Mullin Is Smarter Thanks to Nelson

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The scouting report on Chris Mullin remains relatively unchanged since his prime playing days 15 years ago. Give him a good look, and he'll kill you. Force him to create his own shot, and the results are problematic.

In playing terms it quantified pretty simply -- 18.2 points per game over 16 NBA seasons. In terms of basketball management, well, let's just say Mullin got a whole lot smarter when Don Nelson showed up.

That's not to say he was Jethro Bodine with a Brooklyn accent before. Since his first days as the Warriors executive VP of hoops ops, Mullin has been bold and decisive. Not only has he made big decisions, he's put a face on them.

Those decisions have worked out better when Mullin was dealing with proven commodities. His trade for Baron Davis -- name the two players Mullin gave up, and win a prize -- brought the Warriors the one dominant player they have today. But that was an easy call. Though he was hurt at the time of the trade, Davis was an All-Star. His talent was a matter of record.

Coaxing Don Nelson out of retirement was another inspiring move, and Mullin was uniquely qualified to make it happen. Given that Nelson was sitting on more than 1,100 NBA coaching victories at the time, it wasn't quite on the order of taking a flyer on Mike Montgomery.

Wednesday's eight-player trade with the Indiana Pacers was pure genius. Let's assume you learned of the deal by reading the little bug in the lower right-hand corner of the ESPNNews screen: "Warriors & Pacers make 8-player trade." Your first thought had to be, "Wonder if they were able to dump one of long-hairs?"

To learn that the Warriors had unloaded both Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy came as a shock. And Ike Diogu, too? For Al Harrington? Brilliant! It didn't even matter that the Warriors took Stephen Jackson (a shooting guard in the literal sense), along with Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell.

In the absence of elite talent, good contracts are the most prized commodity in the NBA. On Wednesday, Mullin got out from under two carnivorous cap-eaters.

That's the praise. Here comes the disclaimer: Wednesday's trade wouldn't have been necessary had Mullin not grossly overestimated the value of Murphy and Dunleavy (both of whom he signed to huge contract extensions), as well as Diogu (whom he took with the ninth pick in the 2005 draft). And it likely wouldn't have come to pass had Nelson not told him -- with his deeds if not real words -- "I'm not playing these flat-foots."

Nelson knows talent. When he's wrong, it isn't for long. Dunleavy, for example. Before training camp, Nelson was certain Dunleavy would blossom in his uptempo system. That Nelson deemed Dunleavy a "disaster" on opening night tells you how long it took him to come to his senses.</div>

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I accidently posted this twice. CLOSED.