http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/55340/20081110/nelson_clearing_out_mullin_to_make_way_for_son/
What? That's ridiculous. Mullin is Nelson's friend. That'd be a dick move. If Anything it is Rowell probably concerned with Mullin thinking with his heart rather than his head. Mullin wanted Baron and Baron was definitely the guy who gave his best years to this franchise. But many believed (including me) that Baron wasn't going to add anything to this franchise if we also kept Monta. We needed to improve our ability to get to the foul line and get tougher inside. I'm sure many peeps higher up were also tired of Baron dominating the ball like a shooting guard, gambling on D, and getting to the foul line about the same amount per game as their second best player Stephen Jackson. It was a wise move and I totally agree that Mullin should have been vetoed if he was trying to re-sign Baron and Monta together. I love Mullin's draft picks, but his decision-making would definitely be based on heart. It's why I don't know if I fully trust his signings. If Mags and Turiaf were 100% Mullin signings then I agree with those. I've never felt we overpaid either. They give it their all and give our team some things we've been missing for years (guys who play bigger and physical). I believe we should keep Mullin, though. I like his job so far, but he needs a management team to help him not think with his heart.
The same argument about basing decisions on heart can be made against Rowell. He's about to give Stephen Jackson an extension. From a business standpoint, that makes no sense. From a loyalty standpoint, yes, it totally makes sense.
Actually, I saw that as a business standpoint. You need a catalyst for this team in order to stand a chance at winning and getting the young guys better. Sjax gives us this chance as long as he's playing well. Plus, he leads the team defensively and as a floor leader. He's also got a ring and lots of playoff experience. He's also team captain and wants to genuinely be here (not like Baron crying about money more than Sjax did). Plus Sjax plays more games in a season than Baron and commands less money for games played. Again, Sjax is probably the only star type of player that genuinely wants to be here and that's hard to find. Maybe if we invested in Sjax, the young guys get a lot better and we attract more guys who want to play with a guy like Sjax and Biedrins and others. I think the moves have been in the right direction thus far starting with the Mags/Turiaf signing. Excellent moves. I think we'd be in a better situation if Ellis hadn't got hurt and we didn't make the Marcus Williams trade (I gave Mully the benefit of the doubt on that one). Because what do we do with Williams now? He's practically useless now.
I see that as well. Obviously, the decision wasn't black and white (business/loyalty). It's a combination. Like I mentioned in the "Stack gets his extension" thread, I wanted to wait to see what the numbers were before I made decision on whether I liked the move or not. The post you quoted was before I saw the numbers. The extension wasn't a ridiculous amount, but it wasn't cheap either. But, I would say it's more than fair for Jax and I think the Warriors will get the best out of him for at least 3 - 4 years.
Isn't the deal for something like 3 years? That's not too bad is it? I guess I'm more worried about losing strong veterans. If we don't have those, it's really hard to develop any kind of team. Some of the young guys get better when the guys ahead of them set the tone. I'm thinking Randolph could really learn a lot from Sjax over the next few years.
