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Interesting question of whether the Warriors were better off after trading Richmond for Owens.

Owens rookie season in 1992 they won more than any time with runTMC. They had Marcilionis at SG and were need of size. They drafted Sprewell in 1993 who was about as good as Richmond by 1994.

Many injuries in 1993 and 1994 otherwise they could have made playoffs in 1993 and maybe beaten Phoenix in 1994.


Owens never panned out like expected, big expectations on him, but he was pretty good, particularly rebounding which Warriors needed at that time.

What is your view?

Definitely not.

I remember reading at the time that Mitch Richmond was Michael Jordan's favorite player to watch. You decide whether that trade made any effing sense.

Owens was one of the softest dudes the league has ever seen.

Kid had no heart. He was extremely talented, but no love for the game.

Billy "baby fat" owens....please!

Billy Owens in theory would have been the perfect Don Nelson weapon. Rule #1 in the NBA though is never rely on a player from Syracuse.

Can't fault Nellie for wanting to get better, and bigger, but the Mitch Richmond trade was the first move in a riches to rags disastrous turn for the Warriors: From a potent/dynamic Run TMC team, to landing a HOF-type big in Chris Webber who didn't want to play center (how awesome would he have been in the Draymond Green Death Lineup center role?), to trading Chris Webber's buddy Billy Owens to get bigger with Rony Seikaly, to C-Webb cutting out and leaving the Warriors in the lurch.

It should be noted that at the time, there was no rookie scale - rookies signed to whatever deals they could command. And due to cap constraints the Warriors could not sign a rookie Webber to a long-term, big dollar deal. So the Warriors took a creative turn and signed Webber to a one-year deal, expecting to resign and extend him to a massive, long-term deal the summer after his rookie year (since resigning your own players didn't have the same restrictions as signing a rookie). It's that historic quirk in the CBA that gave Chris Webber the leverage to force his way out of Golden State... and started a long demise for the Warriors.

Looked good on paper. Pretty bad to piss off your captains of the team.

I was like... what?

I thought Nelly would have picked Mutombo with the trade... classic Warriors, crappy centers on roster you think he was the reason to trade Mitch.

marthafokker wrote:I was like... what?

I thought Nelly would have picked Mutombo with the trade... classic Warriors, crappy centers on roster you think he was the reason to trade Mitch.

First I was gonna say how you gonna call the great Victor (Big Softie) Alexander crappy but then I checked and he apparently arrived the year after.

This is a rough collection of centers:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/GSW/1991.html

marthafokker wrote:I was like... what?

I thought Nelly would have picked Mutombo with the trade... classic Warriors, crappy centers on roster you think he was the reason to trade Mitch.

Not sure whether Denver would've made that trade but that would've been the better choice. Owens did have heaps of talent but as said, had little heart.


I do think that it wasn't as bad a move as it seemed. The team did win more the following season and injuries is what derailed them in 1993 and 94. Still, they should have aimed for a proven nba player big

No.

The Warriors early to mid 90's dysfunction would make for a hilarious Netflix documentary.

And fans complain about this ownership group!

That trade was the first of several bad moves.

whatisacenter wrote:And fans complain about this ownership group!

That trade was the first of several bad moves.

If the roster was $6M cheaper, Lacob would not only save ~$12M in estimated luxury tax payments but would stand to receive 25-40M in tax payments from the likes of Boston, et al.

The fact that he didn't trade Buddy at the deadline for a sandwich, an idea that most of the fans would have supported considering the hate he's received everywhere but this message board, just to see a swing of ~$50M in operational income, is a real testament for how much he wants to win.

Coxy wrote:The Warriors early to mid 90's dysfunction would make for a hilarious Netflix documentary.

I’m amphibious!

marthafokker wrote:I was like... what?

I thought Nelly would have picked Mutombo with the trade... classic Warriors, crappy centers on roster you think he was the reason to trade Mitch.

I guess the actual trade happened after the draft, but you'd think the same deal was an option before/during the draft with Mutombo making more sense than Owens. I wonder how that would have played out. Might have made Webber work longer as there would have been a clear center next to him (though withvery limited offense Mutombo isn't the best fit there).

Overall with Saruns and later Spree the team was able to get other talent at SG so losing Mitch didn't hurt as much as it could have but Owens never really helped that much. Mutombo would have been more interesting.