriors? In other words, would a player like Matt Barnes want to sign a nice multi-year deal with the Warriors when, given recent history, it's more than likely he would finish his contract playing for another team?

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!

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Comments

werd

He's learned from his mistakes. Right now, I think we have no choice but to put faith in him. He hired nelly, and got us into the promised land, He's erased every mistake except the Foyle one, which is there to remind him how stupid he was in the past.

http://westcoastbiased.blogspot.com

by coma @ Golden State Of Mind on Jun 29, 2007 2:02 PM PDT reply actions

i agree

i think when he was first here he wanted to make big moves and not look bad by letting players get away. but now i'm sure he's learned from his mistakes

by AJC3317 on Jun 29, 2007 2:20 PM PDT up reply actions

maybe not chris but nelly

I think Nelson's influence is clearly being felt and if he rebuilt Dallas he can rebuild any team.

by ballerjl on Jun 29, 2007 2:16 PM PDT reply actions

HAving Nellie helps

THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE W'S

by dallaswarrior on Jun 29, 2007 2:30 PM PDT reply actions

Mulligans

whether or not he's "learned" anything is irrelevant now (and as long as) Nelson is running the show as mentioned above
FA would want to cash in on Mullin as long as he's doling out the big contract$

As for Barnes, I think he's over valued right now and not worth what he might get offered elsewhere. Doubly so for MP. All Ws are overvalued on this site but that's somewhat expected since we're hardly objective observers. If we are not going for another big acquisition (KG or not) we ought to consider selling high on our expensive vets. I'd rather see us go for it now though - we've been through the worst, and I'd rather see us go for the ring and gamble than straddle the fence between present and future. Reckless? ya! not my $

by hardcore on Jun 29, 2007 3:47 PM PDT reply actions

I don't know...

After yesterdays draft, every1 was super hyped... we hoped for Yi.... KG.... something crazy, and when Mullin dropped the bomb on gettin the Italian Dude and Wright, GSOM seems like a Funeral Blog Site on J-Rich Dying. I know he's a fan fave to the bay! but that was like an Executive decision... we didnt have much say except for WTF?!?!? I don't know, I told myself its time to move on... and... at least we don't have Danny Ainge;)

New photoshop fun...

Fun Webpin outta respect...

by Tony.psd on Jun 29, 2007 4:29 PM PDT reply actions

With Nellie's imput,

I'm sure most of those deals wouldn't have happened.

by Jeremy Belvins on Jun 29, 2007 7:37 PM PDT reply actions

it is not a salary dump

we get the 10 million trade exception. this is HUGE. plus, you have you admit j-rich didnt fit in all that well in nellieball. he was a luxury, not a neccessity.

REMEMEBER- we tried to build around j-rich before (musselman/ montgomery)- didnt work. we tried to build around diddy/ j rich (2005-6) didnt work. in 06-07 we built around baron with a bunch of swingman around him, all capable of going off and scoring 20-25 pts a game (jacks, j-rich, ellis, barnes, pietris) we dont need anyone like that who is interchangable making 10 million per. j-rich was not the go to player you guys are making him out to be. when we needed a shot what would we do? clear the floor for baron or and have him either take it himself or dish off for a 3. j-rich became a shooter. an interchangable piece.

look i LOVE j-rich. i stormed out of the room swearing when the trade was made. but the more i thought about it, the more i like this trade. especially if brandan wright is the one the nellie and mullin really wanted... i am for it. nellie is a damn good judge of talent and i think brandan wright can flourish in our system. the only question about this guy is his motor and heart. you think he is gonna dog it with nellie as his coach? he'll be on the bench then in the d-league. added with that 10 million exception, we can pick up another good player (backup pg, another cheaper swingman, maybe more size, who knows) in a sign and trade.

look, i love jrich, wish him the best of luck, and he is one of my favorite warriors. but in nellieball, he is a luxury, not a go to guy. it hurts to lose him, but tough decisions have to be made.

the problem is that most everyone here is looking at the deal emotionally. look at it with no emotion and it makes alot of sense. mullin and nelson made the tough decision and i think there is a very good chance the team will be better for it.

by Nellieball on Jun 29, 2007 8:00 PM PDT reply actions

we'll get a small indicator

now that they can resign barnes on whether mully has learned his lesson. the true test will be baron (possibly), monta & beans in 08-09.

another good thing about the trade is that if baron bails, the team would still be able to rebuild quickly w/ monta, wright & beans - provided they continue to improve.

by the evil monkey on Jun 29, 2007 8:45 PM PDT reply actions

don't forget

that jason might not have been traded if we weren't in this foyle mess

by travisl212 on Jun 29, 2007 11:13 PM PDT reply actions

just thinking about it

i really do not give a damn what situation they were in when he resigned foyle. thinking that he would ever be able to live up to 10 million + dollars per year wtf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now we had to dump J Rich. I think its just hitting me that Jay Rich is gone... he had one off year and people turn on him wtf!

by travisl212 on Jun 29, 2007 11:16 PM PDT up reply actions

umm

I don't think guys like Barnes if he got a lucrative deal really cares that much if he doesn't stay here for life to deal.

There's little issue if he got a fair deal. Now if he was lied to and signed for under value then maybe.

But I doubt any player has any major problems being shipped out after they got a fat deal. Sure some will have personal issues, family not wanting to move etc. But at the end of the day they'll still be seeing the same amount of money anyhow whether its as a Warrior or as someone else.

by ufwa on Jun 29, 2007 11:31 PM PDT reply actions

Nice response

it is not a salary dump

we get the 10 million trade exception. this is HUGE. plus, you have you admit j-rich didnt fit in all that well in nellieball. he was a luxury, not a neccessity.

Nellieball is right. This trade is not a salary dump. J-Rich is a cap casualty. If his contract was half of what it currently is, he'd probably still be a Warrior, as the incentive to shed salary, as well as receive the juicy trade exception (which might not be so juicy; we shall see), would be greatly reduced.

I definitely admit that Jason didn't fit great in Nellie's offense. But he also only had one training camp, and less than 1/2 season with Nellie. Can't the GSoM-branded genius find space for a healthy, explosive scorer and rebounder in the prime of his career?

The other issue that no one has mentioned is the length of this Nellieball style of offense. If the W's are making long term plans in terms of acquiring players to fit a certain style or philosophy, then wouldn't you want to be reassured that the coach might actually stick around for awhile? It has only been informally reported that Nelson is even going to coach this season. How long is he going to stick around? Does he plan to groom a successor who immediately changes the style to a defensive philosophy? To me, this just seems not very well thought out.

Anyway, I was just trying to bring attention to the fact that Chris Mullin has had to overhaul the roster because Chris Mullin made a bunch of bad signings, and then when those same highly paid players struggled in an offense not built for them (and because most weren't very good to begin with), the players were traded and pieces that did fit the offense were moved in. I'd feel great if the Warriors had a long-term system in place, such as those found in Utah or San Antonio, but that's not the reality of the situation.

BUT...if this was all part of Mullin's master plan, to overpay certain players, gradually pawn them off on unsuspecting GMs across the league, and then in one whirlwind sequence, send your 'franchise' player across the country in a convuluted deal that somehow nets Kevin Garnett in an effort to make an honest run for the title, well...then Mullin is more of a genius than I can ever credit.

Just don't include Beans in the deal.

by UncleCliffy on Jun 30, 2007 1:23 AM PDT reply actions

But I think that is exactly what the Dubs

are trying to put in place--a long term vision a la Utah, San Antonio, PHX, even Toronto now. J-Rich getting shipped out seems to express that notion: no one's bigger than the system, and we can easily replace so-called "untouchable" players with someone nearly as good without skipping a beat.

The Spurs (in the Duncan era) have never drafted for need--they've never had to. They just keep grabbing the best player available from all corners of the earth and try to plug them in in due time. Yes, once Duncan retires things might change for the worse, but right now this philosophy is gold.

I think Mully/Nellie have a similar vision, albeit one with a bunch of tenacious, undersized fellows running people out of the gym. San Antonio is the model franchise in all of sports.PHX isn't far behind. It will be interesting to see if GSW develops into a system like this in the coming years.

That said: resign Barnes for the MLE, let Air France go. Go for G Wallace maybe. But DO NOT pull the trigger on a KG deal...

by WhatWouldTerryCummingsDo on Jun 30, 2007 4:34 AM PDT up reply actions