Warriors' Mullin sees no reason to push panic button

By Tim Kawakami, Mercury News

Down below Chris Mullin's suite, the Warriors led the Chicago Bulls, the crowd cheered the first home victory of the season and the night seemed free and easy.


Down below, a few hours of relief and celebration washed through the Oakland Coliseum Arena as the Warriors inched their record to 2-7 after three weeks of almost constant dismay.



But during an interview in the suite Wednesday night, Mullin watched the game sporadically, spoke fiercely and conceded that he felt the weight of the franchise on his shoulders.


Learning how to live through the stress of watching your team bloom or bust, Mullin said, might be as difficult a process as building it.


"Everybody told me I wouldn't be able to watch the games, that I'd be too nervous," Mullin said. "Jerry West told me that in Memphis -- he can't watch the games.


"I said, `No way, I'm not like that.' You know what? Preseason, nothing. All summer, making moves, nothing. Then, wham, the season starts . . .


"Turns out I am like that."


The 0-6 start in his first season in charge of Warriors personnel decisions, of course, did nothing to help his nerves.


Nor did the passive defense, errant shooting and sloppy execution of new coach Mike Montgomery's patterned offense.


"Is there an amendment that comes after the Fourth and before the Sixth?" Montgomery joked when asked Wednesday if the team was running anything close to what he wanted. "Oh, the Fifth? I'll take that one."


Of particular consequence for Mullin's reputation has been the uninspiring play from his $168 million trio: Jason Richardson (who has made only 39.4 percent of his shots), Troy Murphy (36.6 percent) and Adonal Foyle (who has apparently lost his starting spot).


But Mullin has not displayed bitterness, publicly or privately, in response to the bruising blast of negativity he received (including from me) for the deals.


"I think it is right," Mullin said of the criticism. "A lot of it is right. For now, that's what it is. But I'm willing to stand behind these guys.


"It's all got to happen down there. Having been down there, I know it feels really good when you work your way out of something like this.


"And I know the way you do that is not by panicking, not by blaming, by taking responsibility. I take responsibility for what's going on. So that's on me. I'll tell you this: I feel good about Jason and Troy. I really do."


During the team's recent 1-4 trip, Mullin said he felt constricted in the stands in San Antonio, had to retreat to the locker room in Dallas and rode a stationary bike in the gym without watching a second of the finale in Cleveland.


He stayed in his suite to watch the game Wednesday -- at least for part of it -- but who knows how much pacing and teeth-gnashing went on.


"Chris is nervous," Montgomery said. "I feel for him. He's never gone through something like this from that position. I've told him he's going to be like Billy Beane and be riding the bike through the game."


Said Mullin: "It's not comfortable. You don't like it. You want to change it now. Yesterday!"


He said he is more than pleased with Montgomery and said he sees signs of life through the staggering. But Mullin didn't deny that he's always looking for potential talent upgrades.


"I don't like the energy and defensive effort," Mullin said. "That's got to change. I think we've got to play with more passion, get the ball up and down the court more, get easy baskets.


"We anticipated that there were going to be areas we were going to struggle in. But to the extreme that we have? I don't think so."


He did not address the topic, but any major Warriors course-change would have to include a discussion about trading Mike Dunleavy (a longtime Mullin favorite), Mickael Pietrus (who might make his season debut off the injured list Saturday), rookie Andris Biedrins, Foyle or future No. 1 picks.


Mullin would not comment about possible trade scenarios for any of the big names supposedly available -- Baron Davis, Vince Carter, even Bulls center Eddy Curry, whose disastrous 17-minute, seven-turnover game Wednesday had Mullin shaking his head.


"To overreact to some of the things that have happened, that's not going to happen," Mullin said. "I think that would be as unacceptable as the start itself."


Have a question for Tim Kawakami? Go to www.mercurynews.com/sports or e-mail tkawakami@ mercurynews.com. His phone is (408) 920-5442.