OPEN THREAD: Warriors Elect Not To Renew Chris Mullin's Contract; Promote Larry Riley To GM
by Fantasy Junkie on May 11, 2009 5:08 PM PDT
in News
47 comments
The Warriors finally make the move that has been rumored for a long time now. Mullin won't be fired, his contract just won't be renewed. In to take his place is Nellie's guy (puppet?), Larry Riley.
What was originally reported by MT2 has been made official:
The Golden State Warriors announced today that the club has elected not to renew the contract of Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin. In a related move, the team has named Larry Riley as the club’s new General Manager...
Riley has accumulated 20-plus years of NBA experience in various capacities prior to being named GM of the Warriors, including a six-year stint as Director of Player Personnel for the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies from 1994-95 to 1999-00. The Indiana native also spent six seasons as an assistant coach/scout with the Milwaukee Bucks (1988-89 to 1993-94) and six years with the Dallas Mavericks in the same capacity (2000-01 to 2005-06).
Reposting this as a story. Link to the original fan shot with comments.
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Another step to a new Era?
Last remaining piece other than the Owner would be Nelson.
Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, or John Wall. A Warrior in 09.
With the 6th Pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, the SF Giants pick Donovan Tate.
Andre Smith in Silver & Black in 2009.
by ejdacanay on May 11, 2009 5:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
New era: 2nd Drought
I can’t believe I’m seeing this.
Bay Area Bruin.
by Yoyo on May 11, 2009 5:22 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Ok time for you to change teams then
Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, or John Wall. A Warrior in 09.
With the 6th Pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, the SF Giants pick Donovan Tate.
Andre Smith in Silver & Black in 2009.
by ejdacanay on May 11, 2009 5:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Does this mean..
We get Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, and Ike Diogu back?
What about Speedy Claxton?
Derek Fisher anyone?
I’m pretty sure Mullin shipped those guys out.
We still believe!!
by R Dizzle on May 11, 2009 5:25 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I am in mourning
This really really sucks. I mean we all knew it was coming, but it just f’in sucks once it is official.
by Golden Boy on May 11, 2009 5:41 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I might have voted for the "GOSM crew" ...
… but it’s a toss-up. I’d love to have Jae doing his stuff for our boys professionally, but Atma’s Nellie-worship just about cancels that out.
by Ronaldinho on May 11, 2009 5:45 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
or Mullin?
Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, or John Wall. A Warrior in 09.
With the 6th Pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, the SF Giants pick Donovan Tate.
Andre Smith in Silver & Black in 2009.
by ejdacanay on May 11, 2009 7:40 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Well, we did get playoffs once
and 48 wins another time.
by ZaMzAm FiRe on May 11, 2009 10:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sorry
that was Don Nelson coming to Chris Mullins rescue. Sure Mullen brought Nelly back but if he didn’t we would have had this post three years ago and nobody would care and we would now have had a 17 going on 18 year playoff drought.
by VERY VERY BUSY on May 12, 2009 4:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Well, he also
is the one that brought Baron, SJax, and Al to the bay. I’m pretty sure they were kind of important to the playoff run. Just a tad.
by ZaMzAm FiRe on May 12, 2009 10:30 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
continuing mediocrity
was destined with either Mullin or Riley running personnel. I suspect that Riley will do slightly better, because he’s much more aware of all the limits on his decisions, including budgetary. Mullin tended to repeat mistakes, and overlook longer range effects, especially the fiscal ones, from his personnel moves, and compared to Riley was a complete tyro when he started the job.
by the.monk on May 11, 2009 6:04 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Huh?
Mullin made some mistakes – but he clearly learned from them.
The Biedrins contract is a great example – are any other GMs in the league giving out non-escalating deals?
You can fairly criticize Mullin for making some mistakes, but to say that he tended to repeat them, particularly fiscal ones, makes no sense at all. (Well, not if you consider the Mags signing Rowell’s doing, not Mullys, which I do. The Jackson extension was CLEARLY Rowell’s decision.)
by Ronaldinho on May 12, 2009 12:58 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
non-escalating contracts are hardly rare
and the mistakes I see him repeating seem to reflect his particular personal biases, or getting stuck into a rut and learning little from the error. He didn’t draft Pietrus, and the player joined a group of guys other teams value to varying degrees, whom the woe-yrs wrote off as a lost asset. Either a trade before they reached that point, or a re-sign and trade—clearly Pietrus is more than an 11th/12th man like Foyle. In contrast, when he wanted to draft a big rebounder (Diogu, O’bryant, Perovic, Lasme, Hendrix) he did not want to ‘lose’ Perovic to another team and paid him essentially to play a few games in Bakersfield, and ended up buying out the contract. He liked Harrington, the potential replacement Wright couldn’t stay healthy long enough to assess as a rookie, so he held on to him too long. ellis is another pet of his, and ended up with essentially a max contract for a small scoring guard without a complete game—as if Mullin is such a great talent prognosticator he could be certain that ellis would continue to improve dramatically over the term of the deal.
ellis and Biedrins are very good players but not upper tier stars, and other than Wright and Randolph (if you want to hedge about Mullin not getting blame for M’gette, then he also might not deserve credit for Randolph, since he was drafted after Nelson became a factor in personnel), the roster improvements almost come down to Davis and Jackson, who as others have pointed out were outcasts from other teams, steeply discounted. Azubuike was referred by Moncrief to Nelson, in case anyone wants to give Mullin credit for him.
by the.monk on May 12, 2009 1:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Actually, non escalating contracts are rare, but I don’t think that it has much to do the creativity, and has more to do with how the CBA allows teams to proceed. Still, it seems more often than not, even when the CBA would allow for it, contracts have raises factored in.
by jae on May 12, 2009 1:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
o.k., thanks for correcting me
about non-escalating contracts. They’re relatively rare, but the few exceptions I knew about stuck in my memory, and these include Garnett, Nocioni, Hinrich. (like ellis’ and Biedrins’, all substantial deals overall). Between agents, the CBA, and how people making seven figures per year still like the phrase ‘cost of living increases’, those yearly raises seem to be considered entitlements.
by the.monk on May 12, 2009 3:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
This is bad news I think Mully
was doing the right things he did try to bring Kevin Garrnet the offseason the C’s got him he put us back in the playoffs and gave us a 48 win season this last season you can’t put on Mully because he was out of power it’s a damn shame.
by A'Seahawks_Warriors on May 11, 2009 6:23 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Possible Nicknames for Riley:
1. Twinkie
2. The Boob
3. Donna
4. Ole Grizz
5. The Tool
Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell? Oh no hide the children!
by Nuck Chorris on May 11, 2009 7:09 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I voted GSOM crew, but really I just wanted Jae (no offense to the rest of you fine moderators)
by belilaugh on May 11, 2009 7:20 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
another loss
Mullin was well liked by all of the players. The overall team morale is probably so low you’d have to pick it up off the floor by now. Whenever Mullin ends up, Monta will follow. Maybe not immediately, but eventually.
Mullin is a class act. He could have been singing the blues for the last year and turned it into a big drama, but he has kept silent. Unlike Nellie, he’s not a drama queen. This next drought will probably be longer than the last one.
by centerre on May 11, 2009 7:25 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Well according to saintdee edjacanay
Mullin hasn’t and wouldn’t taken us anywhere.
I see what you mean though. Mullin has made some mistakes, but he also helped orchestrate us getting to the playoffs. I’ll miss him, but it’s time to move on.
by Golden Boy on May 11, 2009 7:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
and
he also orchestrated our current situation.
Thanks mullin for sending us into the playoffs one year so we could have another huge drought!
by saintdee on May 11, 2009 8:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
IMO, you can't blame everything on Mullin.
Just like I can’t blame everything all on Cohan or Rowell or Nellie.
It’s the lack of compromise in a collective difference of ideals for what’s best of the Dubs.
Mullin did make mistakes, but he did find Monta, AB, A-Mo, AR, Buike (i think?), was responsible for bringing in Baron and Nellie to help construct the We Believe team….etc.
I’m sure you like some of those players on this team that I just mentioned.
Who knows what this team would be if we didnt have Mullin.
Everyone has their strong opinion on who should be running thing in the front office for the Dubs but I would rather have Mullin as the face of the Warriors front office making the Top final decisions.
Playing the “if” game, I wonder what Mullin had next up his sleeve for the team. I know that if Mullin was making ALL the decisions, the core at this point would have been Baron, Monta, Jack, AR, Turiaf, AB, AMo, and Buike to the least.
Oh well. Let’s hope for the best but I predict the worst because I really fear future idiotic decisions to be made with the new FO.
oh ya. Go Warriors still or something.
Romes Mac Mojous
by ROMESdavidWOOD37 on May 12, 2009 8:41 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
Mullin was well liked by all of the players.
there is no proof this is true. JRich didn’t seem too happy about being traded after Mullin guaranteed that he would not trade JR. Nor Pietrus regarding his non-deal and non-trade situation. I doubt SJack was happy that Mullin (allegedly) didn’t want him to get an extension.
The overall team morale is probably so low you’d have to pick it up off the floor by now.
i doubt they really care. as long as they get their money, guys like Maggette who were adamant about not coming off the bench are suddenly fine with it. in all likelihood, most of the guys barely know Mullin (especially the young & new players) and would only be upset if assistant coaches who work with them day in and day out were let go.
Whenever Mullin ends up, Monta will follow. Maybe not immediately, but eventually.i doubt they have a relationship outside of practices. Monta, like most young players will go where the money is.
well at least you’re probably right about Nellie being a drama queen.
by the evil monkey on May 11, 2009 11:14 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Well...
This FO is really a mess. I think it’s incredibly lame that they didn’t just fire Mullin if they didn’t want him around. Then, when his contract finally expires, and they have another chance to go out and get someone who has the ability to run this franchise in a way that might do it’s incredible fan-base justice, and what do they do? They promote an assistant coach. Yeah, the guy has some experience in the FO. He has experience running teams very poorly.
If they wanted to promote one of our assistant coaches, they should have promoted Larry Harris at least he has experience winning the draft lottery. (Ok I don’t really like that option either, but can we at least send him on lottery night? Dude is lucky.)
If Riley is really running this team we are in trouble.
If Rowell is really running (ruining) this team we are in trouble.
If Nelson is running this team… he doesn’t seem to care enough to do it well. I guess that is really the best case scenario at this point. If Riley really is just a puppet for Nelson and Smart starts handling more of the day to day coaching then this might not be a total failure, but I’m not optimistic.
As for Mullin, it’s a shame they treated him the way that they did at the end. He was not a great GM by any means. I don’t know if he did enough to earn an extension. He made some bad mistakes early but he seemed to improve as time went on. I think now that it’s all said and done he was about average. It’s fine that they opted to go in a different direction but they didn’t have to neuter him and leave him wandering around for a year. I hope he gets another chance and I wish him well.
Thing 2
by olympicmike on May 11, 2009 8:02 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
i’m on the fence about mullin as a gm, but you hit it on the head, the promotion of riley screams lack of imagination and laziness. they might as well put a sign over the oracle that reads “where status quo happens, even if it sucks”.
heart of a champion, will of the warrior.
by cap'n hack on May 11, 2009 8:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
While I agree with both of you...
Look at it this way: Nelson’s only got one, maybe two more years coaching this team. Maybe three, but I don’t see him having the gas for that. (Insert fart jokes here please.) So Rowell and Cohan have a choice:
1) Go with a Nellie guy, who they don’t have to pay much—they’re already paying him, and he probably didn’t sign a new contract extension or anything—who won’t rock the boat enough to make Nellie’s remaining season(s) too tumultuous, and who might even be familiar enough with Nellieball to make some decent decisions; or:
2) Hire a more independently thinking, higher credentialed GM, that might not have the same vision as Nellie and might add to the risk of a massive Nellie flameout where he quits after 10 games, badmouths the team to the media, and sues Cohan for unpaid dues.
OK, maybe those aren’t the only two possibilities. But if you were Rowell and Cohan, wouldn’t you be worried about Door #2? If Door #1 really does last only one or two years, and the team still hasn’t gone anywhere, then you can start over with a new GM, new coach, new direction. Promoting Riley in the meantime is not the glamorous path, but it makes sense in that context.
by ffgolden on May 11, 2009 10:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
i hate the logic, but you’re not wrong. i think you might be overstating nellie as a prima donna, but it’s clear that cohan and rowell viewed this as the safe move and didn’t want to mess up all the wonderful things this franchise has going for it. i can’t decide if it’s good or bad that we’re so salary cap locked that this guy can’t do anything substantial anyway. if he keeps monta, biedrins, and randolph (once again, the safe move), his options are very limited and very difficult to botch. we’ll see what happens. keep your fingers crossed.
heart of a champion, will of the warrior.
by cap'n hack on May 11, 2009 10:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I will truly miss Chris Mullin
brought in s-jax,baron,harrington,barnes. i don’t care right now for his mishaps, he damn well created a playoff team, drafted a steal in monta ellis, a potential superstar in the making in anthony randolph, jesus christ(sorry if that offended anyone) this owner doesn’t know how to run a team, sell the team, and lets move on, Good Luck Chris Mullin
by Dub4lif3 on May 11, 2009 8:21 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Mullin will always be loved.
Riley better pull off a Celtics offseason!:]
We Believe
by RunNdGun on May 11, 2009 8:46 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I wonder who realistically would take the job if they shopped for a guy with a track record. I’d imagine that anyone with a history of building teams in the NBA would demand a level of autonomy that they can’t get here. There’s a level of schizophrenic meddling from Rowell or Cohan that’s just enough to muck up the works, and not enough to be the activist owner who puts enough passion into it to get bright minds running the show despite the meddling.
Mullin didn’t inspire me when he was hired or for much of the time he was here. He wasn’t terrible but he wasn’t brilliant. He got us the the playoffs? That alone isn’t inspiring. More than half the league makes the playoffs each year. Our miraculous run of bad seasons has made this seem false, but moderate compentence and occasional luck and you should find yourself in the playoffs every now and then without being a particularly talented GM. A very good year from a handful of your best players can sometimes be enough to get you there, and those happen, just by chance. If you’re not abysmal (and they hadn’t been that bad since Musselman was the coach) and it will eventually happen.
It’s not like we’re trying to replace Jerry West to maintain championship form. There are other guys out there who know more about finding basketball talent than Mullin, who have a better concept of contract value and how to build a team, who appear better at proactive negotiation strategy. He’s not the worst, but he’s not the best and worrying that Mullin in particular is gone is unnecessary.
The worry should be entirely about who is replacing him.
Riley? Dunno. Rings of ‘cheap’ or a way for Nellie to be able to call shots when he wants to but not when he doesn’t, which is what really thought would happen with him and Mullin in the first place, but that didn’t really pan out too well.
Riley’s record with the Griz was underwhelming, but expansion teams are tough to deal with. Still, if Riley was running their draft, they had some pretty uninspired drafts, not of the ‘how the hell could they pass on <>" variety, but nothing that says he’s got an inside on talent or will do anything different from a consensus mock draft. The contract to “Big Country” was ridiculous. He never earned it before and didn’t justify it after, even when he was healthy. That was in the day that teams felt impelled to ‘lock in’ (translation: toss money at) their ‘rising star’ (traslation: guy who is still being graded on ‘potential’ [translation: isn’t good yet]) and max contracts were flowing like some metaphor for things that are associated with flowing. He fit right into this, seeming to copy the dominant strategy, but had less to work with so the contracts weren’t good ones. In a zero sum environment like the NBA, copying the dominant strategy isn’t really a good way to go. Someone will win with it, someone will lose with it. The only thing to say about that now is that the Warriors are saddled with enough contracts that he couldn’t copy a ‘dump them all to join the ’make a run at a 2010 star’ derby if he wanted to, so he won’t likely join the list of also rans in this strategy. He’ll have to find his own way to fail, and there’s a chance in doing that he’ll stumble into winning on accident.
Who knows, maybe he’s a great mind and has been saddled with obstacles himself and now will be his break. It’s not impossible, but I think it improbable. I’ve been wrong before though (I count 3 occasions for those keeping score) so it’s possible that he’ll defy my projection for sub-mediocrity. One can only hope.
OK, I started out thinking that it wasn’t that bad. Now I’m less convinced.
by jae on May 12, 2009 1:11 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Mullin
After reading jae, that covers it for me. Thanks for saving me the time.
by origraid on May 12, 2009 6:25 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Riley
Riley is another peice of our pie. Our sh*t pie that is.
Please do something to get us to at least to the Playoffs Riley.
by gabezgsw on May 12, 2009 10:15 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Is anyone else scared....
….that a large chunk of Larry Riley’s front office experience comes from working 1995-2000 as Director of Player Personnel for the Vancouver Grizzlies, REPEAT VANCOUVER!! From my understanding, director of player personnel involves scouting and player moves. is it safe to say Larry Riley had his hand in a good portion of the debacle that was the Canadian version of the Grizzlies?! therefore was involved in such picks as Bryant Reeves, Antonio Daniels in top 5 (i love him but he’s a backup). who knows how much he was involved (but i’m thinking it was a lot) in draft picks, etc. but that’s not the greatest front office to have gained experience. i’m more scared of this, then of Riley being a Nelson puppet.
Grizzlies 1st Round draft picks while Riley worked as Director of Player Personnel (to be fair it’s somewhat hit and miss):
1995 – Bryant Reeves (pick 6) buzz cut and fat
1996 – Abdur-Rahim (pick 3) ball stopper, Roy Rogers (pick 22) can’t remember very well, that can’t be a good sign
1997 – Antonio Daniels (pick 4) backup at best
1998 – Mike Bibby (pick 2) great pick
1999 – Steve Francis (pick 2) headcase
2000 – Stromile Swift (pick 2) has jumping ability and little else
by Brickowski BOOM on May 12, 2009 2:19 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
With Riley/Nelson Completely in charge, I'm pretty scared about losing AR
by 123707THIZZ on May 12, 2009 2:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
+1
Don’t worry though. Rob Kurz will be the face of the Dubz.
Possibly at PG.
“Be patient. You guys are the best fans in the NBA. You deserve the best.”
This will be our slogan for the next 13 losing seasons. What year will it be? 2022 and still trying to make the 8th spot for the playoffs?
Don’t worry. We are the best fans in the NBA and we’ll get rewarded with an exciting team that doesnt make the playoffs, changes the whole roster every 2-3years with plenty of potential, provides a lot of drama within the players, coaches, F.O. and fans. The best part of it all, prices for loyal season ticket holders get rewarded with a 37% increase every year because it costs alot of money for “promise” every year.
AR is just another victim of having “trade bait” stamped on his forhead just like every ex-Warrior player. The front office panicks once a good core starts to develop because they dont know what the hell to do to surround that core so they ship their arses out.
Hey. At least the Life of a Warrior fan is never boring.
Yay.
(Maybe we’d be better off keeping Gary St. Jean. Waaaaah.)
Romes Mac Mojous
by ROMESdavidWOOD37 on May 12, 2009 3:21 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
FIRE ROWELL NOW!!
AND COHAN TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
=Gaucho=
by Gaucho! on May 12, 2009 4:55 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs
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