Warriors Not Renewing Mullin's Contract; Promote Riley To GM
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Mullin Has Served As Warriors' Exec VP/
Basketball Operations For Five Years |
The Warriors will not renew the contract of Exec VP/Basketball Operations Chris Mullin when it expires on June 30. Mullin, who played with the team for 13 seasons, had been in his current position for five years. The Warriors also promoted Assistant GM Larry Riley to GM (Warriors). In Oakland, Marcus Thompson III notes Riley "officially becomes the team's head basketball executive" when Mullin's contract expires. Philosophical differences between Mullin and Warriors President Robert Rowell were a "hot topic all season." The primary issues between the two were negotiations for a contract extension for former G Baron Davis, the punishment of G Monta Ellis for lying about an injury and the "firing of Mullin's right-hand man," then-Assistant GM Pete D'Alessandro. D'Alessandro was replaced by then-assistant coach Riley in November, and "from that point, Mullin ... figured to be on the way out." Mullin "faded from public view and stopped speaking publicly about the franchise" (CONTRA COSTA TIMES, 5/12). In S.F., Janny Hu reports while Mullin "officially remains under contract with the Warriors for the next month and half, it's believed that the team will allow him to pursue other opportunities should they arise" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/12).
MOVE COMES TOO LATE: In S.F., Ray Ratto writes the "honorable thing" would have been for Warriors Owner Chris Cohan and Rowell "to have fired Mullin when he got crossways with them on the Monta Ellis punishment." The "sensible thing would have been for them to say the time had come when they and Mullin couldn't get their stories aligned on the Baron Davis contract squawk." But Mullin was "left to swing in the breeze while the team became [coach] Don Nelson's, with Larry Riley as the shop foreman, and all with Rowell's instigation and blessing." However, it "wasn't as though [Mullin] was Red Auerbach, either," from a front-office perspective. Ratto: "Give a little, take a little. In all, give him a B, B-minus at worst. Guys get fired for B work in the NBA all the time" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 5/12).
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Writer Says Riley Will Be Hard-Pressed
To Do A Better Job Than Mullin |
MIXED LEGACY: In San Jose, Tim Kawakami writes Mullin was "by far the Warriors' most credible and creative executive in decades," as the team has had "only two winning seasons in the 15-year span of Chris Cohan's crumbling ownership, both achieved under Mullin's stewardship." The move not to renew Mullin "isn't really a regime change from Mullin to Riley, it's the political endgame run by Rowell and Nelson to clear out Mullin, the one guy left who could challenge them" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/12). The AP's Greg Beacham writes Mullin "has been the Warriors' most successful executive of the last 15 years -- admittedly not a high bar to clear in Oakland" (AP, 5/11). But in California, Cam Inman wrote while it is "painful to deem his stint a failure," Mullin's work was "not a success story." The Warriors remain an "irrelevant franchise among the NBA's landscape," as their '07 postseason run gave fans "false hope that Mullin had this franchise on the brink of Western Conference superiority." Mullin "wasn't as much as a failure as some of his front-office predecessors," but it is "certainly not a crushing blow to end his tenure." Still, Riley will be "hard-pressed to do a better job than Mullin, considering the franchise's floundering state" (INSIDEBAYAREA.com, 5/11).
UPHILL BATTLE: BLEACHER REPORT wrote Riley "faces an uphill battle winning over fans," as he "will be seen as a yes-man to Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell, and even if the Warriors find a way to make the playoffs again, Don Nelson will probably get all the credit." In the current environment, it is "tough to see a way in which Riley can succeed" (BLEACHERREPORT.com, 5/11).
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