Worst Warrior moves ever?

by kirkkazas on Feb 5, 2006 5:33 PM PST

What was the worst Warrior move in NBA history? That's the tough question because there were so many. How about...

Trading Wilt Chamberlain on January 15, 1965, for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, Lee Shaffer, and cash.

Allowing former Rookie of the Year Rick Barry and his 35.6 PPG to jump to the ABA's Oakland Oaks in 1967 to play for his father in law.

Warriors swapped Robert Parish and their 1980 first-round draft pick to Boston for the first and 13th picks in the 1980 NBA Draft. Golden State used the No. 1 pick to select Purdue's Joe Barry Carroll. The 7-foot center would ring up six seasons of at least 17.0 points per game (including 24.1 ppg in 1982-83), but Parish would go on to win three championships with the Celtics, teaming with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale on one of the best front lines in NBA history.

1986 Drafting Chris Washburn at #3 in the infamous Len Bias draft. Mark Price went at #25, Dennis Rodman at #27 and Drazen Petrovic went at #60. When Warriors staff picked Washburn, who had size and talent, up at the airport the story goes he was quietly reading a comic book in the car and wouldn't talk. He was later banned from the NBA for repeatedly failing drug tests.

Dealing Mitch Richmond to Sacramento in 1991 for rookie forward Billy Owens and a 1995 second-round pick thus breaking up RUN TMC. Owens would be traded many times over the years.

Trading the 1993 #3 Draft Pick, Penny Hardaway, and three No 1s for eventual Franchise destroyer CWebb that has haunted the Ws ever since.

Cohan purchasing the team in 1994 the year after - and the last time - the Warriors make the playoffs. Cohan sides with Nellie so CWebb takes his early out clause in his contract; and then Cohan gets rid of Nellie who wanted the W's lose to obtain the number one pick. The Curse of the Ws exists to this day of continuous playoff drought years.

The 1996 Drafting of Todd Fuller over Kobe Bryant

Hiring Coach PJ Carlesimo in 1997 who tells Spree to put a little more mustard in his passes and Spree proceeds to choke Carlesimo leaving his imprints on the SI photo of PJs neck

The 1997 Drafting of Adonal Foyle over Tracy McGrady

The 1999 Drafting of Greg Foster over Andrei Kirilenko

2002 Drafting of Mike Dunleavy No. 3 while Amare Stoudamire goes at No. 9 to Phoenix

2005 Drafting Ike Diogu over Danny Granger but this is still up in the air.

Which one of these was the worst ever?

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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Great/Horrible Topic

This is one of those topics that is briefly talked about among Warrior Faithfuls because A) it's painful and B) there's just so many of them I can never remember them all.

I think the one that's most memorable in my mind is the Chris Webber/Don Nelson fiasco. I was a young Warrior fan and nieve to years of blunders and dumbfounded moves that awaited in the coming decade. I mean, here's a rookie that is showing HUGE numbers. We were looking at two young players that could carry a team Sprewell/Webber. Mullin was around, still a contributor and passing the torch to the "the next generation of warriors". And then in the matter of months we found ourselves with no coach and...you know the rest.

My second worst Warrior move was signing Rony Seikaly.

Didn't Mark Curry suit up for a few games? I remember some clip on Hangin' With Mr. Cooper of him getting jammed on by Sir Charles, as he was refered to back then.

Enough looking back for me.

J.cob -greatest accomplishment: coming up with the Golden State of Mind name.

by jdotcob on Feb 5, 2006 9:49 PM PST 0 recs

yes, you're right

I read one of the posts, I think Atma Bros, that brought up how the Ws wasted a number one on Joe Smith and it reminded me how they overlooked KG because he was a high schooler. And then all the bad memories came back. You're right it's painful - but some Warrior fans wear it as a badge of honor and want to make clear that the past bad mistakes should not be repeated (by present management) and that maybe the best is yet to come.

I omitted Twardzik's Joe Smith draft. Also Nellie has gone on record as saying the Richmond trade for Owens was the dumbest thing he ever did.

by kirkkazas on Feb 5, 2006 10:15 PM PST up 0 recs

Two ways to look at it...

You can look at the moves in and of themselves or how they effected the organization. Two moves/choices that i though really hurt were letting wilkes and gus williams go in the late 70's. wilkes was solid with the lakers and williams led the sonics to the championship.

the chamberlain trade in and of itself is incomprehensible. my god, he was in his prime! the only silver lining is, had we not traded him we provably never would have been bad enough to draft barry.

losing barry was big. they'd just gone to the finals against the sixers. mullins, lee and thurmond were in their primes. they had a good chance to win a championship in the late sixties, early seventies

we did not trade parish and mchale for carrol. if we had not made the trade and stayed put with the 3rd choice, celts would have taken mchale, jazz would have taken carrol and we would have ended up with griffith. so best case scenario: we end up with parish and griffith. No way we ever end up with mchale and parish. celts hoodwinked us, but even if we didn't bite, jazz would have take carrol. griffith tuned out to be average at best.

by rayshaw on Feb 16, 2006 1:20 PM PST up 0 recs

Thanks for reminding me!

Wow, I forgot about Gus Williams. I don't know why we let him go. Yeah, Gus was the star who teamed up with some good players like Jack Sikma, Dennis Johnson, Paul Silas, Freddie Brown to win Seattle a championship in 1979.

I guess the Ws had some guards in place from the championship season (though they inexplicably let starter Butch Beard go after the championship) like Phil Smith (former USF star who made all-NBA second team in 1976 - but who's career ended with an achilles heal injury - a real nice guy who game my mom an autograph years ago, sadly passed away recently - Attles said Phil could have been a superstar if not for the injury). Another W guard on the championship, Charles Johnson (CJ), left the same time Gus Williams left and later won a championship with the Bullets. Wilkes, rumor has it, just got tired of playing second fiddle to Barry and went to the Lakers and won three more championships there with Magic & Kareem; but still comes to all the Warriors 1975 championship reunions and I saw his two kids - Omar being the better player - play at Cal last night (Cal beat ARiz and Lou Holtz, finally).

I guess that part I wrote of the pick we traded to Boston with Robert Parish that Boston used to take McHale was misleading if you stand correct but it's part of Warriors legendary lore of the worst NBA moves ever.

by kirkkazas on Feb 17, 2006 10:20 AM PST up 0 recs

Oh yeah, Jamaal Wilkes is a Hall of Famer too

like Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond (who both made the 50 best of all-time list).

Of the ones who got away, Wilt Chamberlain, Robert Parish are Hall of Famers. (Of missed draft picks of course, Kobe will be a Hall of Famer and others are close too.)

by kirkkazas on Feb 18, 2006 9:05 PM PST up 0 recs

old school knowledge

wow dropping warriors blunders from 3 decades ago. nice. it's always good to learn about warriors history, even if it is shameful.

by Fantasy Junkie on Feb 17, 2006 5:54 PM PST up 0 recs

aw man

I swear the Warriors front office is the House of Shame...

JUMP AROUND! JUMP UP AND GET DOWN!

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 17, 2006 6:27 PM PST up 0 recs

Here's another to add to the list

Signing Adonal Foyle, Derek Fisher, and Mike Dunleavy to well above market value, long term deals. If they are unable to trade away these guys, these contracts will come back to haunt the Warriors in free agency in the years to come. While these may not be nearly as bad as the ones in the past, these signings will hurt when potential big name free agents are available and we're unable to sign them because these contracts eat up a large chunk of the salary cap.

by Fantasy Junkie on Feb 5, 2006 10:13 PM PST 0 recs

forget about that too, yeah thanks Fantasy J.

I forgot about that. I think Fisher, for a while, has proven that's he's valuable for his clutch shooting, leadership, and Baron Davis insurance. But overall, you're right! Most experts are saying Mully overpaid Foyle, a good back-up, and Dunleavy and Fish. No executive would pay those guys that amount!

Mully was more in line with what the market dictates for Murph and JRich though. Those extensions are actually bargains if Murph and JRich keep improving which is hard to believe since he paid a lot to those two guys also.

by kirkkazas on Feb 5, 2006 10:21 PM PST 0 recs

parish and mchale for Joe Barry

The thing that gets me about the Warriors trading Parish for the rights to Joe Barry Carroll, was that the Celtics used our pick to select Kevin Mchale! So we actually gave up two future All-Stars who helped Larry Bird win all those championships for a center (Joe Barry) with no heart and kind of like an above average Dampier.

by kirkkazas on Feb 5, 2006 10:39 PM PST 0 recs

correction

by rayshaw on Feb 16, 2006 1:38 PM PST up 0 recs

Letting Gilbert Arenas fly the coup!

Man, there ARE so many more bad Warrior deals where the W's got screwed. I forgot about how about not being able to work out a deal to keep Gilbert Arenas? That one still pisses me off. And now the NBA comes up with the Gilbert Arenas rule so teams can keep their second round picks; big deal, it's too late damage done!

by kirkkazas on Feb 5, 2006 11:06 PM PST 0 recs

Re: Gilbert

Funny thing happened a few weeks ago at work. I'm selling this guy some ipods and look at his credit card and see the name Gilbert Arenas. It obviously wasn't the former Warrior. It was GA Sr. Said i was glad to see Jr. doing well but i didn't bring up the Warriors when i remembered the way that drama ended.

J.cob -greatest accomplishment: coming up with the Golden State of Mind name.

by jdotcob on Feb 6, 2006 12:57 AM PST up 0 recs

Add Earl to the List

I was pretty sad to see Earl Boykins go. He was the man! Starred in one of the greatest Nike commercials of all time too. See Killing Elephants

http://freeshai.blogspot.com/2005/05/killin-elephants.html

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 5, 2006 11:20 PM PST 0 recs

Yes, that's true but...

Gilbert Arenas called into KNBR talk show (after he took the money and ran) and was upset because he wanted to stay with the Warriors and Gilbert blamed Cohan. He said the owner would not look him in the eye and shake his hand to promise him a fair contract if he were to sign a one year deal with the Warriors similar to what Rashard Lewis (another 2nd rounder) did with the Supersonics; Lewis was in the same situation with Seattle (team over the cap and team not being able to go over their cap to match an offer for their own 2nd rounder) but Lewis signed a one year deal to stay with Seattle and then received the big multi- year extension after his one year - instead of leaving immediately like Gilbert did. Players told Gilbert not to trust Cohan so he split when Cohan didn't even talk to him during the negotiations - chose to sit there silently.

Gilbert's personality is a little off beat enough to believe his story. Gilbert still loves the Bay Area and he even until recently played in the SF Pro City basketball tournament at Kezar Pavilion.

by kirkkazas on Feb 7, 2006 9:33 PM PST 0 recs

Jerseys

Next to the Rockets and the Raptors jerseys circa the late 90s with the awful cartoon characters, the Warriors choice of jerseys after their generic blue away and white home of the mid nineties has to be their WORST MOVE EVER! Lightening bolts down the side? Midnight Blue and Orange? Those colors are NOT hot and interestingly, that combination has never caught on elsewhere.

From my experiences in Philly, a lot of people who rock nba jerseys dont even watch basketball! Their just in it for the color combinations and what matches best with their shoes or just looks good elsewhere. How can you attract new fans if folks on the street can't even vibe with the unis? New jerseys PLEASE. I consider this, THE WORST MOVE EVER!!!

by dj fuzzylogic on Feb 11, 2006 5:49 AM PST 0 recs

I feel you man

I like the current jerseys but the bizzare lightening bolt jerseys in the mid-late 90's were FUGLY.

Still, the Warriors have The City gear which are easily the hottest jerseys of all time. I'd rather have the fly gear than all those rings the Lakers and Celtics have!

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 11, 2006 10:31 AM PST up 0 recs

seems like

every year the warriors have passed up players who go on to have great years/careers for players who are just mediocre. when will they ever get it right.

And he hath declared thee a winner.

by Lord Baron on Feb 19, 2006 4:54 PM PST 0 recs

more bad moves

how about russell cross in '83 instead of drexler, d harper, jeff malone, doc rivers or dale ellis?

tim roye instead of greg papa, who is very good in baseball, football, and hoops.

billy owens for richomnd....richmond was a very good player for a long time, while owens was decent for 2 years.

i agree with kirkkazas letting gus williams walk for free. smith and gus would have been great in the backcourt for years.

another overlooked draft pick was jeff ruland. he was drafted and traded to wash immediately in 1980 when we drafted jbc. although he was injured throughout his career, he was an allstar and his career may have taken a different path with the warriors.

more.... john starks was sitting on the bench with warriors and became a big part of the knicks success in the late 80's and early 90's.

i know there is more...let me think about it some. oh yeah trading for alton lister instead of drafting kemp.

by sonny parker on Feb 20, 2006 8:18 PM PST 0 recs

Hey, Sonny Parker!

You had a couple nice hustling points back in the ol' days. Don't bust your brains too hard. If you check the original post, I think I mentioned how Nelson traded Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens and regrets it to this day; that trade broke up Run TMC. The first post had most of the worst moves but you guys reminded me of others and I realized I left the whole Gilbert Arenas fiasco out.

But yeah, you brought up how Cohan got rid of Greg Papa because he did Raiders games and brought in Fitz. Tim Roye is decent, and he's no Bill King (who is) but Papa did tv and was awesome with Barnett. Fitz can't hold Papa's jock strap when it comes to doing tv play by play. I liked Fitz as a radio talk show person but he's pretty bad on tv and would love to have Papa back. Tim Roye's okay for radio.

by kirkkazas on Feb 20, 2006 9:02 PM PST up 0 recs

great list

Wasn't it Bob Fitzgerald for Greg Papa though?

Fitz was a great host on KNBR 680 and he's a good broadcaster, but Papa was THE MAN.

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 20, 2006 9:34 PM PST up 0 recs

a couple of more

the signing of jo jo white and giving up a high 1st rounder to boston. i don't remember who they drafted.

the trading of our first to atl for blaylock instead of drafting jason terry.

bernard king for michael ray richardson. just when we were turning a cornor. we couldn't or wouldn't match an offer by the knicks.

this doesn't really count, but the nba(david stern) cheating us out of patrick ewing.

not bad of a memory after all, huh?

by sonny parker on Feb 20, 2006 11:21 PM PST 0 recs

thanks, Sonny! You had a little red hair too?

Yeah, I remember my co-workers were wondering why we didn't just draft Jason Terry; Mookie never met a golf course he didn't like. Terry was/still is a pure shooter. Don't know why they ever let Bernard King go. The man had questions about his character and play before he joined the Ws but then he was on the verge of stardom when the Ws pretty much let him go. Just inexplicable. Add that one to the list too!

by kirkkazas on Feb 21, 2006 12:23 AM PST 0 recs

Chris Mullin 3rd Least Successful GM

http://realgm.com/src_feature/480/20060221/the_recently_least_successful_gms/

3) Chris Mullin, Golden State Warriors

Here's a recap of the Chris Mullin GM era in Golden State.

Gave a $58 million extension to Troy Murphy.
Gave a $70 million extension to Jason Richardson.
Gave a $45 million extension to Mike Dunleavy Jr.
Signed Derek Fisher for $36 million
Re-signed Adonal Foyle for $41.6 million (I'm still amazed every time I look at that. At least the others have ball skills)
Traded an expiring contract for the remaining 4 years at $62 million of Baron Davis.

(If you're still totalling, that's $313 million. A third of a billion dollars. Yeesh.)

Did it work? No. The team is 4 games under .500, even after duping almost everybody into believing they would be a playoff team this season. And what's more, Chris is worried about his high payroll. Last season, he gave away a first round pick to Denver to get them to take on the contract of Eduardo Najera. In that trade, Golden State received Rodney White and Nikoloz Tskitishvili, both gone within a matter of months. It's now rumoured that, to avoid paying Mickael Pietrus, he's trying to give him to any team that will take the contract of Derek Fisher.

Now for all of Mullin's, shall we say, 'liberal' spending, he has acquired some young talent. Monta Ellis and Chris Taft, his two second round picks this year, have some ability, and Ike Diogu has shown he can score at this level. Mullin was also responsible for the selection of Andris Biedrins who, depsite having some bad hair, has shown promise as a shot blocker with some scoring ability. But even regarding these moves, it all hinges on his big spending. Had he not done so, he would not have had to weaken his team and spend some of its assets to avoid paying the luxury tax. Ask yourself this - would the team be better with Baron Davis or Speedy Claxton? Talent wise, it is one thing. But Speedy is the sixth man on the 6-games-above-.500 Hornets, and an invaluable part of their set up. The Warriors (albeit with only a very small sample to work from) are arguably a better team without Baron Davis. At worst, the difference is negligible. Additionally, without the trade, the Warriors would have saved $9 million on payroll with the contract of Dale Davis expiring, a saving which could feasibly have meant they would have had to make the Najera move, nor the possible Pietrus move.

Of course, none of that is provable. And some of it may not happen. But to base it back in fact once again - Mullin has spent a third of a billion dollars for a team that is still stuck with a sub .500 record, and has limited his chances of improving on that. Not good news, really.

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 21, 2006 10:52 PM PST 0 recs

Pretty poignant!

Wow, you should be writing for the Bush White House. You really stay on message! I have to agree with you. One of my W friends was disappointed to see Speedy go but we all got caught up last year in the hype and how it was such a franchise-saving move. Yikes! A third of a billion bucks is really really petrifying!

Cohan must have made a billion bucks in his cable business otherwise he must be scratching his head during income tax season. But what gets me is that unlike in football where contracts are not guaranteed (except for the up front bonus money), NBA and MLB contracts are guaranteed even if the player gets hurt. That is bad business if you ask my opinion but nobody's asking. For instance, Rob Nen was a warrior for the SF Giants by risking his career to almost bring home a world championship in 2002 (eight outs away); but he was never the same and the Giants had to pay him about $10 million a year for the next two years as he sat on the bench. The NBA is no different. The Ws better unload some salary fast!

kirk

by kirkkazas on Feb 22, 2006 12:03 AM PST 0 recs

Oh my bad Kirk

I didn't write that. I was quoting it from that article I linked to.

Yeah the article does make a lot of good points.

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 22, 2006 12:56 AM PST up 0 recs

yeah, I clicked the link after posting it.

Nice tough article anyways.

by kirkkazas on Feb 22, 2006 10:08 AM PST up 0 recs

Not Trading for Artest

That would have gotten the Dubs to the playoffs this year. It was their only chance to improve during this season and possibly rid themselves of one of those horrendous deals.

Letting Artest go to Pacific division rival Kings stings even more.

Add the Tru Warrier to the list.

by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 23, 2006 7:28 PM PST 0 recs

yeah, kinda sad...

Ron Ron sounded genuine how he really wanted to play for Mully and the Warriors too.

by kirkkazas on Feb 23, 2006 7:35 PM PST 0 recs

in hind sight

i would have to concur. sometimes you have to roll the dice to get over the top. the squad we have now ain't gonna do it even if they were all healthy. it seems we are heading to a very disappointing ending with many questions heading into next year.

maybe we'll get lucky in 2007 lottery and get greg oden.

by sonny parker on Feb 23, 2006 11:02 PM PST 0 recs

Lordy Lord... we talkin about another lottery?!!!

Geez, if we're giving up on the season already might as well shoot for Morrison! Not Jim... but Adam.

But heck, the basketball season is like a river with a lot of ebbs and flows to it. You never know, the Ws might catch fire with Baron and his boys leading the way!

by kirkkazas on Feb 23, 2006 11:40 PM PST 0 recs