MULLIN MAY TAKE ON MORE DUTIES TO OFFSET HIGGINS' DEPARTURE
By Geoff Lepper
06/01/2007 02:10:37 AM PDT



Warriors executive vice president Chris Mullin needs a new two-on-two teammate. Whether he needs a new general manager is open to debate.

Rod Higgins, often Mullin's partner in impromptu half-court contests, stepped down Thursday after three seasons as Golden State's G.M. to take a similar position with the Charlotte Bobcats. But Mullin, in Florida for the NBA's predraft camp, said there are no immediate plans to fill the position, which will remain open at least through the NBA draft June 28.

"We've got plenty of resources. We feel whole in that area, and we'll carry on as usual," Mullin said. "Structurally, we feel whole. As an organization, we feel good.

"If something presents itself down the line, would I look at it? Yeah, I would. But at this point in time, no."

Mullin wouldn't specify who will be involved in assuming Higgins' job responsibilities, although he said the largest share will fall on his shoulders.

"We have a team set up, and everyone will pick up some (slack) here and there," Mullin said. "The guys we have in place have been doing a lot and doing those jobs already."

Team president Robert Rowell said he plans to discuss the staffing situation with Mullin when Mullin returns from Florida. A list of in-house G.M. candidates would include Mitch Richmond, who has served as a special assistant to Mullin for three seasons, and Pete D'Alessandro, the team's director of basketball operations.

Rowell made clear
that one Warriors employee who shouldn't expect to inherit the title is Don Nelson, who is still debating if he'll return as the coach after a draining run to the Western Conference semifinals.
"Don was hired to be our head coach," Rowell said. "Don has a contract to be the head coach of the Golden State Warriors for the next two seasons."

Rowell said Nelson, who was a major reason the Warriors made their eight-player trade with the Indiana Pacers in January, will still have input on personnel matters, if not a title to go with it.

"Obviously any organization solicits the opinion of senior leadership," Rowell said. "Don has been and will be involved in personnel decisions. He's the head coach, he should be."

Higgins said his move was prompted not only by his friendship and prior working relationship with Michael Jordan - who gave Higgins his first job as an NBA executive with the Washington Wizards in 2000 - but also because it gave him a chance to shape a roster from the ground up.

Mullin said he talked this week with Nelson, who is vacationing in Maui and still has a month until his self-imposed July 1 deadline to decide if he'll be back on the Warriors' bench next season.

"He sounded good," Mullin said. "He's trying to work off a few (pounds) and is getting rested up."

Be strange if Mullin doesn't sign another guy to be fulltime GM. Maybe he will be the GM himself

migya wrote:Maybe he will be the GM himself

He already is. I'm not really sure of what Higgins did as GM. Mully made all the decisions.

Hire Sprewell. He's got to feed his kids.

... is anybody else confused as to what Rod Higgins actually DID as the Warriors GM...?

32 wrote:Hire Sprewell. He's got to feed his kids.

... is anybody else confused as to what Rod Higgins actually DID as the Warriors GM...?

I am. You hear guys saying thanks to Mullin, thanks to Nelson, thanks to Higgins. So you wonder, he must've done something. But did he do anything important or significant while GM?

xbaywarrior wrote:

32 wrote:Hire Sprewell. He's got to feed his kids.

... is anybody else confused as to what Rod Higgins actually DID as the Warriors GM...?

I am. You hear guys saying thanks to Mullin, thanks to Nelson, thanks to Higgins. So you wonder, he must've done something. But did he do anything important or significant while GM?

That's my question.

Mullin built the team, Nelson coached them... but what exactly did Higgins do?

i believe higgins hit the phones alot and did alot of scouting and player evaluation stuff. its just mullin did it too. they were partners, just mullin had the final say and the vp label.

ChronicallyInclined wrote:i believe higgins hit the phones alot and did alot of scouting and player evaluation stuff. its just mullin did it too. they were partners, just mullin had the final say and the vp label.

Then I wonder which players were from Higgins and which players were from Mullin...

32 wrote:

ChronicallyInclined wrote:i believe higgins hit the phones alot and did alot of scouting and player evaluation stuff. its just mullin did it too. they were partners, just mullin had the final say and the vp label.

Then I wonder which players were from Higgins and which players were from Mullin...

Lets hope Foyle, and dung-murphy were Higgins and Monta, and AB were Mullin.

I know, for sure, the following players were aquired solely by the work of Chris Mullin:

Andris Biedrins
Mickael Pietrus
Baron Davis
Stephen Jackson
Al Harrington
Ike Diogu

As I said earlier, I have no idea who Higgins was in on. He might have instigated the taking of Monta Ellis in the draft last year... or be the guy who discovered Matt Barnes in the free agent market. But, then again, he's probably not. Either way, Mully's made more than enough good choices to cover himself.

I'm pretty sure Mullin is to blame for any move this team has made during his tenure, both the good and the bad. No matter how you look at it, Higgins was a subordinate. Mullin had the last word for every move, and thus all the responsibility.

TMC wrote:I'm pretty sure Mullin is to blame for any move this team has made during his tenure, both the good and the bad. No matter how you look at it, Higgins was a subordinate. Mullin had the last word for every move, and thus all the responsibility.

Sure. Every move, at some point, went through Chris Mullin. Our questioning is simply how many moves went through him and how many moves were spawned by him.

Whatever the amount, I'm sure we can all agree that he probably had a helluva lot more good ideas than Rod Higgins, so there's nothing for Warriors fans to worry about. If Higgy were really that important, the Warriors wouldn't have let him walk.

Ala Ellie

Exactly, excellent point, broe!

Mullin has made an excellent recovery from the Foyle/Dunleavy fumbles with some solid picks and especially some brilliant robberies - er, I mean trades. I do think it was Nelson who forced his hand to trade the dungmurphy, but Mullin is very teachable.