we’ve got three cooks pissing in the soup, none of whom seem entirely on the same page. That’s a recipe for things to go wrong.

That’s more of a recipe for the worst soup ever.

     how so? what do you mean by that? where are your statistics? i’m not saying you’re wrong, but back it up. here’s a thought: the 05-06 nuggets attendance on the year was 702,555, with a record of 44-38. in 06-07, the year they acquired A.I., it was 706,437, an increase of 4,118. what was their record? 45-37. now this is only speculation, but i would wager iverson, not the nuggets one additional win, had more to do with those 4,000+ additional attendees.
     with regard to jack, i see this as a marketing move, not a basketball move, so to speak. fans did not react well to rowell/cohen’s decision to save money and not re-sign baron, and they responded by making crazy offers to arenas and brand, and then signing maggette for too much money. then jack, having assumed the role of the most visible warriors player, started making noise about getting an extension. i think it’s obvious they felt a need to deliver just to appease hurt fans, therefore delivering higher attendance than if he had been rebuffed, while still not having to spend max-type money on a legit star free agent in the coming years(IMO, as internet types are want to say these days…)

Jae

I agree with you on all points, but i also want to ass something else:

You are right, Nellie talks a lot about everything, but a lot of times he is not speaking the truth. I think that Nellie was pissed last year, he wanted Baron to pass a lot more, Baron didn’t deliver and Nellie called Rowell that he wants Baron to go. Baron wanted extension, Mullin set it up, but Rowell got a word from Nellie not to do it. Rowell does not have that kind of ego or particular interest in making decisions related to basketball, however he made decisions on Nellie’s behalf, while Mullin is still in the office.

At first I thought that was wrong decision, but seeing Baron’s game the other day, I’m not sure anymore. Baron is playing a bit too selfish in certain situations. As Geoff Lepper pointed out, it only took Baron 3 min at the start of the game to break up the play and jack up contested 3.

I’ve always seen the extension as damage control for the mess that happened this offseason.

You have Baron Davis who’s claiming to have an understanding with Mullin only to be shoved aside by Rowell. Then you have Monta, who was gonna be the heir-apparent to the throne, until he gets into a moped accident. Rowell, a business guy-first, wants the option to void Monta’s contract which doesn’t suit with Ellis of course.

So SJax moves atop the chain of command (among players). While the right move basketball-wise (both on and off the court) was obviously to wait, giving him an extension is sort of damage control for what the Warriors did this offseason.

In one off season, the Warriors dumped the superstar who led us to the playoffs after a 13-yr drought (and almost led us again last year) then threaten to void the contract of a budding star after already laying down a costly punishment. That definitely did not send a good message to the rest of the league.

Like Bimbo Coles Experience said, “[the Warriors] felt a need to deliver just to appease” somebody. But I don’t think it’s not fans they are reaching out to, it’s the rest of league. Players talk to each other and the way the Warriors dealt with their free agents past couple of seasons I’m pretty sure there are a couple of guys that doesn’t have nice things to say about the franchise. Jason Richardson, Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus and now Baron, Monta to name a few.

SJax is sort of the face of the Warriors right now with Monta out and Biedrins just making his claim. If they do wrong with SJax, they’re further risking the image of the franchise.

Not only would guys stay away from signing with the Warriors even more, some of the young guys might not want to stay when their rookie contracts are up. Then we end up overpaying for players just to get them here again.

1. It’s not a basketball or a financial move, it’s a political power move. Those always confound the analytically intelligent because the serve no “greater” organizational end. This move is to align himself with Jackson. He has just given Jackson, someone who can cause problems and, more importantly, is insanely loyal to those who “have his back”. He just bought himself a huge ally in the war against Mullin and Ellis and god knows who else he’s afraid of.

2. I’m still driving the “Mullin got a whole lot smarter once Nelson arrived” train. Nelson misses on people too, so I wouldn’t say that the people that Mullin acquired and Nelson didn’t use like Marcus Williams, were Mullin picks. Williams has the tools to be a good point guard and he’s big like Nelson likes. I think Belinelli was a Nelson pick as well as Hendrix. These are low-risk mistakes either way. The Murphy and Dunleavy and, to a certain extent Derek Fisher, contracts were absolute incompetence. Hopefully Rowell learns from Mark Cuban that thinking you know more about basketball than Don Nelson is a bad thing for you and your franchise. I am referring to letting Steve Nash go so he could throw piles of money at Dampier. Oh and then getting his ass handed to him in court.

Regardless, your conclusion is correct. The franchise is doomed. The good news is that it appears that the global economy is doomed so maybe Rowell just wants to keep the franchise on the bleeding edge.

great post and great read. After Baron Davis opted out, I was all for keeping our options open for 2010. It was really exciting that we had been given this oppurtunity to develop our really young talent(Wright, Randolph, Watson, and at the time Bellineli and Hendrix) and continue to develop our younger semi proven talent(Azibuike, Ellis, Biedrins) and we would have 2 solid veterans to keep us afloat till we get to 2010 in Jackson and Harrington.

What I was hoping the team would do was, keep both Jackson and Harrington and just let thier contracts expire, sign Azibuike, Ellis and Biedrins with contracts that escalate downward, and sign or trade for a decent role player for a reasonable amount of cash to give Nellie atleast another semi veteran player to trust. I was thinking flipping a draft pick and cash for Hakim Warrick(who is out of favor in Memphis) or signing Josh Chilldress for 3 years 22 million(Maybe Atlanta would of matched, maybe not, but I think Childress would take that type of cash to come back to the Bay Area).

We all saw what happened, Mullin or Rowell(not sure who) offers Arenas a longer and more hefty contract than they did for Baron Davis(huh?!?) than proceed to outbid themselves for Corey Maggete. Maggette who was fielding MLE’s from championship caliber teams, would of probaly had to be over paid to come to the Bay, but 5 years 48 million seemed a bit steep. The Ellis(keep in mind this is pre-moped), Biedrins, and Azibuike all sign proceed to sign pretty decent contracts. And also a decent signing of Ronny Turiaf, who is a solid big man, and from all acounts a great guy and great energy guy. So besides the Maggete over paying, not a bad offseason, but the Maggete signing severly hindered us for 2010.

So what does this all mean, with the Jackson extension? I firmly bellieve that Robert Rowell is dead set on keeping our team moderately competetive, knowing that he has the luxary(unlike the NFL and MLB) of being the only NBA team in the Bay Area. He knows as long as we can keep on competeting for the 8th spot, the Warriors fans will keep on shilling out our money to this orginization. Signing Maggette and Jackson, destroys our hope for Stoudemire or Bosh(however slim they were) in 2010. While both of them our solid players, THEY WILL NEVER LEAD US TO THE PROMISE LAND. Additionaly Nellie is extended. Great coach, all Warrior fan love him, and he makes the team exciting to watch. However he is completely the wrong guy to develop the young guys. It was purely a public relations and political move. Example Brandan Wright gets 9 minutes yesterday.

While I’m excited about our young team, and love Stephan Jackson, not sure ‘doomed’ is the right word but I am very prepared for several years of mediocrity. 8th seed or bust for the next 3 years at the very least and possibly as long as RR is running(ruining) the Warriors.

Robert Rowell is an idiot. He is nothing to this franchise and as a seaon ticket holder I will bail if he continues in his boneheaded ways. Mullin is THE REAL DEAL!! There have not been too many mistakes under his watch, plus, he’s the face of the franchise.

 Forget Rowell or I’m gone as a season ticket holder. Keep Mully!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mull has done real well and I’m enjoying the fruits of his Labor. Who the hell is Rowell besides Cohan’s puppet anyway? When Monta returns this franchise will do even better…thanks to Mully not Rowell!!!

Well thought out and crafted thread, but I simply dont agree that we are in as bad a shape as is being painted.