RealGM

Donnie Walsh still hasn't had a substantive conversation with James Dolan about his future with the Knicks, according to MSG sources.

A return to the Indiana front office remains a possibility for Walsh, though owner Herb Simon will let Larry Bird make his own decision. Simon still adores Walsh and he would have more autonomy than he currently is given with the Knicks.

If Bird exits the Pacers to setup a Walsh return, several sources believe Chris Mullin would be hired as general manager.

Mullin was Golden State's top decision-maker for several seasons.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/212452/Sources_Mullin_Could_Join_Walsh_With_Pacers_As_GM


NOOOOOO, anybody but Mullin. I'd rather have David Khan.

Oh dear God.....

I like Bird a lot. I don't like Mullin a lot. I don't know about Walsh anymore. The decisions he made as Knicks GM aren't sound.

Miller4ever wrote:I like Bird a lot. I don't like Mullin a lot. I don't know about Walsh anymore. The decisions he made as Knicks GM aren't sound.

Almost every decision made by Walsh was for the betterment of this organization whether we agreed with them or not. The hiring of MDA could be the most questioned, but it gave the organization a face and an identity to build upon.

The Melo trade was NOT Walsh...that was all James Dolan. 99% of the Knicks fan base worship the ground Donnie wheels in on. He's been a class act and a stand up guy, and he's been treated terribly by the owner who has undermined his authority time after time.

The Knicks organization doesn't deserve a Donnie Walsh as long as its continually ran into the ground by its owner.

Oh crap. Don't tell me that all of Bird's work is going to be undone by hiring Mullin. What happened to all those Kevin Pritchard rumors?

And I say we keep Bird. That column that had us with the 7th best outlook going forward hit it perfectly on the head - we'll have the second-most cap space in the league this coming summer and who will we be losing with expiring contracts? T.J. Ford, Solomon Jones, Mike Dunleavy, Jamaal Tinsley (officially financially), Jeff Foster, and McBob - most of whom are either old, injured, or have fallen out of the rotation. The only ones worth maybe re-signing would be McBob and Foster (at a much cheaper rate.) We have all this cap space to play with and won't be losing a single current core player (Roy, Darren, Danny, Tyler, Paul.) That's pretty darn impressive, especially considering none of those guys are older than 28.

That's some good work that I would hate to see suddenly be undone.

swisscheeseD wrote:

Miller4ever wrote:I like Bird a lot. I don't like Mullin a lot. I don't know about Walsh anymore. The decisions he made as Knicks GM aren't sound.

Almost every decision made by Walsh was for the betterment of this organization whether we agreed with them or not. The hiring of MDA could be the most questioned, but it gave the organization a face and an identity to build upon.

The Melo trade was NOT Walsh...that was all James Dolan. 99% of the Knicks fan base worship the ground Donnie wheels in on. He's been a class act and a stand up guy, and he's been treated terribly by the owner who has undermined his authority time after time.

The Knicks organization doesn't deserve a Donnie Walsh as long as its continually ran into the ground by its owner.

I loved Walsh when he was here, and I was confused by some of the things he did for NY, but I think he's great.

Simon put the ball in Larry's court, it's his decision.

The rest is speculation.

I'm available.

chube wrote:Oh crap. Don't tell me that all of Bird's work is going to be undone by hiring Mullin.
What happened to all those Kevin Pritchard rumors?

Let's just start Pritchard rumors and act like we didn't hear this...

I really don't like the idea of either. I want new guys. Pritchard is money.

Didn't Chris give Murphy and Dunleavy those huge 7 yr contracts? If so keep his influence away from our capspace.

I am with Walsh/Pritchard/Brown ( pres/gm/coach) with Bird consulting from Florida.

If u guys sign Mullen might as well shut down the franchise, he will run your franchise down to the ground.

He gave MURPHY, DUMBLEAVY, Jrich, ADONAL FREAKING FOYLE,Fisher forsure and MAggete(i think) those ugly contracts. UGLY UGLY contracts.

He was responsible for most of the top 10 worst contracts in the NBA. Boycott the team if he is given power to sign people.

Please god nooo...

I hope Bird is staying. I like the parcours of this team since Walsh has left the building.
There weren't any major screw ups. Even the hiring of our previous coach had some well thought out reasoning behind it: to increase our odds for a top three pick and to put Hibbert in to the worst possible offensive system for him and make him work so hard for it to catch up with the fast pace, it will pay off in the second half of his career.

Walsh himself is getting too old for this job.

Boneman2 wrote:Didn't Chris give Murphy and Dunleavy those huge 7 yr contracts? If so keep his influence away from our capspace.

He did. As a young GM, he made some mistakes in giving up some big money long-term deals. However, he quickly learned, and was able to swap/dump those "huge 7 yr contracts" on Indy, while getting shorter contracts for better players in Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington. Hell, he helped get them back to the playoffs and helped them make some waves in the playoffs.


The thing I like about Mullin is that he has some experience, and that he made mistakes, and seemed to learn greatly from them.

Pritchard, to me, is a guy that throws some things out the window (like major health red flags) for pure talent and potential. While that sounds great, I'd like a guy who can look past the clamoring fan bases and recognize that Kevin Durant is a sure thing, while Greg Oden had major health red flags.

Scoot McGroot wrote:

Boneman2 wrote:Didn't Chris give Murphy and Dunleavy those huge 7 yr contracts? If so keep his influence away from our capspace.

He did. As a young GM, he made some mistakes in giving up some big money long-term deals. However, he quickly learned, and was able to swap/dump those "huge 7 yr contracts" on Indy, while getting shorter contracts for better players in Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington. Hell, he helped get them back to the playoffs and helped them make some waves in the playoffs.

I'm not exactly in the know, but aren't contracts always inflated in places like California as it's much more expensive just to be there (not sure of the tax situations sorry)? Would it be fair to say that a contract earned in Indiana would usually net someone more than a similar deal in LA or GS?

Not trying to make up excuses for Mullin, but if the cost for living/taxes/luxuries is higher elsewhere, then perhaps there is a reasoning for such inflated deals maybe?

Yes, but the difference is about 2% from California to Indiana. Florida is like the 4th cheapest place to be in terms of income tax.

It's still not an excuse, really. Per year he overpaid them by about 30% and he gave them too many years. I would chalk it up to inexperience.

I would steer very clear of Chris Mullin. I do not care for the job Bird has done either but would trust Bird more than Mullin.

The COL is higher in California. In my experience, it is not as bad as made out to be though. Real estate or housing is far more expensive. Gas is pricier. That was it in my experience. I have a Bachelors in Business Management so this does not make sense to me but everything else seemed to be the same or even cheaper in CA in comparison to IN. Considering the higher real estate and gas rates, I would think that would trickle down into everything else and its respective rights. Maybe my experience is not the typical.

As far as contracts in relation to the California COL, I would not think that the COL would be taken into much consideration. When a player is making say 12 million a year, the COL is not relevant in a sense because the player is being paid enough to live well anywhere. That would be my educated guess.

Yeah, to a star player, they don't split hairs as often when it comes to taxes and cost of living in different states.