<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Negative as a positive? <font size="1">By Tim Kawakami, Mercury News</font> Not long ago, the Los Angeles Lakers were great, and great entertainment, because Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson fought, plotted, made temporary peace and dominated the NBA, often all in one day. Shaq, Kobe and Phil. Huge personalities, huge talents, huge collisions, huge results. Never boring. And now, I give you, on a far lesser level but with similar angles of triangular tension and potential partnership: Baron Davis, Mike Montgomery and Chris Mullin. Baron, Monty and Mully: three very separate people with very separate styles and the singular chance to make the Warriors a meaningful franchise again. They're all fierce competitors, so squabbles are inevitable, tensions very possible and boredom is banished for good. It's no secret that Davis can make a coach feel powerless or that Montgomery can be stubbornly old-school and that he never admired Davis' game before now. Mullin, meanwhile, is the new franchise architect and has already fired one coach and traded several big-name players to make sure that the Warriors' mindset changed. I've talked with several people who know Davis or Montgomery or both, and few believe that this will be a smooth ride. I mean, Montgomery was frustrated at Stanford coaching Casey Jacobsen, who had an opinion but couldn't exactly get Montgomery fired. MORE</div> I know, I know, I know, but thought it might be interesting.
