http://www.nypost.com/seven/11232007/sports/knicks/time_running_out_for_isiah_860712.htm

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR ISIAH

By MARC BERMAN

November 23, 2007 -- Golden State GM Chris Mullin is expected to emerge as a top candidate for the Knicks GM job if Isiah Thomas eventually is fired from his dual role as coach and president, The Post has learned.

Mullin was at sold-out Madison Square Garden on Tuesday and heard all the "Fire Isiah" chants as his Warriors belted the Knicks by 26 points.

The former St. John's sharp-shooting superstar out of Brooklyn told a confidant Wednesday that an employee from the organization, during an informal chat, secretly asked Mullin if he'd be interested in coming to the Knicks if the GM spot is open next summer.

Owner James Dolan is not ready to make a move yet and Thomas will coach the team tomorrow against the Bulls, though he appears on thin ice.

Mullin, 43, is in his fourth season as Golden State's executive VP of basketball operations and has built a young, athletic team that posted one of the biggest playoff upsets in NBA history when it shocked the Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs last spring.

The Knicks said yesterday they have not looked at any potential candidates because the job is filled. There were no indications Dolan is ready to fire Thomas imminently despite the Knicks' eight-game losing streak and 2-9 record, tied for second-worst in the league.

The most likely scenario if Thomas is fired in the near future is for senior VP Glen Grunwald to inherit the job on an interim basis until a proper search can be done during the offseason. Assistant coach Herb Williams would be promoted to head coach.

A lot would have to happen before New York's favorite son could come home. Mullin is beloved by Golden State owner Chris Cohane, so the Knicks could have a hard time getting Mullin out of his Golden State contract. A league source said Mullin has at least one more guaranteed year left on his pact after this one, maybe two.

Mullin executed one of the best trades in recent memory last season when he obtained Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington from the Pacers - a move that helped break the Warriors' 13-year playoff drought. Mullin also traded for All-Star Baron Davis.

Nominated for the Hall of Fame last year, Mullin runs a basketball camp in Brooklyn every summer and owns a home in the Hamptons. Popular in New York, where almost all of his relatives still live, Mullin is the quick-fix to their image the Knicks might need.

Mullin is extremely happy in the Bay area, but New York is his home.

"He loves the Knicks," an old friend of Mullin's said yesterday. "He always wanted to play here."



[Edited by - VDesai on 11-23-2007 1:08 PM]

mullin's gm'ing is on par with isiah's. don nelson saved his job.

Posted by djsunyc:

mullin's gm'ing is on par with isiah's. don nelson saved his job.

and his life , Mullin was an alcoholic no thanks

kosmovitelli weighs in...

Chris Mullin is not Jerry West but he's at least a huge huge upgrade over Isiah Thomas.

I just cannot believe what I read on this thread. Anyway I guess comments are coming from people who loved Isiah Thomas and thought he was a great GM before the 7 game losing streak...


Just like Thomas, Chris Mullin made his share of blunders :
- Resigning Adonal Foyle for a full max MLE contract
- Overpaying Derek Fisher
- Being played by Jason Richardson and Troy Murphy's agent (who threatened him to tank the Warriors season if they weren't given extensions before the beginning of the season) and giving them a huge extension on their rookie contracts. Really bad thing as Chris Mullin's first intention was to let them enter free agency as restricted free agents and let market dictate their value. As Mullin was a rookie GM, Jason Richardson and Troy Murphy's agent took advantage of it. Mullin knew he couldn't afford to let Murphy and Richardson ruin the season and make him lose his job. He panicked and made a rookie GM mistake.
- Traded a 2007 1st round pick, Luis Flores and Eduardo Najera for Rodney White and Nikoloz Tskitichvili
- Firing a one time coach of the year candidate Eric Musselman and hiring Stanford coach Mike Montgomery (college coaches rarely pan out in the nba)


To be fair, he made all those blunders his first season (2004-2005) and he improved a lot coming from there.
And as I made a list of his mistakes I should also point out the good things he did his first season (including cleaning the mess created by Garry Saint-Jean) :
- Traded Nick Van Exel for Dan Dickau and Dale Davis
- Traded Erick Dampier, Dan Dickau, Evan Ecshmayer, rights to Steve Logan for 2 first round picks and cash, Eduardo Najera, Christian Laettner, rights to Luis Flores
- Traded Speedy Claxton, Dale Davis for Baron Davis


After his first season, I don't think anyone can trash Chris Mullin for the period 2005-2007.
During the season 2005-2006, he didn't make any real move except drafting Taft, Diogu and Ellis. He also waived Rodney White.
He learned a lot from his rookie mistakes and avoided to make another blunder. Kudos to him.
Then the season after that (2006-2007) he made spectacular moves that improved his team and took a leap forward :
- Hiring Don Nelson as Head Coach : huge credit to Chris Mullin, he put his job on the line as owner Chris Cohan had past differences with Nellie and didn't want him back. Chris Mulin lobbied for Nelson and convinced his owner by offering him a deal where Nellie would sign for only one year and then if things worked, he would get an extension. Chris Cohan didn't want to sign a big check to Don Nelson. So Mullin deserves a lot of credit for convining Cohan to eat crow and accept Don Nelson back.
- Got rid of Derek Fisher, traded him to Utah
- Signed Matt Barnes
- Traded Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Ike Diogu and Keith McLeod for Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Sarunas Jasekevicius and Josh Powell


Chris Mullin was named GM of the Golden State Warriors in may 2004. At the time, they had a $52M payroll.
Here's the record of the team the previous season and after :
2003-2004 : 37-45
2004-2005 : 34-48
2005-2006 : 34-48
2006-2007 : 42-40

Now they have a $57M payroll this season.
Under Chris Mullin's reign, the Warriors became a little worse, they were stagnant and then they took off the 3rd season with Don Nelson.

You can see the difference this off-season where Chris Mullin :
- traded Jason Richardson albatross contract to a team under the cap (Charlotte) and got back a large trade exception
- waived Adonal Foyle
- waived Sarunas Jasekevicius
- refused to give Mike Pietrus a large contract or to trade him to the Heat for garbage


While he made similar bad trades and free agency signings like Thomas his first season, the huge difference is that Chris Mullin learned from his previous mistakes and became a much better GM each season.
On the other hand, Isiah Thomas made the same mistakes time and time again : trading one unprotected pick + a protected pick for Marbury his first season and then doing about the same mistake for Curry, giving Jerome James a full max MLE contract and doing the same with Curry one year after, trading expiring or soon expiring contracts for longer contracts, acquired talanted players just because they're available and cheap (Crawford the first season and Zach Randolph 3 years later), trading for similar players than the one we have and duplicate players (trading for Steve Francis to pair him with Marbury and doing the same mistake by acquiring Randolph to pair him with Curry).


I really fail to see how can some people compare Chris Mullin to Isiah Thomas and even dare saying he's a step back ! LOL
Pretty ridiculous. Let's be real and look at the facts instead of keeping a grudge against Mullin because of his awful first season. Anyone can make mistakes, the most important thing is to learn from them. Isiah Thomas has been bashed often on this board by me and other posters not because he made mistakes but because he made the same mistakes over and over again. Kinda depressing to have a GM like that.

Chris Mullin has been a GM for only 3 full seasons, he was in the lottery the first two seasons, compiled a winning record and made the playoffs (for the first time in 12 years for the Warriors) his 3rd season. How can that be looked as a failure ?

This off-season, while we kept our garbage Jerome James, Mullin did not hesitate to waive Adonal Foyle , he acknowledged his original mistake and cleaned his own mess. If you look at Mullin's three seasons at the helm, he's not afraid of trading players he acquired if things don't work and he's not afraid to waive players he signed if he thinks it was a mistake.
And if you take a look at this off-season, from a fiscal perspective, it's pretty well done, Mullin refuses to overpay now.
Think about it. Mullin had a succesful playoff run, lots of other GMs would have kept Richardson and resigned Pietrus to a max 6yr MLE like contract thinking they coudln't afford to lose them for nothing.


I'm not pretending Chris Mullin is a great GM, he's no Jerry West, he's no Donnie Walsh. What I'm saying is Mullin would be a massive upgrade over Thomas and if he was named GM of the Knicks it wouldn't be such a terrible thing. And he has room for improvement as he proved it in Golden State. As GM he's getting better and better each year.
There's no guarantee he will make us far better but there's no guarantee either he will make us worse. I don't mind giving him a chance if Jerry West, Jerry Colangelo or Donnie Walsh are unavailable.

Look at the facts, his track record and history as GM instead of trashing him without knowing what he's done.
Chris Mullin is not the best candidate but he's far from being the worse as some are making him out to be. He's from NY and he's still learning the job. He's a huge upgrade over Isiah Thomas and could prove to be a good GM in NY. Don't act like he's worse than Thomas or it's the end of the world for the Knicks if he's hired.

At this point, I'd say Jimmy Dolan could do a lot worse than Chris Mullin.

Posted by SupremeCommander:

Can we invite kosmo to jump ship?

i think kosmo is somebody that is or was connected to the knicks or the nba.

the readership is much higher over at realgm so i'm guessing he will want to stay there.

I'd like a GM whom we've never heard of before. That would make it more likely that he was being hired because of his ability rather than PR purposes.

I'd like a GM who isn't an experiment. I think isiah and Layden were both experiments. Let's get someone with a proven track record in here.

Posted by islesfan:

I want Colangelo.

Agreed.

Posted by JaydeeNYC:

My questions are really simple... How in the hell does Chris Mullin become the top candidate to replace Zeke as GM when

1) Jerry West (The freaking NBA Logo) is available?

2) Jerry Colangelo << Mastermind behind some great Suns teams but most recently made USA Basketball a powerhouse is practically asking for the job? Did I mention that he is arguably our best shot at resurrecting this dead franchise.

3) And probably most important of all three, Chris Mullin is under contract w/ another team... Why would we pay to get another sap GM in the Garden; another GM who would be afraid to take it to Dolan? The truth is his moves are really no better than Zeke's.. What could he do that Zeke couldn't do? Another GM that makes lateral moves? No thanks

If this move happens its for no other reason than to have another crab that Dolan can control. It stinks!



[Edited by - JaydeeNYC on 11-23-2007 5:31 PM]

Totally agree!

Don't people remember that Mullin was worse than Isiah until this last bail-out trade?

He had the worst contracts outside of Manhattan on his roster for quite a while there.