Chris Mullin take your foot off the pedal; you’re headed for a wall!!

Chris Mullin, Free Agency, 2008, Golden State Warriors

July 4th, 2008 – Dr. Dime

Is it just me, or are the Golden State Warriors starting to offer huge contracts to just about anyone with a recognizable name to NBA fans. I actually felt a bit bad for Warriors GM Chris Mullin when Baron Davis called his bluff in their contract extension negotiations and left for greener pastures in L.A. The Clippers were quickly willing to do what Mullin should have done immediately, which is to sign Davis to a longer term contract to solidify his future. But after the latest word from agent David Falk’s camp that the Warriors have now offered Corey Maggette upwards of $6 million a year, Mullin and the Warriors are wreaking of desperation.

After two short years back to respectability in the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors appear to be taking the express route to the 2009 NBA draft lottery. Not only has their superstar leader Baron Davis agreed to sign with the Clippers, but they have failed in attracting Gilbert Arenas, Elton Brand, and even now Corey Maggette despite the large contract offers they have tendered which are said to be bigger than what most other teams have been willing to pay for those free agents. To top it off there are rumors beginning to circulate that Warriors forward Al Harrington is considering a trade demand, and the contract extension negotiations with Monta Ellis are not going as smoothly as planned. Now with Ellis drawing significant interest from the Miami Heat and New York Knicks, even though he is a restricted free agent, the Warriors executives have got to feel like their world is coming apart at the seams.

I’m not advocating that GM’s around the league should start to cave-in during contract negotiations every time one of their key players makes a demand, but after the past two seasons of rejuvenation the Warriors have experienced under the hand of a healthy Baron Davis they should have paid the man his due. Sure Mullin was most likely concerned about signing Davis to a long term contract after Baron had multiple injury riddled years with the Hornets, but Davis is still only 29 years old and after two seasons with very few health issues Mullin should have signed off on the 5 year demand with no questions asked.

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As we have seen in the past week, sometimes these things snowball and one mistake can lead to another by trying to make up for the first. The first thing Mullin and the Warriors need to do right now is stop throwing around offers to every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the free agent market. Then they can regroup, and come up with a strategic plan to get the pieces around Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson that they need to be successful in the short term, without giving away too many contracts and sacrificing their long term success. When in doubt think “What would Joe Dumars do in Detroit?” He certainly wouldn’t be throwing around contract offers based on name recognition. The quality GM’s in the NBA look at what their roster make-up is, do a gap-analysis on where they need improvement, then try and fill those gaps with the right people for the job.

After all the years of bottom feeding in the Western Conference, the Warriors owe it to the fans in Oakland not to just tank next year in hopes of hitting the lottery.

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Comments

Suns4Life

Mullin has already crashed and burned on this one! All this PR b.s. that he’s doing to pretend he is getting players is lame.
dcab

I agree that the W’s shouldn’t be throwing out money to every player out there, because as the top free agents sign with other teams, they’ll be overpaying for mid-level talent. Considering that, the Dubs don’t even have enough contract players to field a team. The Arenas and Brand offers were high and obviously some emotion involved in both (anger @ Clips & Baron and anguish from losing Agent 0 creating the “Gilbert Arenas” rule). But Davis did have considerable injury problems, he had a good 07-08 but was oft injured the previous year. And every time he hit the floor there was a collective gasp from the faithful. Mullin believes that Monta is the real deal, and I have to agree with him. His skills are extraordinary and he has significantly improved every year. That being said, once he and Beidrins resign, the Dubs won’t have a ton of cap room in the coming years. They need to sign some high quality support players who have experience to lead the young players. Captain Jack is the perfect example of a good player who is integral to winning. Mully had to make a move at the top 2 FA’s when the Davis money opened up, when that didn’t materialize, he must continue down the path of picking up the best possible talent with the huge amount of cap space he has. Besides, even with Baron, the W’s failed to make the playoffs with 48 wins. In the east you can have 3 good players and a bunch of scrubs and make the playoffs, the west requires several players who can jack 30 on a given night, Monte and Jack can, then the W’s are in trouble. They’ll need to look to Maggette, Jsmith, Iguodala while signing their RFA’s. To develop their young talent, try to find some lightning, while targeting productive FA’s must be the goal. They won’t win a title in the next few years, but the top teams will age, and the W’s need a winning culture so they are poised to be west contender when San Antonio, Phoenix, Dallas and a Clipper team with 2 aging stars all fall off the radar.
boom_dizzle

I agree with a lot of what you are saying dcab. It will be interesting to see if Jack was really the glue guy or if the W’s they got this year were largely due to Baron running the show.

I like Biedrins a lot because of his hustle and determination, but do you think they need a more legitimate scoring threat in the paint? Harrington is a big body, but he floats around the arc so much.

Agree that Ellis is the truth. He’s a real player, but sometimes I wonder if he will be disheartened by the loss of Baron and inability to sign some of these free agents and just play out his contract and leave GSW.
dcab

boom_dizzle. Yeah, Jack is about as bipolar as a player can be, he’s shown horrible judgement off court and is praised as being a great team-mate and leader on the court. Could easily go either way. I agree there really is no post play at all, Baron was their best post player, so if Brand does shock the world, I’d be all for him. I don’t know if any of the available FA’s this year help out, Smith impressed me in the playoffs, but he is in the mold of our three skinny front liners AB, BW, and the rookie randolph. If they hold out til next year, sign some 1 year deals, and keep Harrington (if they can’t get a great trade) they will have some cash next year for a possible run at some descent post players like Boozer, Artest, J-Oneil, Odom, Marion, Maxiel, Gooden- don’t like all those guys, but a better forward crop than this year. Al will likely not pick up his option to stay and free up another 10mil then, so they could conceivably lay back for next year, but I really hate that tactic. They did that for over a decade and it lead to horrible draft picks, strangled coaches and a lot of losing. Mullin seems to be better at the mid season trade, hasn’t done a ton during the off season other than getting Nelly, Wright (jury still out on that one) and drafting Monta. So, hopefully, find some guys who are athletic, like Maggette, and ride Monta to see how big this kids upside is.