I think they both need to go. Mullin was horse poop until Nellie showed up and Nellie is a crazy dr. frankenstein genius that could destroy the franchise.

It’s worth pointing out that Morrow is 19 on that rookie card.

don’t trade AR. Fire Nelson instead! No more Small Ball, we are not the same team back then.

he’s a hall of fame coach!

now, I personally think randolph is going to be a great player in this league. WE SHOULD NOT TRADE HIM. he has the HEART and the DESIRE to win. NONE of those other players besides foyle had any testicular fortitude. randolph is 100% committed and I know he will be a great player.

I look at nellie telling randolph to have his agent start looking at trades as a way to get the kid working hard again. nellie is famous for stuff like that.

as far as chris mullin and nellie not speaking? well chris broussard is a dbag so who knows if what he says is true. i always thought mullin was around practice and stuff, i highly doubt you could run an nba franchise where the gm and coach dont talk.

Both have been hit or miss as far as talent is concerned as of late. Mullie has made some questionable contracts, to be sure, but Nellie has made some questionable use of his available personell. Did ya’ll see that recent peice in the SF Chron about Mike Dunleavy speaking poorly of the organization, saying it’s no coincidince that players thrive once they leave the franchise? He raises an interesting point. Dunleavy is playing lights-out in Indiana, at least he was untill he got hit with injuries. Matt Barnes is blowing up down in Phoenix. Al Harrington is shooting lights-out in NYC with the Knicks. And Pietrus is making Orlando fans very happy with his production at SG, his natural position. Granted, this isn’t across the board, O’Bryant still is loitering on the bench, just for a diferent team, but it still raises some interesting points.

With Barnes and Pietrus, a lot of it has to do with being asked to play the PF position because of a lack of better alternatives / depth. It’s not their game, and it’s going to make their production drop, especially considering the wear and tear of slight-of-frame guys like Barnes banging with PFs, or short guys like Pietrus praying a rebound drops down to their 6’6" airspace. But what about Dunleavy? He complained he was mis-used as well, asked to play the role of a spot-up shooter when he likes to spread the court and facilitate ball movement. Harrington’s problem was similar in nature – Nelson wanted him to wait in a corner and shoot the 3-ball whenever the ball eventually got passed to him every fourth possession – and then griped when Harrington didn’t “hustle” for offensive rebounds, despite the fact that he was out on perimeter duty by design.

Don Nelson is a good coach and has a great mind, but he needs to make better use of his players’ strengths in order to maximize potential. It’s not the square peg’s fault that it doesn’t fit into the round hole. You want Harrigton to realize his potential? Put the ball in his hands and allow him to be an on-the-ball scorer. If you don’t want him to be an on-the-ball scorer, then don’t gripe when you play him in a position where he isn’t comfortable or effective. Nelson expects players to play a certain way, regardless of the talent he has. If he were a great coach rather than a good one (and we’re talking about this year mostly, he has flirted with greatness in the past), he would either adapt to his players’ strengths accordingly, or have his system and play preference so well-known and universally bought into around the organization that players would fit within the system, a la what Sloan has going in Utah. There’s a coach with a $68 million dollar player in Kirilenko, who has AK47 coming off the bench and suppressing his individual skill and abilities in order to mesh in the system and produce wins. For whatever reason as of late, Nelson hasn’t been able to universally instill that mentality within his players, for whatever reason. Maybe it’s a lack of trust in his system amongst players, maybe it’s a lack of motivation coming from Nelson, or maybe Nelson just has punks on his hands. Who knows?

But there’s a real disconnect between the personell and Nellie’s system, even for players who are hearalded as “natural fits” for Nelson’s system, such as a big-man with a 3 shot, Al Harrington, or a high basketball IQ slasher with a sweet shot named Bellinelli, or an athletic big-man who can run, plays with confidence, and has point-forward capabilities in Randolph. If these players can fall out of favor so quickly, who the heck IS the right fit for Nelson, who SHOULD the GM be bringing in? It must be baffling trying to figure that one out. Nelson of late either needs to adapt to the talent he DOES he, or be more assertive in obtaining the talent he WANTS, because right now there’s so much untapped potential and an extremely mis-manged roster with eight or so undersized combo guards. And you’re telling me Randolph’s the problem? Sheesh, what a mess.

Mullin was never better than mediocre as a GM. He looked better compared to the morons who were in before him, but they were particularly bad, somehow being right less often than broken clocks.

Nellie is a quality coach and an accomplished talent scout. He’s also got some issues that impede his own success and have kept him from being a true legend. He also appears to be better at building things up than holding things together. He does not seem to care presently and seems to be letting all of his faults present themselves at the same time. He has watched a team implode before with no ability to hold it together. It looks like he could be doing this again.

Rowell is an administrator who probably loves sports, but doesn’t have much of an eye for talent and seems as bad at judging it as the average yahoo fan who sees a 20ppg average and assumes that someone must be a great player accordingly. He has no business being involved in personnel decisions.

The three of them are not on the same page.

The reality is that Mullin should probably go, Nellie should probably go and Rowell should get back to doing whatever he can to get out of the way of another GM/Coach combination (one or two people). It’s a mess. I suspect that there’s some real spite building such that if someone goes, the remaining party will do things counter-productive to winning if only to spite the deceased.

This is probably the most relevant comment in this thread:

well chris broussard is a dbag so who knows if what he says is true

I don’t think there is a talking head who spouts more nonsense than this guy. If a real reporter comes out with a similar story, then I will take it more seriously.

Fire Don Nelson if it means that we get to keep Randolph and Wright. They clearly have potential and if they got consistent minutes would be excellent in our rotation.

Holy crap, end the drama.

He’s been starting consistently almost all season 3 or 4 guards if you count jackson or Magette and I would considering there both pretty terrible rebounders) and a power forward Biedrins yeah sorry he’s not a center at 6’10" and 235. He’s playing some of the dumbest lineups I’ve ever seen!!!! He plays Wright who’s one of the top players in field goal % in the league spot minutes, this coach is a nightmare! Fire him now before he rips out the hearts of the majority of fans by trading the guys we’re most interested in for the FUTURE since it’s all we have to look forward to. By the Future I mean after Jacks, Maggs, and Crawford are gone probably in the year 2013 and we can actually get some rebounding & defense playing players in here that don’t ball hog constantly. I’m siuck of this team and their inability to do anything right when it comes to personel.

We suck this year becasue of a bad team put together by Mullin and management, not because of Nelly. Trade AR with Maggette for Boozer!

Mullin’s okay, but no better… I would happily side with the Don Nelson Atma describes. The problem is that we’re not currently getting Good Don Nelson. We’re getting Bad Don Nelson, in all his stubborn, spiteful, lazy glory, and he’s a sight to behold.

Nellie either needs to snap out of this or get going. Doing a terrible coaching job for two months is one thing… trying to engineer the ouster of two of our most promising young players (if the rumors are true) is quite another. That’s potentially franchise-ruining stuff.

I don’t really want to see Nellie go… when his head’s on right, he’s a very good coach, and I do think he’s probably played a part in the improved decision-making on personnel from ‘06 to this summer. But we can’t survive much more Bad Nellie. For that reason, I went with Mullin.

Yeah yeah yeah, he signed a lot of crap. But he did so at a time when the dubs were notorious for letting their OWN players go. Signing those players showed that the warriors were not so cheap as to not pay out the frame for talent. Despite that, he moved all these crap players for good ones in return, brought Nellie back, and managed to get Baron for SPEEDY CLAXTON. He was the only person on the planet who scouted Monta Ellis and he picked up on Biedrins, Azebuke and Randolph. Mully is a great GM. I used to love Nellie as a coach, I think I still do. But the team Rowell has him coaching is not the team Nellie should be coaching. Give Nellie some vets with athleticism and he will make them special because he gives his players a lot of freedom, but on a young, inexperienced team, he is worthless. Let him go, let Smart take over. We need randolph, that kid is going to be something special between his athleticism, skill, and shot blocking ability. If he walks, so do I!

with all due respect, golden state of mind is much better for cheering than any analytical thought. supporting nelson despite his erratic coaching and personnel moves makes no sense.

this team has taken a tremendous step backwards from before and the results are directly attributable to nellie’s coaching. don’t forget you guys are the same folks who complained about trading for BWright who is already putting up great numbers in limited minutes. oh wait, a minute, who’s limiting his minutes again? that’s right, it’s don ‘larry brown crazy’ nelson.

…understand how anybody can defend Nelson at this point. The knowledge that his poor decisions making may be based on a blood fued doesn’t exactly help the team, the organization, or our future. It’s true that Mullin hasn’t always been a great GM, but he’s always clearly worked tirelessly to make this team better. I hope Don Nelson doesn’t get another red cent off this team.

how anyone can defend nellie at this point. the original argument is completely biased. u leave out all the positive things mullin has done, and only talk about the stuff that nellie has done in the past. wake up and see that he’s doing a terrible job of coaching this team. small ball works sometimes, but when you don’t have the talent for it (not to mention a few talented big men) then u need to switch it up

There’s no doubt Nellie’s a drama queen (a wildly entertaining one at that), but this is indisputably one of the shrewdest basketball minds of all time. His critics constantly harp on his lack of emphasis on D. They obviously didn’t watch We Believe. That amazing 16-5 run and upset over the Mavs was heavily due to Nellie’s defensive strategies- the gameplans that shut down Yao Ming, Steve Nash, and Dirk Nowitzki that spring were unBELIEVABLE.

Actually, the Warriors allowed their opponents to score an average of 104 points per game over the course of their 16-5 run. That’s not very good. And even if it were, picking 21 games of Don Nelson’s coaching career (hell, I’ll even throw in all six of those Dallas games) to try to make the case that he’s actually a good defense coach is a little silly. It’s honestly a little unBELIEVABLE to me that anybody would have to mount a case for Nelson being a crappy defensive coach.

Additionally, the framing of this discussion is all wrong. This isn’t a decision wherein you must be for Nelson or for Mullin. Mullin’s made mistakes, and most everyone acknowledges that. But if Nelson is specifically blocking Mullin’s pick in Randolph, and has told Randolph to look for trades because it “isn’t working,” that is insane. It’s completely indefensible. It goes beyond Nelson making judgement calls about what’s best on the court to him making one that I guarantee you no reputable GM would. You don’t watch a nineteen year old do the things Randolph has done in limited minutes, and suggest he start shopping for a new apartment. It implies a lack of interest in the health of the franchise that I find very telling, and very horrifying.

It’s entirely possible to disdain Mullin (as I sometimes do), and loathe management (as I always do), and still realize that Don Nelson is the wrong coach at the wrong time, and he may just rip this whole damn thing to shreds before he leaves. I’m sorry if this seems overly confrontational, but I don’t take kindly to being called “pathetic and unfair.”

It’s not that no one else could win with this roster, it’s that the wrong players are playing. It’s that no matter how well B Wright plays, he doesn’t get consistent burn. It’s that no matter how well a big lineup is playing, Nellie will tighten up and go small if the game is on the line. It’s that the small lineup has not had success, yet we use it a lot. It’s that Marcus Williams has not been given a fair shot whatsoever. It’s that Harrington could have been a much more effective player, but since Nelson only wants him as a 3 point specializing defense stretcher, when things go bad the fans blame him and we end up shipping him out for a player we don’t need. It’s that it is impossible to judge a player (Randolph) based on not even half a season of play. It’s that nothing short of injuries have forced Nelson to change his tendencies. It’s that Nelson’s system may have once been a meritocracy, but now is a dictatorship that rewards Jackson for mistakes that would and have buried Randolph, or even Belinelli before injuries forced Nelson to play him. It’s that veterans understand they do not have to give maximum effort on defense and set a bad example for the younger players. It’s that it is scary having your coach being your biggest wild card and liability. It’s that he should be somewhere else coaching a veteran team, and nowhere near this young team. It’s that I can’t be sure Nelson doesn’t make things personal.

It’s that Nelson is too afraid to try something out of his comfort zone even when the situation calls for it. Case in point: last year, the reason the Warriors fizzled out at the end of the year? Fatigue. What would have helped the fatigue? A longer bench? How do you get a longer bench? You play bench players in the fall instead of riding Baron and Jackson for 40+ minutes a night to develop a bench. You give Wright minutes instead of giving them to Chris Webber. Maybe in a regular year riding the veterans until the end and getting 48 wins would have done it, but it was obvious early into the season that that year was not normal. A coach with championship on his mind would have taken a gamble, would have played his bench more earlier to give his starters rest and develop rotation players for late in the season. If that costs a couple wins, that is a risk you have to take for the sake of ideally having a fresh team come playoff time. Would the Warriors have won even if they got in the playoffs? Hell no, you saw the way they were diving that last month. That was purely from fatigue.

It’s that Nelson’s system, when working at its best, will give you regular season wins if for no other reason then Nelson being a master at gimmicky schemes. But if he plays you in the playoffs and you adjust to his gimmicks he has nothing.

It’s a lot of things, none of them having to do with the Warriors win loss record.

fire nellie Anthony Randolph could be a cornerstone piece and you want to piss it off for another guard?

THATS EFFIN RETARDED!

You make great arguments in favor of Nelson, or at the very least against firing him. You’ve said it all better than I could so I wont’ try to restate it all.. But one thing I don’t understand is why people don’t trust his judgement on young players. Who exactly has he been wrong about ? I mean, I’m as impressed as everyone with the athleticism of Wright and Randolph but we don’t see these guys in practice every day and their limitations have already been well-documentd. Rushing them out onto the court isn’t going to make the team any better right now…

Anyway, thanks for the hi IQ content here. I’m really getting annoyed with all the low brow shouting and lowest-common-denominator attacks… This whole Fire Nelson movement is equally as offensive and mindless as all the ‘bandwagon’ fans that jumped in a couple years ago. In fact, its an anti-bandwagon…

For the most part, Nellie tried in Dallas to surround himself with people who bought into his system. With one major exception—the crazy high school kid—he drafted players he could work with. It seems to me that if Nellie and Mullin have trouble, it is over the kind of players Mullin has provided him with. I don’t know who is responsible for what, but the draft choices don’t look much like Nellie. GSW fans seem to think Wright and Randolph are major stars and it is the crime of the century they aren’t playing. I doubt that. It’s really obvious Randolph can’t control his emotions on the court and makes a lot of bad decisions. He is very young and inexperienced. If I couldn’t work with him, I would trade him because he’s going to be awhile developing. As for Wright, who knows? Seems to have more of a game this year but whether it’s a game that fits what the Ws are trying to do is anyone’s guess. What management has done is hire a 68-year-old coach and give him less and less to work with each year. Someone should compare a list of personel moves by Mullin and Nelson in the last 10 years. Did Mullin trade for Nash, the guy who became MVP twice? Did Mullin trade that fat guy for Dirk? Did Mullin draft Josh Howard? Devin Harris? Give me a break. We are in the grips of losing hysteria and all the facts have been thrown out the window. Nellie is a smart basketball man. You are lucky to have him. He seems to be one of the few sane people in the gym.

Atma,

You come strong, but let’s try and be objective here. There are several factors why the “Fire Nellie” chants are going on:

The first is the “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” crowd. The Warriors have looked horrible this year and their record reflects their play this season. It is the opinion of several fans on the Warriors Usenet group that Nellie is NOT adjusting his game plans to his personnel and keeps playing small ball even when the Warriors are getting pounded on the boards.

The second factor is that most fans knew the Warriors would be hard pressed to duplicate the success of the last two seasons (playoffs and then 48 wins). There’s no Baron and Monta gets into an accident. Even if Monta was healthy, there was no guarantee the team would do well.

Knowing the team will struggle a bit, lots of fans want to see the younger players play. We know what Magette, Sjax, Kelenna, etc can do. Ok, folks can argue that younger players have to earn their playing time. However, for me personally, I’d like to see what some of the young guys can do. I’m not saying feed them 48 minutes of game time, but some consistent minutes would be nice.

The third factor is the unstable structure at the top of the Warriors management chain. The reason folks are getting hard on Nellie is because they feel that NELLIE has undercut Mullin and not Rowell. I fear that we may never know the true answer. One can look at it many ways. Rowell may not have been happy and decided to get Mullin out of the picture. Rowell may have asked Nellie for advice. Nellie may have told Rowell to get rid of Mullin.

This really has little to do with Nellie’s past history and more to do with the here and now.