J-rich's trade request

by PAWarrior on Jul 5, 2007 4:06 PM PDT Comment 13 comments

I have commented on this incident many times during open threads but I felt I needed to hear more peoples opinions on this subject. I love JR and he was one of my favorite players for a long time, but I find his trade request faulty.

It is completely understandable that JR wanted a trade. As many others pointed out to me, the team was going nowhere fast and they did not seem to be turning the corner any time soon. The team was young but tired and had nothing real to look foward to. Remember this was before the Nellie signing so in a nutshell, things were not looking up. So, naturally, J-rich, feeling he could contribute on a winning team, would want a trade. Fine, nothing wrong with that. J-rich, it will hard to see you go but good luck where ever you end up.

Wait, wasn't it J-rich who just told us he was going to bring the playoffs back to Oakland. Wasn't he the guy who we were counting on to lead our team to glory again.

Yep, that was him, and maybe it's just me, but I expect somebody and good natured as JR to live up to a promise, or to at least try.

Imagine you give a friend your word with that kind of promise. Don't you have to at least try to live up that promise? Doesn't your conscience nip at your heels for a little bit? Don't you owe the friend to at least stick around and try?

Now I'm not saying JR is a bad person because he is one of the classier guys in the league. I wish him the best in Charlotte and will wear the retro Jr 23 jersey proudly, but doesn't he deserve some criticism for this move?

Please let me hear what you think.

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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JRich

I think at this point we as fans just need to move on and not look back. It's really irrelevant now whether or not he deserves to be criticized for it. I think most people are just bringing up as a consolation for losing the Bay Area's fan favorite.

I wouldn't criticize him for wanting out. Whether he really did or not, he still played his heart out and worked on improvement, and that's what counts to me. I'm still a JRich fan and hope the best for the guy.

by jlagace on Jul 5, 2007 4:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

context matters

no one in their right mind would have wanted to come back for more of the Baron&Monty show - that was a disaster and the fact that JR went quietly to Mullin is no surpirse and not disloyal or breaking promises. he can't promise something he can't deliver, he promised to do everything he could to get the Ws to playoffs, and in fact he did ultimately ... so maybe it's time to stop being overly emotional either way about this trade and like jlagace says, "move on' and look forward ...

by hardcore on Jul 5, 2007 4:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

just curious

i dont remember if the article stated it but do we know timeframes of

if he made the promise to bring the warriors to the playoffs after mullin said the franchise would be build around him. and subsequently if he retracted the trade request after this
if the above happened before or after he helped put out the apology to fans

like JB said, when all we have to go on is short little blip of an afterthought about it, buried inside an article, context and timing are everything

by nativeson on Jul 5, 2007 4:42 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It's a good topic

Very interesting diary PAWarrior. Thanks for posting it and giving it the attention and depth you think it deserves.

Just so it doesn't get lost here's my thoughts from the other thread:

I can't say I have a problem with JRich asking for a trade (if he did) last summer pre-Nellie. The team was going nowhere with Mullin, Higgins, and Rowell running one of the most clueless NBA front offices. They didn't make a single meaningful move till the Nellie surprise in late August. It looked like it was going to be the status quo all over again.

But again it comes back to the rhetoric of "it's a business decision". It was a business decision when the Warriors traded JR to save some money and bring in a power forward prospect. And it was a business decision when JR asked for a ticket out of the mess last summer which he did his best to overcome.

There's nothing "wrong" per say with either of those business decisions. The Warriors weren't exactly loyal to JR with the trade, but that's okay- it's a business (so I'm told).

I can't say I really find anything wrong with what Kobe's doing either. That organization failed him and would have continued to do so until he embarrassed them publicly. The major issue here is that Kobe made a foolish move by making his demands public and lowering both his value and the ease at which the Lakers could make a reasonable trade. I fault him for handling the situation intelligently, but I can't fault him for making that trade demand.

http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/story/2007/7/4/132437/9762

by Atma Brother ONE on Jul 5, 2007 4:49 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

i agree

Jrich was no longer "the man" with baron in town. baron was taking some critisizm. the team still had the murphleavy twins stinking it up. the head coach sucked and was coming back. the team did nothing in the draft (POB) it was bad.

by travisl212 on Jul 5, 2007 9:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

PC

JRich and Mullin didn't know which end was up after they got worked by Shmoootah. After that game JRich said he wasn't going anywhere and looked forward to coming back. Mullin said the same. It was a PC call. What else are they going to say 5 minutes after the season ended while in the locker room? I think JRich smelled what was around the corner according to the news from yesterday's article and maybe he created his own destiny, but JRich shouldn't be looked down upon because he's in a scandalous arena that the NBA and sports is today when it comes to contract negociations. JRich, you're the man mayne!

by gabezgsw on Jul 5, 2007 7:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

no matter what anyone says...

J-Rich will receive standing ovations every time returns to the bay. We will always love him and like many other fans I will definitely be rooting for him to do well wherever he goes.

by dez4o8 on Jul 5, 2007 8:31 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

JRich....

...didn't air out his issues in public. Seriously, back when we had Dunleavy and Montgomery, would anyone NOT want to be traded?

by spartan21 on Jul 6, 2007 12:29 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

just speculating here...

I think he made that private trade request after an uneventful summer (i.e. drafting POB, no impact FA signings, stuck with Monty and DunMurphy, etc). In other words, the team wasn't showing any kind of promise personnel-wise. So yes, it's easy to understand this request even after promising fans he'd ehlp the Ws make it to the playoffs the following season. Heck, didn't he also make this promise before the 04-05 and 05-06 campaigns? I'm not too sure about this.

Anyway, you also said:

Yep, that was him, and maybe it's just me, but I expect somebody and good natured as JR to live up to a promise, or to at least try.

Good points BUT how about this analogy. Suppose you and a friend are building a doghouse for his dog. You promise him you'll help build it. Here you are sawing and hammering things. And you see your friend talking on his cell phone while you continually go about your business without much beeeaaattcching. Then you see you need more nails but you end up going to the store buying them, instead of your friend. You get the picture.

Would it still be inappropriate for you to tell your friend, "hey I want out" knowing the fact that there's no team effort on his part EVEN if you had promised him earlier to help? If there's no collaboration to reach the maximum potential, then what's the point of sticking around EVEN after making a promise? And let's not forget JRich was stuck in a losing environment with the Ws for 5 plus years prior to last season.

www.TRACKjams.com

by MANUTEs BOLs on Jul 6, 2007 2:57 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Makes a lot of sense

Very good post. I like the analogy of the dog house. It seems to make a lot of sense, but, I feel like the promise was made to the fans and not to the team. I could see if he promised to his team but with the fans having no control, it would seem that he was ditching the ultimate goal.

Anyway, its great to get feed back like that instead of "lets move on". Again, great post!

Playoffs!!??

by PAWarrior on Jul 6, 2007 8:30 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I used the doghouse example

cuz i'm thinking of building one for our puppy...i'm a new dog-owner and am woried that when winter comes, she'll freeze to death outside. ever built one of these before? anyone else on this site ever built one? any tips?

www.TRACKjams.com

by MANUTEs BOLs on Jul 7, 2007 2:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs