JulesWinnfield wrote:They went 3-2 against the Magic-less Lakers in 92 and that explains an 11 win improvement? it makes less than zero sense.
It's an overall weaker and division conference when the team that made the NBA Finals the previous season loses its best player just before the start of the season. And the 1991 Warriors team at least won a playoff series; I'll take that over a few more regular-season wins and not winning a playoff series like the 1992 Warriors team did.
Once again, how did the 1992 Warriors "get better" with Billy Owens vs. Mitch Richmond? I can say that Sarunas Marciulionis had a more expanded role because Richmond was gone, but overall that trade of Owens for Richmond didn't make the team better short-term or long-term. If anything, the Warriors got worse collectively to the point where they dismantled the team twice (by your admission) and went more than a decade between playoff appearances (1995-2006).
And once again, it doesn't change the fact the team the Warriors lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1992, missed the playoffs 12 out of the next 13 years and never got back to the second round of the playoffs until the 2007 team.
JulesWinnfield wrote:He didnt do any winning in sacramento and his eventual trade out of that destination there helped kickstart the best run theyve had in Sacramento without dispute.
Can you name the second-best player on those Kings teams during Richmond's time there (Olden Polynice? Wayman Tisdale? Spud Webb? Walt Williams?)? Those Kings teams outside of Richmond were mainly a group of castoff veterans and spare parts who were not NBA-caliber starters (the bulk of Webb's and Tisdale's NBA career starts came in Sacramento).
No one ever considered Richmond a franchise-altering player, just a good No. 2 player stuck with a bad franchise. Richmond was more like a better DeMar DeRozan-level player, so imagine DeRozan in his San Antonio days (but slightly better) yet playing with much worse talent. It would have taken a Michael Jordan-level player to get those Kings teams consistently in the playoffs, especially given the competition in the West at that time (Utah, San Antonio, Phoenix, Seattle, Houston, early Shaq-era Lakers).
As for Sacramento getting better after trading Richmond for Chris Webber, you omitted the part that Jason Williams (rookie), Peja Stojakovic (rookie) and Vlade Divac (free agent) also arrived in Sacramento the same time Webber got there. The Kings got better immediately because the Webber teams had much better talent around Webber than what the Richmond teams had around Richmond, not just by swapping out Richmond for Webber.
You're playing a little fast and loose with the details for my tastes. On that note, I'm ending this conversation.