Owner booed on Chris Mullin's night

[truebluefan]

Chris Mullin didn't think he'd see his No. 17 Golden State jersey hanging from the rafters at Oracle Arena, not after a bitter parting with the Warriors three years ago.

But Mullin has found a way to overcome a lot during his life and Hall of Fame basketball career, including a contentious halftime ceremony Monday night.

Mullin was honored at the half of Golden State's 97-93 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and while fans celebrated Mullin's career, they also took time to voice their displeasure with new co-owner Joe Lacob.

Lacob talked about "embracing history and respect" as he prepared to unveil Mullin's No. 17 hanging in the rafters at Oracle Arena, but angry fans showed little respect for the owner on Mullin's special night. A chorus of boos rained down on the new co-owner who, along with Peter Guber, took over the franchise in 2010. Last week the franchise traded star Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Mullin and fellow Warriors great Rick Barry separately interrupted Lacob -- taking the microphone to come to the owner's defense during the ceremony.

"As the greatest fans in the NBA ... sometimes change is inevitable, and it's going to work out just fine," Mullin said. "With your support and patience, and use that passion in the right direction ... this thing is going in the right way. I've got great confidence in Joe, [coach] Mark Jackson and everything will work out just fine. Just a little bit of patience."

Read more: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/77...team-new-owner

[i hate the warriors]

It was pretty awkward to watch. I had been watching it, filled with nostalgia, reminiscing about the Run TMC days when all of a sudden it all went crazy. Despite the billions of dollars, Lacob is a nerdy guy with insecurities just like everyone else. His voice was quivering, you could see the notecards shaking in his hand. I felt bad for the guy, even though I'm not completely sold on him yet. It wasn't the classiest move for the fanbase, but Lacob is a damn fool if he didn't see that coming. Less than a week after a largely unpopular trade...plus, there was no reason for him to talk in the first place. Good god, watching Mullin and Barry jump to his defense was so painful to watch! haha. I just sat here with my jaw dropped open. A little booing is okay in certain circumstances, but it was beyond excessive and it disrespected Mully and the ceremony at hand. That being said, I think it made our fanbase look unintelligent and classless.

Also, Lacob should NOT have said "Now that that's over with"!!! That was a very foolish move...arguably condescending. Just made it worse.

Lacob on KNBR in 45 minutes, VERY interested to see what he has to say.

[Run BJM]

Yeah it really made the fanbase look like disrespectful morons. It was brutal. Even if you boo him for a little bit, fine, whatever, but it was excessive and got to the point where it stole the show from Mullin.

Speaking of stealing the show, I think Lacob learned a few lessons tonight as well. I like that hes willing to be in the public eye but why was he speaking after Mully? When they introduced him whoever did the intro said "and now the best for last, Warrior's owner Joe Lacob!". Its funny because I bet he was expecting to be cheered and adored for giving Mulling an effing week vacation to Maui and making sure everyone knew that he was responsible for retiring Mully's number and Cohan would never have done it, plus he loves to pat himself on the back so I think he wanted a positive reaction to the Monta/Bogut trade, etc etc. I believe Lacob really wants to win and I think hes figuring out how to do that in the NBA. He really does do some arrogant stuff though, probably typical for a guy of his wealth.

I like his projected confidence and determination, but he really needs to STFU until the team starts winning.

[i hate the warriors]

Just listened to him on KNBR for the last hour...and yeah, "STFU" is the general feeling I've taken from it.

He should have called in, talked for 10 minutes, and got back to work.

I just don't like how much he enjoys the sound of his own voice.

He does, say some encouraging things sometimes...and he is WAY better than Coahan...but yeah, shut up already.

[philsmith75]

You'd think someone would realize that the time for Lacob to make a speech was before Mullin, not after.

Even with that however, booing on the night that Mullin is honored is stupid and classless and makes our fanbase look so bad. Just a short sighted response that should have been avoided.

Then booing Lacob? Seriously? What you'd rather have the absent Cohan and Rowell back? The guys who sold draft picks, not bought picks? Guys who did nothing? Who could not see the bigger picture? Lacob at least is trying. The Bogut trade is a steal. Its not like Bogut has recurring foot problems like a Sam Bowie or knee problems like Oden. He's had freak injuries.

If you're booing the loss of Monta, well you deserve to be looked upon as league wide idiots because anyone who knows anything knows that Monta was never going to be the leader of a winning team; he simply doesn't do what's needed to be a winner. He's a scorer, not a winner. Look back on his HS career, he was a fantastic scorer, but his teams weren't champions.

[Run BJM]

After reading a lot of twitter and forum comments, lots of people were booing the broken promises (of a playoff berth, of an all-star, etc), the fact that Biedrins is still on the team, the fact that they didn't get a Mully bobblehead (only first 10,000), the fact that the team was playing like crap last night to that point, and possibly Lacob's general arrogance/rudeness in speaking after Mully among other things.

But I can't help but think a lot of people were booing the Monta trade. As others have mentioned around the league, its a testament to the success of the Cohan regime in selling Warriors fans on losing-but-entertaining basketball and buying into "star" players who really aren't star players.

[CohanHater]

It's all misplaced Angst.... that Mob scene was uncalled for. There was no guarantee by Lacob (Jackson did, but Lacob didn't), Although the ownership group put their money where their mouth was and put that season ticket holder agreement. Don't be surprised if next year's agreement is even better.

Biedrins being on the team was his main mistake, but I think he's mended a lot of that by putting together a roster that's ready to compete for a 4 or 5 seed.
If the team tanks and gets a pick, I wouldn't be surprised to see another big trade come draft day to move up. I can't remember a time that the team was positioned this well moving into a season (post Sprewell choking Carlismo)

Don't forget that this time next year Biedrins will actually be a tradeable asset.

Booing the Monta trade is asinine, it shows a lack of understanding of value. A lack of understanding of Basketball. Even if Bogut is a 12-10 guy next year, his value will be worth more than Monta at 23-6 and 1 more year without the playoffs. 2 Guards are a dime a dozen in the eyes of GMs. It's as simple as that.

In the end, the puzzle pieces are there to work together. Dude, bought 2 2nd round picks, traded Monta and Udoh (who many hated until about 3 weeks ago) for a 1st, the #4 center in the league (in my estimation) and Jefferson, who is a trade-able piece that actually fits in well here.

[¹²³]

How to Annoy a Fan Base in 60 Easy Steps

[speeds]

Why write 600 words when you can write 60,000? BS is both the best and the worst.

[i hate the warriors]

Thanks for posting that....wow. I just read that in its entirety, and on one hand: that was depressing as hell. On the other hand, our worst times HAVE to be behind us. They just have to.

[philsmith75]

That is both brutal and hilarious. A one-year out to a rookie? Really? That's the worst negotiating I've ever heard (and I've been a lawyer for past 22 years!)

[Custodianrules2]

I'll be happy when we get to next season
C: Andrew Bogut
PF: David Lee
SF: ?
SG: ?
PG: Stephen Curry

looks pretty damn good on paper

and of course we need a consistent bench and some reliable swingmen

[CohanHater]

Had a dream last night that the Warriors tanked to get their pick and won the Lottery and somehow swapped Lee for Pierce were playing with a starting lineup of Curry, Thompson, Pierce, Davis and Bogut

Screw MegaMillions...those are some real Lottery dreams!

[jason bourne]

I think Lacob is too much a prima donna. Another reason he was booed was "Tonight, we are here to honor..." ** looks down ** "Chris Mullin, who is being honored tonight for" ** looks down ** "embracing history and respect..."

[jason bourne]

What did you guys think of the booing?

[Custodianrules2]

The ownership is not the problem this time IMO. It's the GM. The ownership is basically evaluating what they got from the Cohan regime and they probably brought in Jerry West to evaluate our front office to see if they're competent to run the organization. Hopefully, the new ownership will supplant those responsible for making this franchise a loser for more than a decade.

Also, let's face it. We weren't going anywhere with the Curry/Ellis backcourt. We needed size with talent. Always have. We saw how much we sucked when our backup went down and Biedrins failed to produce. David Lee and Andrew Bogut (if healthy) is a winning combo with Curry (if healthy) at the point. A healthy Bogut is worth two above average swingmen IMO because who could match up with Bogut besides maybe two other centers in this league? Plus, Bogut is no stiff, he can make plays and play some good D.

Who I have dreaded is Riley ever since the Marcus Williams trade. WTF? Talk about getting nothing return. That's worse than nothing in return. We're throwing away picks. That ain't like that Jeremy Lin non-sense where he tries to save something like 500k off the books for a possible career backup center that can block shots. He would have been the same dude that overpaid a player like Adonal Foyle rather than being patient with the right free agents or re-building through the draft.

We won't go anywhere with Riley. He's a break-even GM at best because if you look at it, he could have made the right risky trade with Bogut, but he also might have lost with the potential pick we're giving up.

I'm not sure if the ownership told Riley to go win this year, but that's ridiculous when you're backup center goes down and your starter isn't even a starter anymore and you don't even know who your backup point is and Curry hasn't been healthy all year. Plus, you got a rookie coach who never coached. There's some adjustments to be made and it will take another year or so if the warriors can stay on course.

[Run BJM]

FWIW, Mullin was the one who traded the pick for Marcus Williams. Riley fiddled with the protections later on. Mullin also gave Foyle the big contract, no?

[Custodianrules2]

Yah, I did not like Mullin as GM the first year. The only thing he did right was that Baron Davis trade later on. He signed some of the worst contracts at the start of his job. We dumped Fisher for three nobodies and we bought out Foyle and got nothing out of that. We basically wasted time with players that did not help the team at the positions we needed most. The warriors really didn't do much of anything with any of these GMs because they kept making costly mistakes. They should have bought young talent rather than overpay veterans like that. If you need good locker room characters, get the older guys at minimum price who are looking to teach or maybe coach someday.