I knew that Claxton deal would tell the rest of the league that the Warriors are simply a joke. From RealGM.com Tying Your Hands Authored by Daniel Leroux - February 8, 2010 - 1:46 pm Every once in a while a minor decision strikes a strong chord in me. Golden State's decision to sign Anthony Tolliver for the rest of the year while cutting Speedy Claxton was one of those. Now, I want to make it clear off the top that this is in no way meant as a slight against Mr. Tolliver. His hustle and rebounding has been a welcome change of pace for this Warriors team, especially at the forward slots. Furthermore, I can tell you from personal experience that he is a good guy who is team first and has exactly the right mentality for his current role in the NBA. My beef is with the Warriors brass. While Marcus Thompson did an excellent job running down some of the major flaws here, one of them was so egregious that I had to write a dedicated post on it: The timing. It is one thing to waive a guy who has not contributed at some random point in the season. Depending on the circumstances, that can be a logical and fully defensible move. What is impossible to back up is letting one of the significant trade pieces the Warriors have go for absolutely nothing. There are just a few remaining days until the trade deadline passes and the Warriors only have five games in that span thanks to the All-Star break. As such, the worst case scenario should they have wanted to keep Tolliver for the rest of the year was to simply wait for ten days (signing another player for the interim) and bring him back then. We’ll come back to this point later, but any trade the Warriors made before the deadline would necessarily either open up one or more roster spots or keep the team solid with a few waiver choices at that juncture. What makes the decision even more egregious is that it would have been insanely easy to make a deal that retained the immediate flexibility but still guaranteed Tolliver a spot on the roster for the rest of the season. Unlike Chris Hunter where management expressed a seemingly legitimate fear that he would get snatched up by a team like the Blazers desperate for a minutes-eating big, it would have been somewhat easy to make sure Tolliver stayed on the market. The Warriors cutting a deal with Tolliver that he spends the next 12 days at home with the team signing him either on the 18th or when they opened up a spot (whichever came first) is something he absolutely would have taken- a contract for the rest of the year is worth foregoing a possible 10-day with another squad. Plus, an understanding like that would not be considered tampering and even if it was, I sincerely doubt the NBA would be mad about a D-Leaguer getting a contract like that. Plus, the Warriors could easily sign another D-Leaguer with the 10-day injury exemption to fill the gap. This is even worse since the margin between Tolliver and another 10-day guy is not that big (if any), and it’s not like an extra loss would cost this team a berth in the playoffs… While Robert Rowell may argue that Claxton did not have a market and thus the decision to waive him was of no consequence, the fact of the matter is that there absolutely was an interest in him in the context of the Warriors’ combined expiring contracts and luxury tax teams. By my count, there are still three teams within $5 million of the luxury tax line even after the Jazz and Hornets gave up talent to get under in the form of the Heat, Rockets, and Suns (with numerous more significantly over the tax line at present). The beauty of the NBA’s 125% rule on trades is that it is possible to create trades where both teams benefit financially. Additionally, every team over the current tax line could benefit double for any trade that reduced their overall salary figure, effectively creating a gap in the market that the teams could split, thus profiting both organizations’ respective bottom lines if the saving team sends money and/or picks to Golden State. Quentin Richardson (Miami- $9.3m), Larry Hughes (NY- $13.3m), Darko (NY- $7.5m), and Mike James (Wizards- $6.4m) are all expiring contracts who could be moved in a 125% deal with beneficial financial outcomes for both teams. That does not even include potential talent upgrades the Warriors could have gotten by taking on a long-term contract such as a deal involving Andre Iguodala at the cost of one year of Samuel Dalembert. Furthermore, since the Warriors’ expirings are spread between a few guys, it is likely any solution would have ended up opening up roster space for Tolliver. Management can argue that they do not have a deal like that on the table right now, but who knows what possibilities could unlock in the next two weeks after the floodgates open and teams have a better sense of whether they are buyers or sellers for this season. Sure, any of those moves would have required some effort and creativity, but those are what differentiate bad GM’s from good ones and thus the talent on the court. Sam Presti and the Zombie Sonics have used their cap space like a bludgeon over the years, procuring Eric Maynor, Serge Ibaka, and Phoenix’s #1 this draft without giving up any talent whatsoever. Those moves have helped give them the depth to spend the resources they still have on fewer, better talents that will keep them a strong team for years to come. Portland did a little of this while building their roster and squandered an opportunity with Raef LaFrentz’s expiring deal last season. In the end, the margin between the playoffs and the outside looking in will become pretty rough and tight in the Western Conference going forward as teams like Memphis, Oklahoma City, Minnesota, and possibly the Clippers continue to improve with still-developing talent. What sticks in my craw is that these excellent fans with a surreal devotion deserve better than management that needlessly and willingly ties their own hands behind their back at a time that could help the team. http://warriors.realgm.com/articles/169/20100208/tying_your_hands/ Even in the dark days, the Warriors seemed to at least be trying, whether it was locking up the potential stars early (Jamison/Dunleavy/Murphy) or trades (Baron/SJax/Harrington). Now, they are the Three Stooges with no clue.
Yup, assuming the decision was made by Cohan and only Cohan, it was to tie Larry Riley's hands in making a splashy deal before the deadline. Second, I'm not sure why another team would help the Warriors in the deal below? As for Iggy or Sam Dalembert and taking on a long-term deal for a talent upgrade, it would be a Mullin-stupid type deal. Quentin Richardson (Miami- $9.3m), Larry Hughes (NY- $13.3m), Darko (NY- $7.5m), and Mike James (Wizards- $6.4m) are all expiring contracts who could be moved in a 125% deal with beneficial financial outcomes for both teams. That does not even include potential talent upgrades the Warriors could have gotten by taking on a long-term contract such as a deal involving Andre Iguodala at the cost of one year of Samuel Dalembert. I'm just playing devil's advocate here and not defending Warriors management.
Here's the thing I took away from talking with my contact. Cohan blames a lot of the ills of not making the playoffs the year after on Mullin. What he said made me take a more critical look at Mullin. Mullin was ranked third worst GM in the NBA behind Isiah and McHale. Mullin's demise had nothing to do with Nelson or anyone else. It was all on Mullin. Cohan's take was Mullin really sucked as GM. Mullin did make some amends by getting rid of the lousy contracts. However, he went over Cohan's head when he tried to re-sign Baron (read on). If he didn't do that, he would have kept his job. Second, I think Cohan favored Stephen Jackson taking over for Baron. It wasn't Rowell, but Cohan since Rowell talks for him. And accepts the blame when it doesn't work out. That's Rowell's role. So when Rowell says something, it's Cohan talking. Weird stuff. Of course, we all know Jackson stabbed him in the back and didn't work out. EDIT: I think I already said dumping Speedy's $5.2 M contract was strictly Cohan's decision. Rowell didn't have to say anything because people would blame Riley. Riley keeps his job though. Like I said weird stuff.
How is it that Mully was 3rd worst? Here's a guy who took a horrid team with no potential, core of Dunleavy/Murphy/JRich, going nowhere and remade them into the most exciting team in the league? Blaming Mully is ridiculous. Mully got SJax and Harrington at a time no one wanted to touch them. He selected Biedrins/Monta/Pietrus (sure along with Diogu/O'Bryant) and traded for Baron Davis. He signed Barnes. Mully was a huge reason the W's were a hot ticket in '07-08. Cohan can think all he wants but he looks like an idiot for torching Mully (at what $3M per year?) and then watching the team just implode with that wise decision of SJax + Maggette > Baron. Think about it, two years ago KG actually considered coming here. Now, no FA would consider it. Players know what Mully was like.
People can very easily read between the lines. They see that Cohan wanted to push Mully out because he thought that he made some mistakes at the beginning. The thing is, the rest of the front office is flat out stupid. They don't understand that Mully actually cleaned up the messes that he made at the beginning. Not only that, he stockpiled young talent in the meantime. As for Rowell/Jackson...SJax Stabbed him in the back? As a GM, hell, as anyone who has to deal with contractors for that matter, you have to understand what the risk is if the contracting employee stop producing for whatever reason. This is why short term deals are a good thing from the employers perspective. As the contract nears an end, you evaluate the risk of losing that employee. Sometimes, it's in the best interest of both parties to not renew. It's all part of the negotiation. Rowell stabbed himself in the back by prematurely extending Jackson. The fact that SJax pouted and cried, has nothing to do with the inept decision Rowell made by extending him. We all said it here. Why is it that he was so blind? This Claxton-thing is just absurd. I think we all deserve a real explanation. Just tell us that he's cutting salary so he can sell the team. I don't care about starting over if that's the case. I'll take losing it all to be under new leadership that will be building properly. I'll take 5 more years of sub 500 basketball if it's under new leadership, so long as they're trying to win and put an exciting product on the court. I think that I'm in the majority. Honestly, if Ellison bought the team and was forced to put a D-League all-star team on the court, I'd spend as much of my free money on tickets to support him. It's Cohan that just doesn't get it.
The onus is totally on Cohan and Rowell! They are the ones who forced Mullin out and they put together an even more inferior product than the one Mullin came up with. On top of that, they deal Mullin low blows on his way out. They don't realize that Mullin did get out of his own mess (for the most part), something that Cohan and Rowell have yet to do with fans to gain our trust. Right now we fans have no freaking hope whatsoever. Sure Mullin wasn't the best drafter or the best free agent signer, but he and his team made warriors basketball relevant after nearly 15 years of suck. Now it's just a sh1tty diarrhea in the mouth type of mess with a few decent draft prospects which the warriors will most likely fail to build upon. It's like who the f cares anymore. Nobody wants to follow a bunch of vicious-cycling failures that have no chance unless they luck their way into things. The past has shown us that even luck doesn't work. They find some way to f it up all over again in a slightly different variation of the previous f-up from before! You know why? The owner and his subordinates are a bunch of clueless amateurs with no freaking vision or care whatsoever. Seeing as how we've been handed lottery after lottery pick, and opportunity after opportunity, the Warriors front office just seem to f things up like they're actually doing it on purpose. I can just see these a-holes high-fiving each other on another sub-par season. F these guys. When do we warriors fans say enough is enough. Keeping the fans interested in the latest draft pick may be good enough for some fans, but let's see the W's management try to capitalize on something for once without signing bogus free agents or missing the franchise player in the draft. If money is tight why are the W's committing to such stupid free agent signings. Are we hoping that we'd luck into another Bdiddy or Sjax type of trade in 6 years with expiring deals? Freaking clueless, vision-less, uncaring turds.
Sadly CR2, I bet if we go back 4 years, we'll find your same rants abut the state of the W's when it was the Dunleavy/Murphy/Mookie -headed monster.
I know. That's probably why I've been so disinterested lately. Nothing's going to change until Cohan gets evicted. He's a cancer on this franchise and he needs to be cut out. It's like if the situation in this franchise never improves beyond 'decent'. This goes on decade after decade, why do we even bother following this type of franchise? Something's got to change.
