Whether Rowell made the right decision or not, I do blame Mullin for cutting deals behind his back if in fact Rowell needed to approve them. He should have at least felt out Rowell to see where his head was at on Baron first. It wouldn't surprise me if that was a contributing factor to Rowell's souring on Mullin.
I think his knees were the main concern, Shareef Abdur-Rahim pulled a similar card to this because of his chronic knee problems and said there were none when the nets voided the contract he was suppose to sign. 2 seasons later Reef was done and retired to basically save face for making such a big deal when the doctors were right all along.
Mullin is the GM, its his job to negotiate contracts, I don't think he did anything behind anyone's back. He did his job and Rowell denied him. Its looking more and more like Mully is going to leave though. Why would he want to work somewhere where he can't do his job? We now know that Rowell/Cohan denied a Baron contract and ignored Mullin regarding Monta's punishment. Who knows what else they've influenced. Sounds like they don't want him back and I can't see why he'd want to be back. Probably doesn't bode well for Nellie's future either since he's buddy-buddy with Mullin. I just hope we don't get another shitty rookie GM because Rowell/Cohan don't want to fork over the money for a quality guy.
Rowell was Chief Operating Officer in 2001-2002. and promoted to Team President in 2003. That was the Dave Cowens/Brian Winters/Eric Mussleman era. It wasn't until Mully came along that the team eventually got better. Mully > Rowell
Let's remember that Rowell was the one who negotiated Gilbert Arenas' contract, or lack thereof. EDIT: I'm actually not 100% on this. Can somebody verify?
According to Arenas, he was set to agree to a $4.9 mils contract with a verbal deal on restructuring into a max contract the following year. But he backed out at the table because, as he says, Chris Cohan would not look him in the eye, shake his hand, and give him his verbal word to restructure (opt out + re-up, or something...). So he left for $11 mils from Washington.
On a side note, does the Bay Area just have some of the crappiest owners in pro sports right now, or what? Cohan, the Yorks, and Al Davis are all pathetic. I give credit to Magowan for saving the team from moving to Florida and getting the ballpark built, they are also a pathetic team right now (with a large payroll to boot). Then you have the As, who are too cheap to ever sign any player who gets good to a contract. Sharks...well, OK. Let Larry Ellison buy the Warriors. Let Steve Young and Brent Jones buy the 49ers. Let ANYONE buy the Raiders.
1. I doubt Mullin cut a deal behind his back. Why does he need permission if that is his job? 2. It sounds like Rowell didn't like Baron and the feeling was mutual. 3. It sounds like Rowell doesn't like Mullin now and the feeling is mutual. 4. The Rowell era has already begun.
Let Larry Ellison buy the Warriors. Agreed. Let Steve Young and Brent Jones buy the 49ers. Agreed. Let ANYONE buy the Raiders. Nah. Let Al take it to his grave.
The warriors do have crappy management and Baron owes the Warriors for games and free throws he missed. Oh and interest for all the times he shot his crappy 3 ball rather than driving and dishing. He's supposed to the nba's premier point guard based on his unstoppable one-on-one skills and what does he do? He does the weakest thing in his arsenal (settles for a jumpshot). I guess he loses either way if he drives and gets fouled on the way to the rim. I'll miss Baron's playmaking skills, but I've had enough of this scoring point guard type. Either score 50% or get a Jason Kidd who shoots 39%, but will get you a triple double and take less shots. Now that Baron is converted to a decent big man backup for PF/C and a Jrich-like player who can drive and work the foul line, I'm pretty happy. But we have no Monta, which sucks for our point guard situation. If Marcus Williams can be a marginal starter there's some hope, but it is not looking good without a starting point guard.
