[閒聊] Communication Killed KG To GSW Trade On Draft Night?
http://0rz.tw/262Ug
Burning question: Did Warriors-Garnett deal fall apart due to communication
problems?
By Tim Kawakami
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 7:17 am in Warriors, NBA.
I don’t usually pass along unconfirmed NBA speculation, but this one comes
from very high level sources–sources with big jobs on big NBA franchises who
deal with every other team all of the time.
Not other writers. Not agents. These are a few of the actual movers and
shakers–people who make trades–who, separately, have brought up this tale
to me.
None of them were actually in the Warriors, Bobcats or Timberwolves’ war
rooms on draft night, but they speak authoritatively about what they’ve
heard happened in those rooms.
These are sources who say they know what happened on June 28, when most smart
NBA execs believe the Warriors had a deal in place to land KG in a three-team
extravaganza involving Jason Richardson… then it didn’t happen.
The gist, and again, I caution that this is speculation, rumor, gossip, but
good gossip:
While the Warriors’ Chris Mullin and T-Wolves’ Kevin McHale scrambled to
get this complicated deal done in the moments/minutes before Charlotte picked
eighth, Charlotte never heard directly from either team who the pick should
be, thus messing up everything, or so the tale goes.
Actually, there are apparently many fascinating branches of the
Almost-Mega-Trade legend, and over the last few weeks I’ve heard enough
about them to be convinced that I should try my hand at blending the tales
into something that sort of makes sense.
You know, synthesize the similar anecdotes in the stories (that seem very
logical), toss out the wilder pieces (that don’t), and try to stitch
together an accepted, acceptable story.
Here are the bones of the tale, and some footnotes and analysis:
* The Warriors, Timberwolves and Bobcats had a tenative deal (or deals) in
place–some sources lean hard on the tenative part–at some point during the
early part of the first round that would’ve:
-Sent Garnett and Troy Hudson to the Warriors;
-Sent Richardson to Charlotte;
-Sent a whole bunch of stuff to Minnesota, including Al Harrington
(probably), Monta Ellis (probably), future picks, and the rights to Al
Thornton (selected with Charlotte’s No. 8 overall pick);
-Added in a bunch of other salary-cap fillers here and there to make sure the
money worked.
——OK, I’m not so sure about Thornton. But one branch of the legend is
particularly emphatic on that part: Minnesota wanted to team Thornton with
Corey Brewer for a new front line.
I don’t get that part, because I think Thornton and Brewer are both small
forwards and neither replaces Garnett. I think Brandan Wright fits Minnesota’
s post-KG void much better, but oh well. I’m not part of this legend. I’m
just documenting it.
You also have to understand how tricky these deals are. Mullin, Michael
Jordan and McHale could’ve been bobbing and weaving with each other all
draft night, so maybe nobody is really sure who was truly offering what–
everything was a pump fake and a no-look offer.
That’s a big caveat. Maybe it’s all misty and my sources are just using
their instincts to fill in the blanks, possibly slightly incorrectly,
possibly not.
* The word-of-mouth coalesces on this part: Charlotte wasn’t sure what to do
when it got down to picking time for the No. 8 selection…
Maybe the Warriors and T-Wolves were right at the deadline and weren’t sure
if they could pull the trigger before Charlotte had to pick.
Maybe McHale thought Mullin would tell Charlotte what to do, maybe Mullin
thought McHale would talk to Charlotte. (The McHale/Mullin thing is a big
part of one side of the legend.)
One weird side of the legend stipulates that there were phone problems in
either the Charlotte or Warriors draft room. That the Warriors wanted
Charlotte to take Minnesota’s guy (Thornton or Noah or somebody else), but…
The two sides couldn’t talk to each other at the pivotal moment, when
Charlotte had to take somebody… so Charlotte took Wright, and immediately
the KG-to-GSW deal was done for the time being.
That’s a really weird side, but the weird stuff makes the legends even more
legendary, no?
* Heading into the start of the draft, Charlotte had a pre-existing agreement
with Mullin to select Brandan Wright (or Yi Jianlian, Mike Conley Jr., Corey
Brewer, Jeff Green or any of the Obvious Top Three Guys) then trade his
rights for Richardson. That’s the absolute confirmed truth.
I’m told publicly and privately that the Warriors figured they were getting
Wright and indeed, did want Wright–though they would’ve taken Brewer, Yi or
Green and been very happy, too, if any of those three had fallen to eight. As
it was, it was Wright who fell to eight.
It’s very possible that Mullin had the initial Wright deal with Charlotte
set up strictly as a place-holder for a Minnesota/Garnett addition at the
last second.
That’d be smart–don’t pull the trigger with McHale until he’s at his
greatest moment of pressure, and that’d be right when Charlotte is about to
select and McHale had better decide if he wants the deal and who Charlotte
should take if he’s making that deal.
And if Minnesota doesn’t do it after all, Mullin still peddles Richardson to
Charlotte for the rights to Wright plus a $10M trade exception and know that
he still had a chance to get back to a Garnett deal at a later date.
* A lot of this makes sense to me because:
1) I don’t believe Mullin wanted to move Richardson–his favorite Warrior–
unless it would lead directly to KG, flat-out, immediately.
If Richardson had been traded in a simultaneous KG deal, Mullin would never
have had to explain himself and his recent declarations that he’d never
trade J-Rich.
Hey, it was for KG, no explanations necessary! But J-Rich for Wright and a
$10M exception? Sure, smart people know it was a great deal for the Warriors’
future…
Still, it was Mullin trading a guy who had been loyal and had stood with him,
after promising he wouldn’t trade J-Rich, and it temporarily/possibly made
the Warriors worse for now, not better.
2) On draft night, Richardson believed he was being moved for KG outright. I
don’t know if he was told that straight-up by Mullin, but that’s what
Richardson believed.
(In fact, one reason I hit the KG button so hard on draft night was that I’d
been led to understand that the only way Mullin traded Richardson would be if
he had Garnett right in his sights. If it’s Richardson, it’s for KG, I’d
been told. And only KG.)
3) Mullin and Nelson aren’t about the future–they’re about NOW. They’re
about getting a power forward who can guard Carlos Boozer and Tim Duncan in
April and May… not in 2009.
They’re also about cleaning out the salary-cap mess, but that’s only a
sidelight to their bigger plans about bigger, more veteran players. Like
Garnett.
4) The Warriors never held a private workout with Wright, which is strange
(for a guy Mullin traded his favorite player to acquire). They explained that
they had No. 18, and the top guys wouldn’t want to work out with a team
picking 18.
But when Phoenix was trying to move into Charlotte’s spot, they got several
top players to work out for them on a moment’s notice.
So… I’m not sure I buy the Warriors’ explanation for not working out
Wright. (Last year, Mullin made an 11th-hour flight to New York I believe to
check out Patrick O’Bryant before using the 10th 9th pick on him, and he didn
’t trade J-Rich to acquire that pick. Just a for instance.)
I might lean towards the legend that says the Warriors were never that deeply
interested in Wright, except as possible trade bait.
Might lean to that.
* The mythos says that Charlotte knew the Warriors originally told them to
take Wright, and that Charlotte never got word that the deal was being
officially altered because of the Garnett addition, so Charlotte… took
Wright.
Which, supposedly, killed the Minnesota part of the deal because, supposedly,
Minnesota wanted Thornton, period.
Hey, if most of this is true, and Charlotte was never explicitly told to
draft Thornton, then the Bobcats had to take Wright–in order to make the
Richardson deal, if that’s what they wanted.
One side of the legend says that, realizing the error, Mullin immediately
started trying to trade to get a pick that would land Thornton, up until the
point that Thornton was selected by the Clippers at No. 14, though that part
doesn’t seem right to me.
Again, not my legend.
Again, I don’t buy all of this.
It’s possible that NONE of this is true, that the Warriors and Timberwolves
never inched super-close to a KG deal and that Charlotte always knew it
should take Wright and that the Warriors are blissfully happy it turned out
like this.
And all of that? I buy it less readily than I buy the legend. So take it for
what it’s worth, possibly zero, possibly a lot, and in the end, it’s just a
legend.
It’s being passed around the top levels of the NBA, though.
Doesn’t mean the Warriors will end up frozen out of the KG sweepstakes. It
doesn’t mean they’ll automatically get him if and when McHale decides
finally to do this.
It’s just a story, told by smart people, and I’m listening. I always listen.
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