Pietrus Wants To Stay With Golden State

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives...h_golden_state/

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Many NBA insiders believed Mickael Pietrus was poised for a breakout season, but because of injury and then the overall poor season by the Warriors, that didn't materialize for the French guard.

"I want to stay with Golden State, but to be frank, I don't know what the team will do this summer,? he said.

?I would like to be a Warrior all my life. I want to remain optimistic and believe that I will stay here in the long term."</div>

 

?I would like to be a Warrior all my life. I want to remain optimistic and believe that I will stay here in the long term." MP

That's cause he wants $45M like his partner in crime Dunleavy or be in the same neighborhood as Foyle and Fisher.

 

Ha! I would love to be a Warrior all my life too if it meant 40-48 mil for 5-6 years from Mullin for keeping my trap shut and saying the right things to the media.

 

I dont think he should earn as much as Dunleavy at this point. With that said, I would rather see him start over Dunleavy for an extended time to see what he really has to offer.

 

It's too late we already gave Dunleavy the full ride. Mullin should have thought of that before hand. I mean, $hitt, we all did. But he didn't. And now it's too late. There's no way you can give Pietrus anything until you dump FIsh or Foyle or DUn-Dun-Da-Dun-Dun.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AlleyOop:</div><div class="quote_post">It's too late we already gave Dunleavy the full ride. Mullin should have thought of that before hand. I mean, $hitt, we all did.</div>
There are times when I think fans have a tendency to get a little delusional. This is one of those times.

You can question a coach or a gm all you want, I do. But I don't think anyone can ever validly claim that a gm "didn't think of something." It's their job for crying out loud. They get paid a lot of money. Their assistants get paid a lot of money. It's their only job. They'll get fired if they don't do it well. While it may seem like they didn't think of something after the fact, trust me, they did.

Who knows why Mullin decided to give Dunleavy a contract extension the year before. Maybe his agent threatened to have Dunleavy only take the one year tender offer in '06 if he didn't get an extension in '05. Maybe from what Mullin has seen over the years in practice leads him to believe that Dunleavy is going to break out this year and he wanted to get him on the cheap now. Maybe Mullin had some other reason that no one has thought of.

The one thing I do know, Mullin thought of everything.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">
Maybe from what Mullin has seen over the years in practice leads him to believe that Dunleavy is going to break out this year and he wanted to get him on the cheap now.</div>

44 million dollars is cheap for a marginal player that showed no signs of breaking out? Thank god we signed him! I mean say he did break out, what would the market have commanded from him? No more than 44 mil I say, so it was POINTLESS.

1. He signed Foyle to a huge contract. Foyle makes as much as Marcus Camby. Thats right, Marcus Camby.

2. He signed Fisher to a huge contract. A PG that can't run a fast break and is a catch and shoot player that refuses to catch and shoot but dribble and shoot.

3. He signed Dunleavy when he was a restricted FA. Dunleavy will make almost as much as Tayshaun Prince now.

4. He let that 5 mil exception go to waste when the Warriors were sucking

5. Warriors have no more capspace

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AnimeFANatic:</div><div class="quote_post">44 million dollars is cheap for a marginal player that showed no signs of breaking out? Thank god we signed him! I mean say he did break out, what would the market have commanded from him? No more than 44 mil I say, so it was POINTLESS.

1. He signed Foyle to a huge contract. Foyle makes as much as Marcus Camby. Thats right, Marcus Camby.

2. He signed Fisher to a huge contract. A PG that can't run a fast break and is a catch and shoot player that refuses to catch and shoot but dribble and shoot.

3. He signed Dunleavy when he was a restricted FA. Dunleavy will make almost as much as Tayshaun Prince now.

4. He let that 5 mil exception go to waste when the Warriors were sucking

5. Warriors have no more capspace</div>

I agree that Foyle and Dunleavy are bad extentions. Fisher I believe earned his contract this year. If he can repeat his performance this year for the near future, I don't believe his contract is so bad. I would have wished that he could have brought more leadership, but that's another story. Finding a PG who can be at backup cost but also have the ability to step in and start several/many games is tough to find. I am satisfied right now with Fisher's contract. I don't know if I agree with bringing him in here, but since he is here, and he's played a couple of seasons, I can't say he is too overpaid after his performance this season.

But yeah, Foyle and Dunleavy are bound to make a lot of money. Definite bad contracts there. Well hopefully Dunleavy can muster up something to make it a somewhat better(less bad isn't correct English is it?) contract.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">.. I don't think anyone can ever validly claim that a gm "didn't think of something." While it may seem like they didn't think of something after the fact, trust me, they did.</div>

Are you posing that all General Managers are incapable of error; that is, they always think of everything beforehand? The fundamental flaw in your asking me to "trust you" mirrors the same fundamental flaw in reasoning that we should simply "trust" the GM.

The president of the US is paid to "think of things beforehand." Do you simply "trust" that he has thought of everything, or, perhaps, do you keep open the realm of possibility that, while it is his job, he still holds capacity for error?

You see, while General Managers get paid to do their job, they are human beings, and thus inherently not capable of preforming their jobs with perfection. There is always margin for error, and every person has a capacity for error.

No GM thinks of "everything."

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">Who knows why Mullin decided to give Dunleavy a contract extension the year before. Maybe his agent threatened to have Dunleavy only take the one year tender offer in '06 if he didn't get an extension in '05.</div>

Well, if this were the case, I can see why Mullin hit the panic button. The threat of Dunleavy takng a 1-year deal and walking away? Oohh baby, we can't let that happen! [/sarcasm]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">Maybe from what Mullin has seen over the years in practice leads him to believe that Dunleavy is going to break out this year and he wanted to get him on the cheap now.</div>

Okay, now this is more realistic. It's obvious from Dunleavy's All-Star production that Mullin had to lock the kid up to a full-ride before he slipped through our fingers, went off to Milwaukee or somewhere, and average a triple double for the rest of his career.

Well, hmm, actually, that wouldn't explain the subsequent starting of Pietrus over Dun-Dun...

[/sarcasm]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">The one thing I do know, Mullin thought of everything.</div>

Nobody thinks of everything. I know it's hard to believe but even I don't think of everything.

 

Remember when fans were saying that we should keep Pietrus and trade JRich?

 

Were there fans that said we should keep Dunleavy and trade Antwan?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Remember when fans were saying that we should keep Pietrus and trade JRich?</div>

Exactly -- I think everyone I know was saying that...........
.......
.......
except Mully.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AnimeFANatic:</div><div class="quote_post">Were there fans that said we should keep Dunleavy and trade Antwan?</div>

No, I think everyone was saying keep them both -- the next "Twin Towers."

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AnimeFANatic:</div><div class="quote_post">Were there fans that said we should keep Dunleavy and trade Antwan?</div>
Probably... because Antwan had such an ugly game and he was missing a few things you'd like in a max paid player. Dunleavy brought a few things that you'd like such as unselfishness, the all-around game and the ability to make big shots. But that pretty much didn't happen in the nba probably because he was too physically weak to step in right away and then over the course of the years he became really mentally weak... He's probably lost or something. That's why I don't think we should rush rookies into the starting role on a losing team because our starters suck. Why do we think the Bucks went after Magloire even though they drafted Bogut because Bogut certainly ain't a power forward IMO. He can play like one, but look at where Brad Miller ended up.

Antwan probably wasn't going to stay around long anyway. Remember that Antwan's game was all about scoring (really awkward type of PF/SF tweener type game with funky lean-in shooting with some post-moves). He would rarely pass the ball, he wouldn't play much defense (probably worse than Murphy) But then again the whole team including Arenas did not play defense. Basically four guys didn't pass much or play defense and we're all about hogging the ball and getting monster stats). The ball hardly moved, just like now, only they had two potential all-stars at the time, where we have one or two maybe (and they can't shoot freakin' free throws or stay healthy).

But I'll say one thing that Jamison was good at, it was scoring the ball at a nice % every single game and making his free throws. We sure could use some of that because this Dunleavy passing and courtsense and all this other stuff he was good in college, sure as heck ain't translating well in the NBA. Supposedly he was projected at worse to be a slower, bigger version of Brent Barry... But damn Brent Barry was a super role player and he kicks Dunleavy's ass in fundamentals, shot touch, hops, and quickness. "Bones" won the three point shootout and the dunk contest for gosh sakes. I doubt Dunleavy would win either (certainly not the Dunk contest).

Anyway, I can't hate on Dunleavy because hell it's bad enough I make fun of him in my sig. I've got some nice footage of Dunleavy doing some great things that few can do with the ball at his size or with his wonderful courtsense, but it's disturbing how mentally weak he can be or how he disappears for weeks at a time. One thing that disturbs me about Dunleavy, even before he got here, was that his free throw shooting wasn't that remarkable at the collegiate level. The mark of a good player is that he can get to the line and he can make free throw shots at 80% (especially if labeled a pure shooter). There were times when Dunleavy looked as good with the ball as Lamar Odom (another SF/PF that can play like a guard), but he either can't shake defenders or his team/coach doesn't give him the ball enough. But damn Dunleavy just really sucks at wide open jumpers or finishing plays so it's not like he can command the ball... arggg... I mean half his missed shots don't even come close. I can understand if it's in and out, but they fall to the side, they land short, it's off back iron... everywhere but on its way down the cylinder.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">There are times when I think fans have a tendency to get a little delusional. This is one of those times.

You can question a coach or a gm all you want, I do. But I don't think anyone can ever validly claim that a gm "didn't think of something." It's their job for crying out loud. They get paid a lot of money. Their assistants get paid a lot of money. It's their only job. They'll get fired if they don't do it well. While it may seem like they didn't think of something after the fact, trust me, they did.

Who knows why Mullin decided to give Dunleavy a contract extension the year before. Maybe his agent threatened to have Dunleavy only take the one year tender offer in '06 if he didn't get an extension in '05. Maybe from what Mullin has seen over the years in practice leads him to believe that Dunleavy is going to break out this year and he wanted to get him on the cheap now. Maybe Mullin had some other reason that no one has thought of.

The one thing I do know, Mullin thought of everything.</div>

LOL. Mullin has thought of everything and we are in salary cap hell and haven't made any moves since last summer for it. If anyone is delusional, it's Mullin and you. If you're going to back Mullin, then you need to make some statements as to what he has done.

1. Mullin thinks Montgomery can get the job done. Well, he hasn't done better that his predecessor, Eric Musselman, whom Mullin fired after two seasons. He admitted it was all his idea. I can live with Monty for another season, but he's going to have to show that he can handle Baron Davis and get the team on the same page, not be making coaching blunders and developing the newer players.
2. Mullin said he was going to get a big man this season. He had a trade exception to help him and yet he admitted that he didn't go after Darko Milicic. There were lesser big men available, but he did nothing. I realized this year's team was doomed to failure after this. It was a continuation of not making any deals from the previous summer.
3. Mullin wanted Ron Artest, but labeled Ike as untouchable after Indy said they wanted him. Also, he wouldn't give Murphy up. I doubt either are untouchable now. Did he think this through?
4. This is where Mullin has made his biggest mistake. It goes back to two summers ago after he got Baron and the Warriors had a great end of season run to raise expectations for a sure playoff this season. He did nothing while other teams made trades, acquired free agents and made the effort to improve themselves. Good teams in the NBA don't sit around waiting for something to happen. They continually try to get better even if it's just minor deals.
5. Mullin has said that he likes his current crop of players. I can only hope he just said that in order to keep the peace, but the players know they could be traded this off-season. He has a salary cap that is over the limit and could be approaching the luxury tax limit. He says he is willing to go over the lux tax. But what it sounds more like is he won't be able to do enough.

If Mullin has thought of everything, then debate what I just said instead of just saying he thought of everything.

 

AlleyOop and Jason Voorhees,

You guys made a basic mistake when reading my post. I said Mullin THOUGHT of everything, I never said Mullin hasn't made any mistakes. See, it's possible to think of everything and still make the wrong decision. I was one of the first to criticize Mullin for some of the decisions he's made, but I'd never say Mullin didn't think of something.

Last summer I repeatedly said that Mullin should wait until next year to sign Dunleavy. I couldn't see a reason to sign him in '05 and thought Mullin should wait till '06 and let the market set the price on Dunleavy. Did I disagree with Mullin's decision to resign Dunleavy? Absolutely. Did I for one second ever think that Mullin hadn't thought of what I had? Absolutely not.

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">LOL. Mullin has thought of everything and we are in salary cap hell and haven't made any moves since last summer for it. If anyone is delusional, it's Mullin and you. If you're going to back Mullin, then you need to make some statements as to what he has done.</div>
I'm not backing Mullin's decisions. I'm backing the thought that Mullin has considered everything before he made those decisions. I just find it absurd when fans think they know more about a GM's job than he does.

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">1. Mullin thinks Montgomery can get the job done. Well, he hasn't done better that his predecessor, Eric Musselman, whom Mullin fired after two seasons. He admitted it was all his idea. I can live with Monty for another season, but he's going to have to show that he can handle Baron Davis and get the team on the same page, not be making coaching blunders and developing the newer players.</div>
If you pay attention to sports, all sports, not just basketball, you'll see a trend. That trend is that GM's want to succeed with their people, the same goes for coaches. So when there's a new GM, the coach is usually fired soon after and the GM brings in "his guy." The same goes for coaches. When one is fired, his assistants are usually fired with him, because the coach wants to bring in his own assistants.

While I disagreed with Mullin firing Musselman, I figured it was coming. The rationale is that GM's want the credit for the success to be all theirs, not their predecessors. If you're a fan of the 49's, you can see how disastrous this line of thinking is, yet it goes on.

I was against St. Jean losing his job too, here's part of an email I sent to Chad Ford regarding the Mullin/Saint, Musselman/Montgomery deal and Ford's reply. The email is in response to a fantastic article Ford wrote about Saint in May of '04 (for those of you who don't know, Ford was one of Saint's biggest critics:

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting me:</div><div class="quote_post">Anyway, it was really nice to see that you do recognize that St. Jean is a good
man and a competent GM that's had the misfortune of having to work for an owner
like Cohan to go along with a lot of standard issue bad luck. I get the feeling
from your article that Saint may realize that his time is about to end as the
Warriors GM and his decision to swallow his pride and call a truce with you was
largely motivated by his desire to do anything to help Musselman keep his job.
The saddest part about all of this is that after all these years, Saint has
cleaned up the messes created by Nelson, Twardzick, Carlisimo, Sprewell, and a
few of his own, and now has the franchise in a position where it can add that
superstar via free agency or trade either this year or next year, but in all
likelihood, Saint won't be the guy who gets to do it.

If he is fired, the NBA will be losing one of the most decent human beings it
has ever had.
</div>
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting chad ford:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not sure Saint and I agree on much, but we do both agree that Musselman is
the best thing that ever happened to the Warriors. . . thus the unholy alliance.

I don't hate the Warriors like people think. However, I am harder on them
because they have so much potential and always seem to squander it.

I don't think he can totally absolve himself from some of the blame, but like
you said, he's a very good person. I wish I could've written much of the
off-the-record stuff. We talked for hours over several days and most of the
best stuff he refused to go public with -- again a decent call from a decent
man.</div>
I disagreed with Musselman's firing for the same reason I would disagree with Montgomery's firing. A coach needs more than two years to turn a franchise around, simple as that. Also I want you to note what Ford said, that there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that the public doesn't know about. That's my whole damn point.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">2. Mullin said he was going to get a big man this season. He had a trade exception to help him and yet he admitted that he didn't go after Darko Milicic. There were lesser big men available, but he did nothing. I realized this year's team was doomed to failure after this. It was a continuation of not making any deals from the previous summer.</div>
Which would you rather have Mullin do? Not make a move or make the wrong move? Personally I'd much rather that Mullin not make a move. Maybe Mullin thinks that Biedrins can be as good or better than Milicic. Who knows. Again, I'm not defending every move that Mullin has ever made, I'm just saying he's considered the move and decided against that.

I'm neither for nor against Mullin going after Darko. I have always thought Darko would eventually be a much better player than what he was in Detroit. But I also like Biedrins and trading for a guy like Darko would stunt both his and Biedrins development because the team would be trying to develop essentially two of the same type of player at the same time.

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">3. Mullin wanted Ron Artest, but labeled Ike as untouchable after Indy said they wanted him. Also, he wouldn't give Murphy up. I doubt either are untouchable now. Did he think this through?</div>
He sure as hell did. Tell me, at any point during Richardson's career did you ever think he should be traded? Did you ever think he wouldn't develop a jumper or his handles? Did you ever think Pietrus was going to be better than him? If you were the GM, would you have traded him? Aren't you glad now that you didn't?

Two common mistakes fans make are to label a player a boom or bust too quickly and to look at things with 20/20 hindsight. Tell you what, I'll remember this conversation and bring it up next year if Artest gets suspended for doing something stupid and Diogu and Murphy are either doing better or get traded for someone like Jermaine O'Neal or KG. If Artest turns out to be the same cancer in Sacramento as he was in Indiana, that doesn't really mean Mullin was any more right than you. It just means that Mullin thought that Artest was too great a risk to have with the Warriors. All you can do as a GM is consider all the angles and make your best guess. Again, that's my whole point.

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">4. This is where Mullin has made his biggest mistake. It goes back to two summers ago after he got Baron and the Warriors had a great end of season run to raise expectations for a sure playoff this season. He did nothing while other teams made trades, acquired free agents and made the effort to improve themselves. Good teams in the NBA don't sit around waiting for something to happen. They continually try to get better even if it's just minor deals.</div>
Good teams absolutely do sit around. My favorite examples are the Dallas Mavs.

They were horrible that year and fans were calling Nowitzki a bust and Nash a garbage pg. The team was 20-62 in '98 and 19-31 in '99, but the team didn't make any changes to their core over those two years. In '99-'00 the team failed to make the playoffs for the 10th straight year, yet there were no major changes to the team or coaching staff. It was in the fourth year of the Nelson/Dirk/Nash (and Finley) experience that they finally made the playoffs.

All I'm asking for is the same patience Mark Cuban showed.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">5. Mullin has said that he likes his current crop of players. I can only hope he just said that in order to keep the peace, but the players know they could be traded this off-season. He has a salary cap that is over the limit and could be approaching the luxury tax limit. He says he is willing to go over the lux tax. But what it sounds more like is he won't be able to do enough.</div>
see above.

My whole point has always been that all a GM can do is consider all his options and make what he believes is his best move (which is sometimes not making any move at all). Sometimes he makes the wrong move and sometimes he makes the right move. Where I take issue with fans like AlleyOop and Jason Vorhees is when they think the GM hasn't considered all his options.

 

Mullin was just on KNBR. He does believe that Mike Dunleavy has significant upsdie and has just scratched the surface of what he can do as an NBA player. This is consistent with the way both Mullin and Montgomery have answerewd questions regarding Dunleavy all year. He acknowledges there is room for improvement but sees no reason that MDJ won't put the work in to do that.

Don't think Mullin sees the Dunleavy signing as a mistake.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post"> Did I for one second ever think that Mullin hadn't thought of what I had? Absolutely not.</div>

Give yourself a little credit. Just by exercising consciousness, you inherently demonstrate the capacity for unique and uncharted thought. That is, everyone is capable of having a "new" thought.

I'm willing to bet you can think of something that Mullin hasn't thought of. C'mon, give it a try.

Why? Because no one is capable of "thinking of everything."

For instance, I'm willing to bet that Mullin probably hasn't mulled over a fourteen team deal that would send Murphy to Boston, JRich to Houston, Zarko and a 2009 second round pick to Detroit, Foyle to the Lakers, Fisher to The Hawks, and Baron to Philly in a hailstorm of trades that ultimately lands Eric Dampier and Andres Nocioni as the starting front court for the Warriors.

Don't say this is preposterous because of Salary Cap, trade rules, probabilities, etc. Obviously, then, you wouldn't be considering ALL possibilities and thus wouldn't be "thinking of everything."


Granted, I'm sure Mullin has probably exhausted the majority of trade proposals on his table. He's a GM, of course. However, that does not mean that I am willing to accept that he is "all-knowing" and blindly "trust" that he's "thought of everything." No, I'll instead recognize he's human, and thus incapable of "perfection."

Otherwise, it would have been such a rude awakening that day when he inexplicably signed Mike Dunleavy to one of the worst contracts in sports history. I would have been like "Oh, but Mully, I...thought you... had thought... of everything! Wait, you mean... you... didn't think of the possibility that he might.... just..... be a sorry-a$$ player?...Oh, Mully!"

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting anotherview:</div><div class="quote_post">Mullin was just on KNBR. He does believe that Mike Dunleavy has significant upsdie and has just scratched the surface of what he can do as an NBA player. This is consistent with the way both Mullin and Montgomery have answerewd questions regarding Dunleavy all year. He acknowledges there is room for improvement but sees no reason that MDJ won't put the work in to do that.

Don't think Mullin sees the Dunleavy signing as a mistake.</div>

He's also a big fan of his Fisher and Foyle moves. He's proud of his "veteran core."

Don't think Mully isn't high.


j/k

Those are all good contracts. That's why it'll be so easy to move them this summer. Every GM will want those types of contracts: large, over-paid, under-producing long term deals with no sign of improvement.... wait... that's not such a good thing...

 

Sorry wtwalker. I saw what you had wrote and didn't see the replies, but I was going to write what I thought you meant and apparently you clarified it already. I got what you meant btw.

It's true: when it comes to coaching and general management, the public is really on the outside looking in (it's same with any large organization that has private discussions with its employees and they won't disclose certain information to the public). Therefore, it's really a perception that we have developed because we hear certain things from the media or we interpret things on TV and we start assuming things in our own way. But, it's funny because the media and what we get from watching TV probably has less to do what is really going on. We just don't understand the context, but we can clearly see we have a talent/chemistry/salary problem because the ball never moves and it's obvious why if you look at the warriors interior presence and lack of dribble penetration or swift cuts to the hoop without the ball, and we've got guys like Fisher/Dunleavy/Foyle not helping things as starters. Plus, the W's can't shoot except for a few players who manage to shoot above 43%. All the W's starters can hardly shoot and we lose because the Warriors as a team are not being finesse, quick, strong enough, smart/mentally strong enough, skilled enough with/without the ball to create their own offense, and not playing defense.

Also, we all know we GSW fans have an emotional attachment to our favorite team and we just want answers. And if it's not the answers that we want to hear, we get angry and we start to look for something to blame. I'm definitely a pro at this. I probably repeat my tirades against Foyle, Dunleavy, Murphy, Fish to no end. And I used to like Pietrus + Murphy, but look how quickly I turned on them over two seasons. Emotional good suddenly turns to emotional bad if guys stop playing as good as their last few games and the W's start losing because we lack something the starters or key bench guys aren't giving us. Then also I go after the GM that hired them because I'm really in no position to make the warriors any better than the management is doing. Also, the coaching decisions are baffling to me, but then again I'm no Hall of fame coach and I don't even know if the point guard is leading the team properly, if the team even knows the plays, or which guys are messing it up. If Monty is hinting that the team needs practice, I really do believe they need practice, but first they need some better players that can start. That is hard to achieve in an 82 game season where players mostly travel and not practice. It's also hard in the offseason when players can do whatever they want to get rested. It's also hard for the GM when he has to develop chemistry with his players, but somehow find the guys willing to sign with the Warriors. We should probably be lucky that Fish even wanted to go here and he's been a good sport.

But damn... if I were any good at what those guys do for a living, I'd be doing it right now. I wish I could make basketball operations decisions (and take the flak from the fans and media when things don't go right or if an opportunity suddenly disappears to another team). The thing is if we knew how to make the right decisions every single time and we knew what opportunities to go after, we'd probably be doing what Mullin and Montgomery are doing right now. Given the fact a losing franchise has very poor leverage and very few contingencies to improve all the dimensions of a franchise (draft depth/talent/lockeroom stability/leadership/vet presence/chemistry + role players) I don't think we can expect a franchise to suddenly turn things around overnight when we haven't landed a single franchise worthy player from the draft to build around. Baron Davis is a start, but he has to be elevating the play of others constantly for most of the 82 game season. Also, he has to shoot better than 37% from the field and better than 70% at the line. That's embarassing for a guard... Not even Jason Kidd shoots that bad, but at least the guy lowers his attempt numbers, rebounds, and puts the ball right on the money where even his suckiest teammates can score. He also runs plays in the halfcourt when the Nets can't run.

I personally think Mully and Monty have made some questionable decisions, but we might take it as bonheaded because we don't know the context of what they were trying to accomplish. So every rant where I bash one or the other, I probably have to bash myself knowing I am not in their shoes to legitimately call them out nor am I in the know. Unless one has actually worked the job or we're in Mullin's inner circle, we kind of have to restrain ourselves on the assumptions or angry rhetoric unless we absolutely know for sure.

Here's my assumption right or wrong: Mullin probably had to make some decisions in that offseason both based on the available talent pool and regarding what he saw was the future (Dunleavy/Murphy). So therefore he went after a trustworthy Foyle to protect Murphy on defense, and he got stable vet in Derek Fisher because maybe he had hoped Dunleavy would have the ball more in his hands like a point guard would. It's that's the case, it was definitely questionable and we even tried to trick ourselves sinto believing Foyle would be a poor man's Ben Wallace and Derek Fisher could be somewhat Nick Van Exel-like. But damn... of course it turns out that Foyle just sucks and can only block shots and do a few other things that don't show up on the stat sheet. Then Fisher is nowhere near the point guard that NVE, the combo guard, was. After 2004's season start and remembering that Baron Davis is injury prone and that the Warriors shoot a lot of low % shots in high volume, don't rebound the ball offensively and play no defense, the Warriors were bound for a losing season. So emotionally we set ourselves up to expect more from a team that wasn't really finished and properly designed inside and out in all the 5 positions.