Unhappy Nellie headed to Hawaii

by raymondtee on Sep 9, 2007 11:13 AM PDT Comment 17 comments

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/47970/20070909/unhappy_nellie_headed_home_to_hawaii/

Coach Don Nelson, profoundly unhappy with the way his contract negotiations are going, plans on flying home to Hawaii after having spent several weeks in the Bay Area hoping to cement reworked details for the two years remaining on his deal. No date for his return to the islands has been specified.

As a season ticket holder I am starting to get a little concerned.... What are your thoughts? I like Keith Smart but is he ready? Can he handle Jax and BD?

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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i was going to post this with the heat trade.....

This is getting ridiculous you know this man got the Warriors in the right diriction and they wont give him the money he deserves but we know what will happen the last minute he will get it.......

Thats that...

Best seat in the House

by kaszowski on Sep 9, 2007 11:17 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree

They will pay him. I don't get why Cohan is trying to be cheap about this. Just pay him and move on.....

by raymondtee on Sep 9, 2007 11:32 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

cohan isn't cheap

sarcasm

remember what option zero said, he bought out chris taft last year to make room for anthony roberson. so generous

by Proof on Sep 9, 2007 5:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

cheap?

Petty, maybe...but cheap? Cohan's still paying Montgomery...heck, he could still be paying Dave Cowen, sheesh.

Giving out money has never been Cohan's problem. Deciding when to give out that money is the problem.

How can Cohan be cheap and still give out ridiculous contract extensions to Dunleavy, Murphy, Richardson, Foyle, as well as the Fisher contract? People were whining about those for quite some time, remember? So he's cheap...but overspends? wha? Explain that?

The issue isn't money, the issue is power. Blame Cohan, blame Nelson, but don't throw around terms that don't apply.

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero on Sep 9, 2007 7:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's not entirely true

Yes, Cohan has opened up the pocket book the past few years (mostly foolishly I'll add), but before that he was notoriously stingy with the Warriors' payroll and employees. I wish I had time to dig this up because it does deserve an article. The take home point is that Cohan has turned from awful to at least OK if he stumbles on the right hires.

His 13 years of ownership failures don't boil down to just making bad purchases. He was cheap like the pre-playoff Clips' Donald Sterling for the majority of his ownership.

by Atma Brother ONE on Sep 10, 2007 7:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

maybe so

as far as I could ever tell he seemed to be a total hands off owner who kept picking dumb asses to be the GM

That seemed to be the big issue. One bad contract, draft and coach after another= bad Gm not a stingy owner

That was my take

by Zig on Sep 10, 2007 11:21 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hands on

He was actually pretty hands on for about 5 years until he realized that he had no clue what he was doing.

Let's not forget that for years the Warriors were understaffing in scouting and other front officer personnel. Cohan was cutting corners on spending there.

by Atma Brother ONE on Sep 10, 2007 11:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

the opposite of making bad purchases

Is failing to make good ones...and this was his flaw as well.

Honestly, I can't remember the last time we lost out on a big free agent (outside the organization) signing because we didn't offer enough money. In the CBA era, has our payroll ever been "below" the cap?

The Warriors franchise, really, was killed because of:

Chris Webber/Nelson feud (both parties have blame). You can't go from Webber to Donyell Marshall and expect to not suck balls.
Sprewell choking and subsequent trade, which lead to the trade of a good young player for three pieces of crap. No extra picks along the way, no prospects gained. How on earth was that possible? It's like we're Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird from last year!
Joe Smith. Using the #1 overall pick on a role player. That's how you fail.

#1 was on Cohan. He sided with Nellie and then fired Nellie shortly thereafter...basically siding with "suck".

#2 Not sure what offers we had on the table, but I wouldn't be surprised if Cohan told the GM to get something done fast and get some publicly friendlier players in return.

#3 Was that Twardzik or St. Jean?

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero on Sep 10, 2007 11:45 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Joes Smith thing

I saw a video of the 95 draft and frankly, the Warriors fans were psyched to have him aboard. It wasn't a bad pick at the time. I mean, KG was a HS propect, you couldn't trust that in 1995.

Not to mention, it's pretty Slim Pickens after that. So instead of him, would you rather we had Sheed, Stackhouse, McDyess, or Reeves? All very solid players, but none of them would have saved the franchise. Joe Smith was averaging something like 20 and 8 in his day, so I wouldn't say we really "busted" the pick.

Tony.psd = Da Man

by Zorgon on Sep 10, 2007 9:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Joe Smith

never averaged 20 points per game...not once in his career

He never even shot close to 50% FG while he was with the Warriors.

He wasn't a horrible player, but he was merely above average. Thats not what you want from a #1 pick.

'Sheed or Dice would have been fine. Either would have been a better building block.

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero on Sep 10, 2007 11:26 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

GO AWAY!!!!

NO MORE NELLIE!!!! YESSSS!!!!

Tony.psd = Da Man

by Zorgon on Sep 9, 2007 6:35 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Don't play poker with Nellie

If they let Nellie walk, flush the season down the toilet. This team is built for Nellie - Cohan is a fool if he lets this drag on into training camp.

by TolbertRules on Sep 9, 2007 10:15 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

OK

This is starting to really concern me. I have been trying not to worry about this but seriously... at this point just make it happen.

by olympicmike on Sep 9, 2007 11:54 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

You, worried?

Mr. happygolucky olympicmike? What's the world coming to? ;-)

I've kind of refrained from chiming in on this subject, but I'm basically of a mind with OZ: replacing Nellie with Smart wouldn't be the end of the world. Nellie's great contribution was a clarity of vision for the team, and the guts to implement it ("Dunleavy, Murphy, POB, you're out!" "Monta, AB, Barnes you're in!" etc.) But now that he's breathed life and purpose into the team, I'm not totally convinced he's as necessary to our survival as some people here make him out to be. It may just be time for the little fledglings to leave the nest. Fly, little fledglings, fly!

Moreover, I don't get how any perceived impasse in the negotiations is laid 100% at the feet of Cohan. Negotiation is a two-way street; and Nelson did after all sign a contract. If he wanted to include some incentive bonus for leading the team to the playoffs, he should have done so. He didn't, likely because he wasn't sure he could do it, and preferred to have the whole contract guaranteed. Too bad for him.

In the end, if Nellie wants to ride off into the Hawaiian sunset, with a lei around his neck and a mai-tai in both fists, the decision will be 100% his.

Fly, fledglings, fly!

by Sleepy Freud on Sep 10, 2007 6:05 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Maybe I'm biased cuz i'm studying law, but Nellie's existing contract is a sticking point for me. I can't side with Nellie on this one, at least not entirely.

He had ample opportunity and means to negotiate a deal to his liking before coming back. He did so last year, and did come back. Were he unsatisfied with it, he should have made it a one year deal or otherwise terms he would be able to live with during the duration of the deal.

On the flip side...Nellie was underpaid last year compared to his contemporaries and comparables. Greg Popavich, McMillan, other guys were paid more.

As a Warriors fan, obviously, you want the guy back and it seems ridiculous to let him go over a couple million, but an outsider might easily point out Nellie's trying to squeeze a few extra mil from the team.

Monty Poole's (i think) article summed it up pretty well.

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero on Sep 10, 2007 11:07 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Haha

Well I guess I'm glad to see I come off as happy-go-lucky, I guess thats better than grumpy, pompous or snarcky(I'm not even sure what that one means) but don't worry I would never use any of those words to describe you Sleepy ;-P.

I too would be ok with Smart coaching and have said so before, but all things being equal I would obviously rather have Nellie. I think that Smart could run the system well and maybe even improve on it but I am concerned about his ability to handle a grumpy, possibly extention-less Baron. I just don't know if he has the ability to handle things if they start to go downhill.

Of course when you consider the fact that Nellie was probably leaving after this season anyway its not really that big a deal in the long run. I would just really like to see one more year of him as our coach.

by olympicmike on Sep 10, 2007 12:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs