http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawaka...did-rowell-nix-mullins-2007-deal-for-garnett/
10:41 a.m. update: More KG discussion, thoughts on Lakes-Hous Game 7, maybe a little more, on the Twitter Dimension.
I saved this for the weekend because, well, there was so much current Warriors territory to cover and because I am so uniquely associated with the belief that Chris Mullin targeted Kevin Garnett years ago and ALMOST got him on draft night 2007.
Yeah, you remember that stuff, don’t you? You’ve probably mocked me for it, and I understand the mockery. Nobody else was reporting it. Just me. Repeatedly. Just me.
Some people still want to burn “KG/Warriors/You’re An Idiot” onto my forehead and those are some of my friends.
But now that Chris Mullin has been officially shoved out of the Warriors’ front office, I guess some new things can trickle out… Some familiar things.
Long ago, I reported that Mullin was chasing Garnett and Garnett was intrigued by the Warriors’ pursuit for at least a year before KG was eventually traded to Boston. Garnett was Mullin’s holy grail, and he was an appropriate one. I kept reporting it.
Then I reported that many in the Warriors’ front-office, for a few minutes, thought they’d acquired KG on Draft Night 2007–a multi-layered deal that was supposed to start with the Warriors dealing Jason Richardson to Charlotte and end up with a slew of Warriors (Monta Ellis, maybe Biedrins, a few others) heading to Minnesota.
Then it fell apart in various murky ways (trade kicker? communication problems? my bad imagination?), and eventually Garnett was traded to Boston. Who went on to win the 2008 NBA title.
That’s the summary. I left it mostly alone after that… though I kept hearing things about that wild night when the Warriors thought they could get KG. Many kept yelling at me.
Can’t leave it alone now… since Matt Steinmetz last week reported that the potential genesis of the Mullin-Robert Rowell rift came Draft Night 2007, when Mullin came close to getting KG but failed because Rowell vetoed it because the deal would’ve put the Warriors into the luxury tax.
Well now.
I saw the piece. I exhaled. I smiled. I admit I thought: Well, NOW Matt writes it, after all the KG abuse I’ve taken… But I also must thank Steinmetz, because his story allows me to go back over this one more time.
A few things I can piece together, thanks to Matt’s reporting:
* As I’ve always said, something strange happened in the Warriors’ draft room that night–Richardson-to-Charlotte for the rights to Brandan Wright and a $9.9M trade exception was NOT the totality of Mullin’s move.
It just ended that way because Mullin got cut off. (The non-use of the $9.9M exception a year later is just bonus Rowell stubbornness/financial squeamishness.)
I’ve always suspected it was a combniation of Rowell, the agent, KG and the fact that Minnesota wanted to get him out of the West… and never reported anything clear, because I only heard a few things that sort of suggested a cause, but nothing definitive.
Garnett himself has said the Warriors were an option–particularly for his agent, Andy Miller, and for the Timberwolves (who were getting a better deal from the GSWs–Monta Ellis, Harrington, maybe Biedrins, Wright, etc.)–but KG wanted to wait.
Particularly if Boston was interested. And the Celtics were interested.
* KG had a trade-kicker, which means his salary could’ve gone up (and did go up) several million dollars instantly upon a trade.
But trade-kickers are negotiable. I’ve heard that there was definitely discussion between KG’s camp and the Warriors about the parameters of his salary. I’ve heard that it got down to Rowell having to approve a number.
I never heard what Rowell did or didn’t do at that point, though Mullin at one point joked that there was a lot to tell about the whole story that he’d tell me later.
I left it mostly alone.
Now Steinmetz says Rowell vetoed the deal over salary issues. Makes sense to me. That’d explain why Mullin was so antsy that night–he thought he had KG, he thought he was running the basketball ops, but right as he got his holy grail, to team with Baron Davis for a monster 2008, Rowell interceded.
It could’ve been over the trade-kicker negotiations. It could’ve been KG being upset that a new team would demand he negotiate any part of his contract.
It absolutely could’ve involved the trade exception–would Rowell take back a bad T-Wolve contract (I always suggested Marko Jaric at the time) in order to convince Minnesota to move KG? That would’ve put the Warriors over the luxury-tax line… but it would’ve also given them a few years of KG and Baron.
Yikes. Rowell vs. Mullin, over KG.
Yes, I can see how that would change the relationship. I can see how Mullin would feel like the rug was pulled out from under him, at exactly the moment he thought he culminated his quest.
I can see how Rowell wouldn’t like Mullin’s attitude, and would simmer about it for years and plan Mullin’s beheading and would be sure he was smarter than Mullin and always had been.
I happen to believe the relationship was changing even before the 2007 draft and the KG stuff. There was a lot of tension over Don Nelson’s summer holdout and Mullin’s moves to be an intermediary, which Rowell considered an intrusion.
I don’t think the Warriors necessarily had KG locked up–there was still the matter of Garnett not being sure he wanted to be here and the matter of Mullin being worried that he might not have enough talent around KG if he traded half his roster and the matter of the T-Wolves wanting KG out of the West.
But if it was possible, however quickly the Warriors had to act that night, and Rowell in any way made it tougher… Yes, you can see how that would be a flashpoint.
That, plus the Nelson manueverings, plus the Baron Davis contract veto by Rowell, plus the Ellis controversy… it does add up.
The KG thing is a big one, and I hate to say, a real one.
This fucking bastard piece of shit..matt steinmetz reported on this last week as well, but this just makes me sick to my stomach to read..rowell absolutely has to go..
and on a side note, be sure to listen to fitz and brooks on monday around 12:30-1:00..after reading this article, I'm going to be calling in and letting shit be known..
10:41 a.m. update: More KG discussion, thoughts on Lakes-Hous Game 7, maybe a little more, on the Twitter Dimension.
I saved this for the weekend because, well, there was so much current Warriors territory to cover and because I am so uniquely associated with the belief that Chris Mullin targeted Kevin Garnett years ago and ALMOST got him on draft night 2007.
Yeah, you remember that stuff, don’t you? You’ve probably mocked me for it, and I understand the mockery. Nobody else was reporting it. Just me. Repeatedly. Just me.
Some people still want to burn “KG/Warriors/You’re An Idiot” onto my forehead and those are some of my friends.
But now that Chris Mullin has been officially shoved out of the Warriors’ front office, I guess some new things can trickle out… Some familiar things.
Long ago, I reported that Mullin was chasing Garnett and Garnett was intrigued by the Warriors’ pursuit for at least a year before KG was eventually traded to Boston. Garnett was Mullin’s holy grail, and he was an appropriate one. I kept reporting it.
Then I reported that many in the Warriors’ front-office, for a few minutes, thought they’d acquired KG on Draft Night 2007–a multi-layered deal that was supposed to start with the Warriors dealing Jason Richardson to Charlotte and end up with a slew of Warriors (Monta Ellis, maybe Biedrins, a few others) heading to Minnesota.
Then it fell apart in various murky ways (trade kicker? communication problems? my bad imagination?), and eventually Garnett was traded to Boston. Who went on to win the 2008 NBA title.
That’s the summary. I left it mostly alone after that… though I kept hearing things about that wild night when the Warriors thought they could get KG. Many kept yelling at me.
Can’t leave it alone now… since Matt Steinmetz last week reported that the potential genesis of the Mullin-Robert Rowell rift came Draft Night 2007, when Mullin came close to getting KG but failed because Rowell vetoed it because the deal would’ve put the Warriors into the luxury tax.
Well now.
I saw the piece. I exhaled. I smiled. I admit I thought: Well, NOW Matt writes it, after all the KG abuse I’ve taken… But I also must thank Steinmetz, because his story allows me to go back over this one more time.
A few things I can piece together, thanks to Matt’s reporting:
* As I’ve always said, something strange happened in the Warriors’ draft room that night–Richardson-to-Charlotte for the rights to Brandan Wright and a $9.9M trade exception was NOT the totality of Mullin’s move.
It just ended that way because Mullin got cut off. (The non-use of the $9.9M exception a year later is just bonus Rowell stubbornness/financial squeamishness.)
I’ve always suspected it was a combniation of Rowell, the agent, KG and the fact that Minnesota wanted to get him out of the West… and never reported anything clear, because I only heard a few things that sort of suggested a cause, but nothing definitive.
Garnett himself has said the Warriors were an option–particularly for his agent, Andy Miller, and for the Timberwolves (who were getting a better deal from the GSWs–Monta Ellis, Harrington, maybe Biedrins, Wright, etc.)–but KG wanted to wait.
Particularly if Boston was interested. And the Celtics were interested.
* KG had a trade-kicker, which means his salary could’ve gone up (and did go up) several million dollars instantly upon a trade.
But trade-kickers are negotiable. I’ve heard that there was definitely discussion between KG’s camp and the Warriors about the parameters of his salary. I’ve heard that it got down to Rowell having to approve a number.
I never heard what Rowell did or didn’t do at that point, though Mullin at one point joked that there was a lot to tell about the whole story that he’d tell me later.
I left it mostly alone.
Now Steinmetz says Rowell vetoed the deal over salary issues. Makes sense to me. That’d explain why Mullin was so antsy that night–he thought he had KG, he thought he was running the basketball ops, but right as he got his holy grail, to team with Baron Davis for a monster 2008, Rowell interceded.
It could’ve been over the trade-kicker negotiations. It could’ve been KG being upset that a new team would demand he negotiate any part of his contract.
It absolutely could’ve involved the trade exception–would Rowell take back a bad T-Wolve contract (I always suggested Marko Jaric at the time) in order to convince Minnesota to move KG? That would’ve put the Warriors over the luxury-tax line… but it would’ve also given them a few years of KG and Baron.
Yikes. Rowell vs. Mullin, over KG.
Yes, I can see how that would change the relationship. I can see how Mullin would feel like the rug was pulled out from under him, at exactly the moment he thought he culminated his quest.
I can see how Rowell wouldn’t like Mullin’s attitude, and would simmer about it for years and plan Mullin’s beheading and would be sure he was smarter than Mullin and always had been.
I happen to believe the relationship was changing even before the 2007 draft and the KG stuff. There was a lot of tension over Don Nelson’s summer holdout and Mullin’s moves to be an intermediary, which Rowell considered an intrusion.
I don’t think the Warriors necessarily had KG locked up–there was still the matter of Garnett not being sure he wanted to be here and the matter of Mullin being worried that he might not have enough talent around KG if he traded half his roster and the matter of the T-Wolves wanting KG out of the West.
But if it was possible, however quickly the Warriors had to act that night, and Rowell in any way made it tougher… Yes, you can see how that would be a flashpoint.
That, plus the Nelson manueverings, plus the Baron Davis contract veto by Rowell, plus the Ellis controversy… it does add up.
The KG thing is a big one, and I hate to say, a real one.
This fucking bastard piece of shit..matt steinmetz reported on this last week as well, but this just makes me sick to my stomach to read..rowell absolutely has to go..
and on a side note, be sure to listen to fitz and brooks on monday around 12:30-1:00..after reading this article, I'm going to be calling in and letting shit be known..
