Chris Mullin, whose last day as vice president of basketball operations for the Warriors was on June 30, is going to work again. Someone out there is likely to hire him, either as a VP, a general manager, a director of player personnel or some such position where his basketball expertise will come into play.
But don't be surprised if it doesn't happen for a little while. These days Mullin has the look of a man who is truly relishing his time away from the game and the stresses that come with a front office job.
"Things are going very good," Mullin said after a morning of pickup basketball in the East Bay. "Very good. Things are going a lot better than they were going three months ago, that's for sure."
SEATTLE -- Jamal Crawford may be the league's most talented player yet to play in an All-Star Game or even a playoff game. Once a skinny, inexperienced but immensely talented 20-year-old tabbed part of the Bulls' post-Jordan resurrection, Crawford is now 29, just completed his ninth year in the NBA and at a crossroads.
He has a monumental decision on his hands in the next five weeks: Opt out of the final two years of his contract and become a free agent or return to an uncertain situation in Golden State, a team rich with talent but lacking direction after the firing of GM Chris Mullin who lost a power struggle with upper management.
The Warriors finally got around Tuesday to doing something they probably should have done back in October.
They announced that executive vice president of basketball operations Chris Mullin wouldn't be returning for 2009-10, and that Larry Riley would be the Warriors' new general manager.
The reality of the situation is that most in the Bay Area and around the league -- Mullin included – knew he was a goner back during the preseason. That's when team president Robert Rowell (pictured, right) made it clear to the media that he and Mullin had had a fundamental disagreement over how to handle Monta Ellis' moped accident.
The writing was on the wall. It was sloppy, oddly colored, and held no defense from the elements, but it was still clear as day. And now the punctuation mark has been cemented.
Technically, Mullin wasn't ousted. His contract wasn't renewed. Which is a lot like when your high school girlfriend didn't actually dump you, just kind of let things end when you both went to different colleges. Only with millions and millions of dollars and the ability to tell Anthony Randolph what to do.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
Stuff definitely went wrong for the Golden State Warriors this year. The only real question is whether the trouble started when Baron Davis left or immediately afterward.
There will be an eternal debate in the Bay Area about whether or not the Warriors should have kept Davis, or at least made a better effort to keep him. Instead, Davis signed with the L.A. Clippers in July, and the Warriors' 2008-09 was irreparably altered.
As the story goes, Baron Davis worked out a three-year, $39 million extension with Golden State general manager Chris Mullin in June 2008. The deal would have prevented Davis from opting out of his $18 million salary for 2008-09, bringing a four-year total salary to $57 million for the All-Star point guard, a nearly perfect fit in Don Nelson's wailing offense.
But team president Robert Rowell vetoed the deal at the last minute, which caused Davis to opt out. The Warriors, shocked, threw money at Elton Brand (nope) and then Gilbert Arenas. The offer to Gil, a player coming off an injury that had claimed 18 months of service? Five years for $103 million. Arenas and Davis are friends. Soon after Golden State made the offer to Gil, the friends spoke. Monte Poole of the San Jose Mercury News has the post-dated dispatch.
Coming into the season, Stephen Jackson had an ideal contract from his employer's perspective: not only was it affordable (he's making just $7.1 million), it also conveniently expired just in time for the summer of 2010. Jackson made some noise this summer about wanting an extension, but at the end of the day he had no leverage.
Why should the Warriors jeopardize their future cap space by giving a 30-year-old (former) head case an extension? General manager Chris Mullin knew it'd be a mistake ... which is why Jackson went behind Mullin's back to negotiate with team president Robert Rowell.
Today, the Warriors announced that Jackson received his extension, and as Janny Hu of the San Francisco Chronicle points out, the team's press release notably features quotes from Rowell without a single mention of Mullin. (Heck, for all we know, Mullin may have learned about the extension from that very press release.) The team didn't officially reveal the terms of the extension, but it's believed to be for three years and $28 million, keeping him under contract through 2013 while granting him the highest annual raise allowed under NBA rules. He'll be 35 years old in the final year of his contract.
Chris Mullin is not likely to come out of this offseason looking, shall we say, golden. First, he drafted a[nother] lanky power forward who will need some time to develop. Then, he allowed Baron Davis to mosey down the state to Los Angeles by refusing to negotiate an extension with the fan-fave.
Now, the Warriors appear to be grasping at straws by throwing around as much money as they can at Gilbert Arenas and Elton Brand, to whom they apparently offered a monster deal to on Wednesday.
Flush with cap space after Davis' sudden exit, the Warriors have offered free agent Elton Brand a five-year deal worth between $85 and $90 million, according to league sources.
Brand, like Davis, opted out of the final year of his contract just before Monday's deadline, giving up a guaranteed $16.4 million for next season. At the time, Brand's agent, David Falk, told reporters that the move was designed to create some cap flexibility for the Clippers to add another top-line player.
They offered Gil the max he was allowed and have apparently ponied up a similar chunk of change to try and lure Brand to Oakland.
Baron can still opt out of his contract, meaning the deal simply could not happen. But Dizzle, through his agent, appears content to get paid $17.8 million next year and stick with the Warriors.
"It doesn't seem likely," [Todd] Ramasar said. "The market could change anytime, but it's unlikely."
[...]"Baron's adamant about remaining a Warrior, but we've yet to come up with an extension," Ramasar said. "As of right now, there's no guarantee that those talks continue, and from a player's standpoint, it becomes emotional."
Here's the second catch -- Baron can't officially not opt out until next Tuesday. And because such a deal between the Pistons and the Warriors would almost certainly have to include a draft pick (as MW, the 14th pick seems reasonable).
Of course, those timelines don't exactly match up. But it's not like the Warriors can't simply pick who Detroit wants and then make the trade for Big Shot and 'Sheed immediately following Baron's decision.
Now, there's puh-lenty of risk involved with that, namely that Baron doesn't opt out. But you would have to figure that Joe Dumars and Chris Mullin would have the particulars worked out ahead of time. Either that or Dumars just told him to hit up on the swell piece Tuesday if he didn't do anything crazy tomorrow. (Read: this smells like a dead end).
We lowly fans are stoked that Don Nelson will return to the Warriors. But the basketball community has another reason to take notice of Nelson's signing. Tim Kawakami thinks this could mark a sea change for Chris Mullin and the rest of the team's management. The next test? B-Diddy, who should be paying attention to what happened this week:
If I'm Baron Davis, I realize that there is no $50M extension coming. Maybe a short, clean $25M deal, but a fat $50M is out the window.
That's smart by the Warriors, who have proven they can hang tough through grinding negotiations.
Of course, this new philosophy isn't going to enforce itself:
Baron could be the one who tests it. Monta Ellis could be the one. Or maybe it never happens, and the Warriors turn into the Spurs (in money wisdom if not titles).
Only a few seasons ago, Golden State was known mostly for its bone-headed contracts. Now, they're the most exciting team in the league. If they could somehow keep this magic intact while practicing tidy cap management, they'd be that much closer to becoming a legitimate quality franchise.
SEATTLE -- Jamal Crawford may be the league's most talented player yet to play in an All-Star Game or even a playoff game. Once a skinny, inexperienced but immensely talented 20-year-old tabbed part of the Bulls' post-Jordan resurrection, Crawford is now 29, just completed his ninth year in the NBA and at a crossroads.
The Warriors finally got around Tuesday to doing something they probably should have done back in October. 
The writing was on the wall. It was sloppy, oddly colored, and held no defense from the elements, but it was still clear as day. And now the punctuation mark has been cemented.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
As the story goes, Baron Davis worked out a three-year, $39 million extension with Golden State general manager Chris Mullin in June 2008. The deal would have prevented Davis from opting out of his $18 million salary for 2008-09, bringing a four-year total salary to $57 million for the All-Star point guard, a nearly perfect fit in Don Nelson's wailing offense.
Coming into the season, Stephen Jackson had an ideal contract from his employer's perspective: not only was it affordable (he's making just $7.1 million), it also conveniently expired just in time for the summer of 2010. Jackson made some noise this summer about wanting an extension, but at the end of the day he had no leverage. 
As Watson noted earlier, Baron Davis has been mentioned in some pretty hefty mega-super-uber deal between the Warriors and the Pistons. The rumor is that an Al Harrington and Boom Dizzle for Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups swap would go down. The problem? 
We lowly fans are stoked that Don Nelson will return to the Warriors. But the basketball community has another reason to take notice of Nelson's signing. Tim Kawakami thinks this could mark a sea change for Chris Mullin and the rest of the team's management. The next test? B-Diddy, who should be paying attention to what happened this week: 
