Q&A with Chris Mullin <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">So he's willing to address your concerns about Mike Montgomery, Mike Dunleavy, Mickael Pietrus, Baron Davis, 3-point gunning, 3-point fouling, free-throw foulups and a dead-quiet trade deadline. Mullin isn't shy about discussing these issues, because it's not in his nature to run and hide from serious issues. After battling to achieve sobriety, how can anything be more serious? So he's willing to take the blame if the Warriors don't extricate themselves from their slump of slumps. He's running the show now, and he accepts full responsibility. Last week, he let his hair down, which didn't take muchfrom Sports 1 effort for a buzz-cut guy. Q. Your doing nothing at the trade deadline, was that because of some long-range vision? A. What I've done already here is invested in young talent. At the trade deadline, no front-line starters moved around. Moving forward, I will look at every opportunity to make the team better. It has to be the right fit because of what we have ... and not because of a panic mode. There has to be some logic. Q. The Warriors have a corps of young players, from age 19 to 26, but are they the right mix to compete for an NBA title? A. There will be changes, there always are. That's the NBA. When there have been injuries, young guys have put us in a position to win. That's a good sign. Young energy, young legs and enthusiasm are all good stuff. Q. Is there one common thread among NBA championship teams? A. I would say defense, no question. And there's also that elusive chemistry. Q. How is this team's defense? A. It's improving, but that's where we need to get better. We score points, we have gifted scorers. The hardest thing is playing defense, and that comes from really reading each other. It takes time. Q. How about the team's free-throw shooting? A. It's a fact that we've lost games because we've missed free throws. We have to get better by working at it. But getting into those situations, and missing them, that's the biggest reinforcement there is. Q. Do the Warriors lack a scoring center and a dominant force at forward? A. I think Ike Diogu, Andris Biedrens and Chris Taft have potential, but right now, I look at it as there are a lot of ways to get low-post scoring. Jason (Richardson) is a dominant player down there. Baron, most every night, has an advantage down there. Troy (Murphy) isn't the conventional forward with the sky hook, but he is a tough matchup. Diogu will be a dominant low-post player one day. Q. Dunleavy, once the third overall pick in the draft, is now a bench player in his fourth year. Flat out, is he a bust? A. He isn't really a bench player. Out of necessity to the team, he's playing that role. He's struggled his season, no question, but it's how he fits in. He's a multitalented, multiskilled player, but he needs to have more of an impact on the game no matter where he's playing. The expectations on him are rightfully so, but I feel he can be a very good complementary player, though I would say a winning player, a player you win with. Q. Is Davis overweight? A. Baron has a dominating, charismatic personality. He sticks out. But he's fit. I think he's lighter now than when he came into the league. Q. Does he distribute the ball enough for a point guard? A. He's not your classic point guard. He's a matchup nightmare. But he's second in the league in assists. He does have the ball a lot, for a good reason. He does something good with it. Q. Can your team win a title by shooting 3-pointers almost exclusively, or do you need to go inside? A. No question. The other part of post-up play is driving the ball. Guards get to the line as much as post-up players by driving. I see 3-point shooting as a floor-spacer, not so much to shoot it but to get space. Q. Point guard Monta Ellis was in high school last year. How good can he become? A. He's got big-time potential. Q. Pietrus, like Ellis, has a big defensive upside, but what about the Frenchman's sometimes strange decisions on the court? A. Defense is where he always need to establish his game, so he doesn't have to rely on his making and missing shots. He has the ability to guard a 1, 2 or 3, even if that's their best player. When he does that, it seems to me his game flourishes. Q. Montgomery will return next year as coach. What influenced your decision? A. The team keeps getting better, young players are getting better. Mike has handled everything that has been thrown at him. He has accepted responsibility for his mistakes. He's open to change. Another thing: Mike, Baron ... all these guys were brought here by me. So that's the person (critics) need to look at, if they have problems with what is going on. I'm in charge of all of that. And if (the players and coaches) aren't good enough, then we all need to go. Q. Montgomery doesn't believe in fouling a 3-point shooter with time expiring, and it has cost him twice this season. What's your view? A. Most coaches don't like to foul that way. I can remember, at Indiana, playing the Knicks. Antonio Davis lunged at Larry Johnson, and he made a four-point play. A lot of your influence is experience ... but I think Mike has changed his mind about that (strategy). I'd like to see a guy shoot three free throws myself. Q. What words of hope have you for Warriors fans? A. One of my motivations for (taking over the Warriors basketball operations) is a great fan base. They love basketball. The length of time we haven't been in the playoffs always comes up. The word patience has been used too much. I'm more into expectation, responsibility, making it happen. It's a tough thing here, because these fans have heard everything. But we are right there on the cusp. I didn't play on championship teams here, but the fans treated us like champions. I want these players to know how special the Arena and the area can be when life becomes really fun. </div> Source
Questions I would like to ask... Q1: When you traded Jamison behind Saint's back, what were you thinking? Did you actually believe that Dunleavy would be a better player than Jamison in the future? What about now? Q2: At the end of Muss' 2nd year, you described that season as 'underachiving'. What's your opinion on 05-06 season? Q3: Why did you fire Muss, who did an excellent job in his two years, and decide to hire Monty by offering a hefty contract? Q4: Dampier had career year and Foyle had miserable year for their contract years. So, why did you decide to overpay Foyle, while closing the door on signing Dampier so quickly, when he signed two more mils per year than Foyle or could be sign and traded for Thomas and Mohammad? Q5: Initially, you didn't want to resign Richardson and Murphy. But, you signed them at the last hour. How much was it because of their agent? Q6: How did you find Biedrins? Q7: What did you say to Cohan when you committed more than 200 mils in your first offseason? Q8: Exactly what were you smoking when you early-resigned Dunleavy for 5 years 45 mils? Did you even realize that the extension would kill any chance of giving Pietrus an extension? And, there is barely any benefit by resigning him early? Q9: How much Cohan will spend? Q10: Well, you did managed to make this team a 'stable' by filling the club with tons of bad and long contracts. Nobody will touch Dunleavy or Foyle's contract, we can't afford to trade Davis or Richardson, and there are marginal interest on Murphy and Fisher. Those 6 guys will average 60 mils for next 3 years, and there is basically no chance of resigning either Pietrus or Biedrins unless some contracts are moved. What's your plan? Q11: Is there anybody who is good at math around you? I mean, you should have realized exactly what you were doing to the future salary structure. Just in case you didn't realize, I am in a bitter mood like 99% of Warriors fans...
I like your questions better Kwan1031. Maybe you can submit them to the Warrior Roundtable panel. Reading between the lines it sounds like Mullin has no idea what he wants to do. He mentions being patient with the youth developing, but then also talks about wanting to make more trades.
I did find out what the Warriors have to do to improve their FT shooting. Right now they are in the bottom third with around 71% FT shooting. They need to get to 75% which is considered very good. The top team is PHX which shoots around 81%.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">I made a pic just for Mullin.
Based on Mullin's past, he doesn't really come off as a smart guy with the whole drinking and everything. Plus with Cohan... I don't think he cares about championships. He cares about money. He's practically invisible to us fans. It's quite different from the owners that are fans like us and have the ultimate desire to build championship teams by finding the right personnel. Even if there are owners like Al Davis, Mark Cuban, or the Maloofs, you can't question how dedicated they are to making a winning team. Also the guy that owns the Lakers must be something. Also Cohan even isn't that rich compared to most basketball owners and he's on top of one of the larger basketball markets in the NBA. We'll see if Cohan and his minion Rowell follow through on this so called Mullin plan. The plan still has time to work if the guys in charge concentrate on getting impact guys through the draft or through trades and stop overpaying so much crap so they lose all flexibility in trading the guys we don't want.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Based on Mullin's past, he doesn't really come off as a smart guy with the whole drinking and everything. Plus with Cohan... I don't think he cares about championships. He cares about money. He's practically invisible to us fans. It's quite different from the owners that are fans like us and have the ultimate desire to build championship teams by finding the right personnel. Even if there are owners like Al Davis, Mark Cuban, or the Maloofs, you can't question how dedicated they are to making a winning team. Also the guy that owns the Lakers must be something. Also Cohan even isn't that rich compared to most basketball owners and he's on top of one of the larger basketball markets in the NBA. We'll see if Cohan and his minion Rowell follow through on this so called Mullin plan. The plan still has time to work if the guys in charge concentrate on getting impact guys through the draft or through trades and stop overpaying so much crap so they lose all flexibility in trading the guys we don't want.</div> Wow custodian... I think you're being way too hard on Mully. Alcoholism is a disease that some bright people unfortunately are afflicted with. Much of it is genetic. As for not caring about winning, the guy lived in the gym. I think he tosses and turns when he's not winning. The guy is as loyal as it comes. He even took a role as a bench player for that terrible coach Adleman behind an elder Jerome Kersey because he thought it may get the team more wins. I can't imagine that that fire would just vanish because he's in the front office.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CohanHater:</div><div class="quote_post">Wow custodian... I think you're being way too hard on Mully. Alcoholism is a disease that some bright people unfortunately are afflicted with. Much of it is genetic. As for not caring about winning, the guy lived in the gym. I think he tosses and turns when he's not winning. The guy is as loyal as it comes. He even took a role as a bench player for that terrible coach Adleman behind an elder Jerome Kersey because he thought it may get the team more wins. I can't imagine that that fire would just vanish because he's in the front office.</div> Yeah, that might have been out of line, but actually it's still debatable whether alcholism is a real medical disease or if people are genetically predisposed to self destructive acts or addictive vices. All I can say is it's questionable behavior and not a very bright thing to do regardless of emotional state of mind. I'm just presenting the same attack on character that voters do on guys like Ted Kennedy/George W. and all these other guys who are smart, but do dumb things. It's just a rant nothing more. Maybe Mullin is smart, hardworking, but he did do some dumb things that leave you wondering why? We all do dumb things, but then again I'm not a central figure or involved in a position like Mullin is, so it's not like he's going to care. Who cares what I think. But the guy who is, has to do it cleaner and better than us civillians who don't have those type of positions or the ability to do their jobs under a microscope. Also, I didn't say Mullin didn't care about winning, I think Cohan doesn't care about winning. He's been a cancer to the club since day one. That may seem like scapegoating, but who constantly hires the wrong people for the job? The ownership plays an important role in the direction of the basketball franchise. Does he want to win, or does he want to just make money?
