Phil Jackson to the Warriors...

[turk3d]

There's very teams who'd be willing to pay Jackson the 10 Million a year he commands besides the Lakers. No way the Ws pay that much.

As far as being fiscally responsible, there's nothing wrong with it (staying under the lux tax is a reasonable mandate) especially if you're in a "smaller" marketplace (even though the Bay area is not really "small" it is relative to places like LA and New York who have the really big bucks to throw around). See the Oakland As and their success and teams like the Twins in baseball. It's just that you are going to be limited somewhat (in comparison to the "big boys") in signings. What this actually does is to necessitate very intelligent spending, as you don't have the luxury of teams like the Yankees (or the Lakers) to make mistakes. Evne though the Lakers have overspent, they have made good signings (unlike the Knicks or the Yankees).

We have made many bad "signings" and we don't have the capacity to absorb the hits, the way that the Knicks and others do, yet we have a made number of "bad" signings throughout the years which I think has finally come up with Mullin. What's happened with Mullin, is I think that Mullin has lost his credibility as a result of so many "bad" signings. It's even looking as though Monta might have been one of them. Now Rowell has the justification to take over. Had he not made so many, Mullin probably would not have been in this position. If guys like Brandan come through eventually, it may turn out that he did a good job in the final analysis, but by then it may be too late, he'll probably be gone by then.

Where I think Mullin has done his best work imo, is his trades (which he used to mitigate a number of these bad signings), it's his bad signings which is where he screwed up. Maybe he should have done a few more trades, rather than signings. If he would have traded for Maggette, it probably wouldn't have been too bad, but signing him as a FA is where I think he screwed up.

[St.Nick]

IMHO, the team really has no players on the roster with contracts that are categorically bad.

Monta's contract was cheered by nearly everyone, Warriors fan or not. The fact that he sustained a freak injury is most certainly not Mullin's fault. I think this is the consensus opinion.

Maggette's contract is overblown as being bad simply because people here don't see him fitting into their idea of where the franchise should be heading. The contract in itself, $9.6M/yr for an efficient 20ppg/6rpg guy, is quite just. If you look around the league at swingmen with that type of production and that kind of talent and solid character, you will see that the contract fits. Even those thinking it is too much cannot say that it is an exorbitant amount of money.

The rest of our guys signed to contracts under Mullin-- Andris, Kelenna, Turiaf-- are on excellent deals.

[turk3d]

I'm talking about Foyle (who we're still paying for), Murphy and Dunleavy (who he was able to replace with Jack and Al which made up for his blunder), three bad lottery picks (Diogu, Pietrus and O'Bryant). Now Monta's career is suspect and I guarantee you right or wrong he gets the blame if Monta never makes it back to where he was and we're stuck with his deal.

As for Maggette, although debatable, let's say he's worth the deal he got, the problem is that he was NOT a good FA signing. If we could have somehow traded Al or Jack for him, perhaps but an outright signing was bad and although it's been pointed out to me that it wasn't his doing, as GM it's while on his clock (sometimes you just have to take a stand even if it means pissing off your boss).

With regards as to whether or not Maggette was worth it, I feel it's safe to say, not to any other team in the league. I think it's "consensus" that no one else in the league was willing to pay him anywhere close to what we paid for him. The bottom line is that Mullin looks as though he's now a "lame duck", much of his power has been taken from him in terms of making decisions for this team and he will likely be Management's "fall guy" if and when things fall apart this season. I'm not saying it's necessarily fair, but I believe it's reality. I'm not sayi8ng that Mullin is all "that terrible", just being stuck between Rowell/Cohan and Nellie (yes, don't think he's not involved somehow allthogh trying to keep "low profile") is just an unenviable position for anyone to be in and may be as close to an impossible situation for one to be as things get.

Oh and Nick, don't get angry with me, this is just my opinion. It's ok to not agree.

[Left*My*Heart]

There are a lot of assumptions here. My main question since Mullin came on board was how much pull he actually had in making trades, offering contracts and throwing around Cohan's money???

I don't see anyone handing over the keys to the vault to an employee who had no previous experience in his new job. I'm not saying Mullin is stupid or can't be trusted, but I know I would have to have a certain comfort level if I was ever going to allow him to do what he wanted.

The trading didn't really start until Nellie came on board. I don't know if that was a coincidence or the front office was more secure in Nellie's input.

[Left*My*Heart]

I think there were teams willing to pay Maggs, but they were over the cap and couldn't. It would require a S&T from the Clips and Cohan saw to it that wouldn't happen.

[turk3d]

I agree that a lot of this is speculative, but whatever it is, it's pretty screwed up for this franchise. Now after all these years of Mullin and an attempt to reach respectability, it appears that they're about ready to start all over once more. Whatever new regime it is, they will have the excuse that it will take another 2-3 to straighten things out, and thus the cycle starts all over again.

The only way I can see Mullin maybe pulling himself out of it is by making another trade (which may be what he's best at) and it has to be a good one. Perhaps that's not even possible now with Rowell's tightening of the reins.

[St.Nick]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Monta/Maggette/S-Jax/Al/Biedrins
M.Williams/Marco/Kelenna/Wright/Turiaf

is a team that gets us into playoff contention this season.

In two years you replace S-Jax and Al with $20M in FA signings, you watch the young guys with some experience under their belts, and all of the sudden you are looking at a perennial playoff team with guys still 6-8 years away from peaking.

The blueprint is fine. The circumstances, like Monta getting jacked up, have made it appear worse than it actually is, at least to the Chicken Littles here.

[GSWhoopfan]

Phil Jackson is going to take over whereever LeBron goes. Phil Jackson can only work with the best talent. Phil Jackson cannot actually coach.

[floppymoose]

I used to think that but his performance with the Kobes two years ago changed my mind. That was a tremendous coaching job. That was a bad team. I'm convinced Phil is for real.