Mullin's moves revitalize Warriors

WITH THE news of an agreement in principle regarding a sign-and-trade of Erick Dampier to Dallas, Chris Mullin has made the last major maneuver of a dramatic, hope-inspiring Golden State Warriors off-season.


We presume it's the last major maneuver, anyway. The Warriors seemingly have averaged a significant roster move per week since the end of May, and maybe Mullin still has something in mind that could shock us.

But if this turns out to be it, he's shocked us plenty, and this latest move will stand nicely as the off-season's coup de grace. Not that the Warriors will make an electrifying haul in this prospective deal with the Mavericks, but they very easily could have come away with zilch for Dampier -- the historically anticipated Warriors result -- yet instead emerged with an array of positives.

They're losing Evan Eschmeyer's complete lack of productivity and burdensome contract. They're gaining another high-energy, high-character role player with a defensive bent in Eduardo Najera. They're picking up a solid veteran backup center and all-around good guy in Christian Laettner for a year, and when that year is up, they'll get $6.5million in fresh cap space. On top of that, they reportedly will receive two first-round draft picks in unspecified years and cash for Dampier and Dan Dickau.

Wow. Inspired work, particularly for a rookie GM. To my mind, this is a Billy Beane-caliber machination, if for no other reason than the past mistakes that were wiped off the books. Others may disagree, but letting Dampier walk as a free agent is the correct move -- over seven

years, he never took the Warriors anywhere -- so actually getting something for him is like found money.

More important, this is the kind of deal that demonstrates a general manager's keen vision of his team, a vision that extends beyond next week. That vision still has to play out on the court, but it looks good so far. While it's a shame Eric Musselman's two years of solid work here wound up being treated so shabbily, Mullin has otherwise orchestrated an impressive transformation.

Mike Montgomery is a terrific coaching presence who should galvanize the roster Mullin has put it together and turn it into a productive unit. There is depth and versatility, spice of youth and stability of experience. This is a team that can't help but shoot the ball better, and one that's going to line up every game and irritate the hell out of opponents defensively.

Honestly, what I see on paper is perhaps the best defensive Warriors team since the championship season of 1974-75. There are enough players on the roster now with strong defensive attributes that you can see it becoming a defining characteristic of the team, and when was the last time you could say that about a Golden State club?

If the Warriors ever expect to get anywhere, they have to keep working on developing that end of the court. Defensive-oriented clubs win, it's that simple. Look at Detroit, San Antonio, Indiana, even up-and-coming clubs such as Utah. At last, Mullin seems to be somebody in Oakland who gets the concept.

Adding players such as Derek Fisher, Dale Davis, Najera and promising rookie big man Andris Biedrins, who seriously opened eyes in the Southern California Summer Pro League as a potential draft steal, only add to the improved defensive emphasis and presence that newcomers such as Cliff Robinson and Mickael Pietrus spearheaded a year ago. Adonal Foyle, when healthy, can be a defensive force, too.

Montgomery's biggest challenge will be devising and shuffling what looks to be a large rotation of capable players. Conceivably, Mullin has fashioned a roster in which all 12 players, at least theoretically, could make a significant impact. That's because on paper, anyway, there's no perceivable dead weight for the first time in recent memory.

Keeping that many players happy is a nice problem to have. At least it's a good group of men who are more likely to buy into this program than, for example, the departed Nick Van Exel. Mullin has reshaped virtually everything around the core trio of Jason Richardson, Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy, and suddenly, there are no obvious holes anywhere.

All of the off-season work should have Warriors fans eager to see how it's all going to come together.

But even if things don't work out as well as Mullin expects this coming season -- he forecast a playoff berth before a lot of his moves were made -- he has engineered major flexibility in the salary cap entering next off-season to set up another round of upgrades, including perhaps that long sought-after major free agent.

The Warriors should have $12 million-$15 million worth of cap room to attract someone from a large, attractive 2005 group that will include Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen and Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

After a decade of disappointment and disaster, everyone reserves the right to be skeptical. But finally, the franchise looks as if it might be headed in the right direction, and after the carnage that's come before, "might" is more than enough to stir the imagination.


http://www.theargusonline.com/Stories/0,1413,83%257E1992%257E2344501,00.html

signing Foyle & Fisher to their bloated contracts were the 2 worst moves of the offseason by any team imho...Mullin was lucky to get some 1st round picks & cap relief for Dampier after the moronic moves he had made up to that point...this article must have been written by his publicist.

Posted by Solace:

The biggest problem I have is the logic about free agents. One problem: no free agents want to sign in Golden State, and that won't change until the team starts making the playoffs on a regular basis.

all rebuilding teams have that kind of problem. When you look at the bottom of the league, you always see the same names.

Maybe when Golden State has the worst record in the entire league next year and they get the first pick in a weak draft, people will realize what an idiot Mullin is. Sigh. Good luck with Fisher and Najera on offense, Mully.