Mullin/Armstrong

I found this from the Internet today, surfing the net. It is from the Chicago Sun Times. It wrote this very short tid-bit.

*Look for new Golden State Warriors operations chief Chris Mullin to ask the Bulls for permission to speak to Paxson's special assistant, B.J. Armstrong, about a front-office job. Armstrong and Mullin are former teammates on the Warriors and have maintained a friendship.

I also found this from the NY Times, which really isn't anything new, but i thought i might as well post it.

Chris Mullin, now officially the brains behind the Warriors' outfit, appears to be leaning toward replacing Eric Musselman with longtime sidekick Rod Higgins, whose claim to fame is being Michael Jordan's trusted companion. If true, make your first command decision already.

I couldn't get links to these sites, but if you went to hoopshype.com they have a rumors site with all tons of info like this. Just check under the April 27 rumors.

Also it is good to see that Mullin has ties and links to people around the league that know some stuff about the game. It was so hard trying to watch Cohan, Rowell(both will probably admit that they know nothing about the game of basketball) and Saint Jean try to get people to come here. It was especially difficult because you knew that they didn't have any ties to anybody around the league worth hiring. Now with Mullin, there are people's names flying all over the place. I don't really like the idea of replacing Musselman. But if there is a good sign to this, it's that Mullin knows quite a few basketball people. And this BJ Armstrong news is another example of this.

 

I like what Mullin is doing, assuming these rumors are true. He is trying to surround himself with people who have been around basketball for a long time and have earned the respect of the NBA.

Thanks for the info Cliff.:thumbsup:

 

^ That's a nice bit on Higgins, I've been wanting more information on him. I think I'd be more comfortable with Higgins in a front office position as opposed to coach. I've got nothing to base that on other than a gut feeling. I will say this though, I am becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of Mullin steering the ship. He's going to get all the credit for the foundation that Saint has laid, but I guess those are the breaks. He's got to make a decision on Musselman soon though, and if he's going to fire him, I think its really important that he get a coach in place before the draft so the coach can sign off on whoever the Warriors pick. I have a strong feeling that Musselman would have gone with Butler if he had a say in the '02 draft. I don't think Dunleavy is a "Musselman guy."

As for Armstrong, I think he's an excellent scout and seemed to be on Paxon's fast track to management. If Mullin can hire him away from the Bulls, I think that would be a great move. Of course, being a huge Hawkeye fan, you'd never get me to say anything bad about B.J.

 

Right on, Mullin has got a good plan going on. If you've got good mentors and people who've been in the nba, the young players you have will respect and listen to them. Let's get A.J. in there. He's was a warrior on more than one occassion.

 

Who would you pick to be a coach?

 

There is a difference between being a player and a coach. The difference is a coach knows the game, but was never gifted enough to play. Just because they were not good enough to play does not mean he does not know the game. I say we show some stability, keep Mussleman one more year. If he has not made the playoffs barring major injuries like last year, then hire someone new. This team is very close and as long as Mussleman learns from his mistakes in the lineups ect, then let him coach. Players are ultimately responsible for losses. If someone had made 1 more layup against Toronto, they would have won that game. The coach has a little bit to do with it, but the players were bricking it up. Players should get all the credit for winning, and all the blame for losing. As long as the coach prepares them for the game, the players have to execute...

 

In a perfect world, I'd want Musselman to stay and Mullin to throw his full support behind his coach.

The only problem is that we don't live in a perfect world. Mullin and Musselman don't see eye to eye, and as much sense as it seems to make to let a coach finish out his contract, you're just asking for problems when you have a lame duck coach. Just look at the problems NJ had this year.

The basic problem is that Musselman wants to coach and play "Musselman guys." These are hardworking, defensive-minded veterans. Like Shapecity said, Musselman has a knack for finding these guys, giving them a chance, and showing the league that these guys can play. By the way, my guess for next year's surprise player is Darvin Ham. He'll be a free agent and Musselman has been after him since he joined the Warriors. For those who don't know, Ham was one of Musselman's favorite players when he was coaching in the CBA. But I digress...

Anway, Musselman wants to play Musselman guys: Cheaney, Cardnial, Robinson, and Foyle (and in a year or two, Pietrus). While Mullin wants Musselman to play Mullin guys: Dunleavy and Murphy. That kind of friction between the GM and coach always filters down to the players and, unless you have strong veteran leaders, eventually divides the locker room. While it would be nice if Mullin and Musselman got together and worked things out, I don't see it happening. Both are too stubborn to change and things will never work out if Mullin doesn't see eye to eye with his coach, especially in a lame duck year.

Now, I am a big believer in stability, both in the front office and on the court. Stability breeds chemistry and chemistry is the most underrated quality in the NBA. However, you can't have stability if you don't have a solid foundation to begin with. That means the front office and the coach HAVE to be on the same page from day one. It will be a shame if the Warriors have to throw away another year or two while the players get acclimated to a new coach, but I'd rather have that then to keep going with Musselman for another year or two until things get so bad between Mullin and Musselman that Muss is eventually fired and Mulling finally brings in his guy. It just makes the process take that much longer.

 

Great post Walker. You pretty much summed it up right there.

I think it is pretty safe to say that the majority wants Musselman back. I am in the majority on this one. My feeling on this situation is that whoever Mullin brings in next year will be a set back for this franchise. I'm not saying that whoever comes in will not be a better coach than Musselman, it is very possible. Musselman has something going here and has earned the respect of most of his players. With a new coach coming in, the players will have to adjust to a new coach and a new system which could be a huge setback.

The Warriors will be going into the season next year will high expectations and anything short of the playoffs will be yet another disappointment.

 

wow great posts!

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">wow great posts!</div>
I agree, everythings been said basically. I read this artilce on AdonalFoyle.com about Dampier and his free agency, and it was somewhat interesting. What interested me was he said that all the changes in coaches, really made hard for the players becuase they kept having to adjust to a new system and once they got used it, they had a new system to learn. I think the warriors were a little quick to fire some of their coaches. they should have done it at the end of the season. I think they could have done without having Winters and Saintjean as interim coaches.

 

It's what everyone has been saying all along: Cohan needs to go. But that ain't happening unless that's what 2005 is for.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">I think the problem goes deeper than the Mullin vs. Musselman philosophies. The underlying problem for the Warriors is the owner, Cohan. Unless he is willing to open up the wallet and gives his GM room to operate, there will always be failure within the organization. Gary St. Jean is actually a great GM and knows how to find talent. Unfortunately he wasn't allowed the freedom to get the players his coaches needed and was not able to re-sign their young stars when they became free agents. The end result has been a vicious cycle of being in the draft, and then watching the drafted players leave after their rookie contracts expire, along with the coaching carousel. The only way a GM can be successful and produce wins, is for him to get the players that fit a coaching style. The case study the Warriors should follow is the Jerry West and Hubie Brown relationship. Hubie Brown needs certain players to play his style of basketball, and Jerry West goes out and gets them. It's as simple as that, but sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to understand.</div>

I have to disagree with your assessment of Cohan. He actually has a track record of overpaying players, which is what has lead to all the problems. Before the economic climate of the NBA changed because of the luxury tax, Cohan paid Fortson and Jamison more than their market value. Part of the reason was to make the Warriors look like a more attractive destination for free agents and part of it was that before the luxury tax, teams could just pay their players more than they can now. But once the luxury tax hit, those contracts looked even more outrageous and the two players became essentially unmoveable.

In fact, the only team hurt more by the timing of the luxury tax's implementation than the Warriors is Miami. They had just signed Jones and Grant to max deals which they never would have gotten after the league got its first wiff of the luxury tax.

But getting back to Cohan...he overpaid for Jamison, Fortson, and Dampier which looked even worse when the luxury tax hit. And as a result he decided to let Hughes walk for nothing. But I can forgive that because the Warriors had Richardson as the sg of the future and Cohan was deathly afraid of the luxury tax (but really, there are only a handful of coaches who aren't).

Now they had no choice with Arenas, mostly because their hands were tied by the contracts Cohan had previously signed. Also, how may second round picks do you see getting 2 year guaranteed deals with team options for a third year? Detroit and San Antonio are going to go through the same problm this offseason resigning Okur and Ginobilli that the Warriors went through with Arenas.

If the Warriors had signed Arenas to a deal with a team option for a third year, he'd still be with the Warriors and they would have the bird rights to resign him this year.

Now I will say that the underlying problem with the Warriors is Cohan. But that is more for the decisions he's made regarding the front office than anything else. Whenever there has been a dispute between two valuable assets, Cohan always got rid of the wrong guy...then eventually got rid of the other guy as well. Cohan needs to put the right GM in place, let him pick the right coach, then let them do their thing. The main problem with the Warriors the last several years has been the coaching carousel.

The only problem with Saint was that while he had a very good eye for talent, he didn't know how to get pieces that fit together.

I agree with your philosophy about the coach/GM relationship. Hopefully if Mullin can't have that type of a relationship with Musselman he can find a coach with whom he can.

 

The problem with Cohan is that he and his president Rowell don't know anything about basketball and they(Cohan) didn't know anybody whom by anymeans was a great-NBA-basketball-mind. So this management was just a bunch of businessmen and a GM who was OK but not anything that could build a team. Also a lot of their decisions were mostly driven for publicity stunts or money decisions in my opinion. Then we had Saint Jean who might be able to see good talent, but he wasn't clever enough to make the moves to get the pieces the team needed outside of the draft.

So, yeah, that's my analysis of this management in a nutshell. It's not that good at all. I am hoping Mullin can start to make it better.

 

Awesome!