Quirkolet: Ownership Model of the Golden State Warriors Franchise

As I was reading about the Golden State Warriors, as I occasionally do on one of my favorite forums, Warriors World, I came across an interesting article called “A Look and Comparison at the Three Ownership Groups the Warriors have had in the Bay Area,” written by James Venes. In Venes’ article, he discusses the teams winning percentages under each of the Warriors owner’s over the past 50 years. These owners include Franklin Mieuli, Jim Fitzgerald, Dan Finnane, and lastly the catalyst of what I call “Zetopilia,” Chris Cohan. I like to refer to this ownership model as a time of “Quirkolet,” in a sense, the downward spiraling trend of losing that the Warriors have grown accustomed to, in my opinion, under the ownership of Chris Cohan.

These are the 4 graphs in which James Venes Illustrates in his article:

Mieuli: 933-1026 (.476)
Fitzgerald: 325-331 (.495)
Cohan: 430-716 (.375)

Only because I dislike Cohan, I decided to summarize events that have taken place under his tenure and the Warriors owner:

- Chris Webber is drafted, and was a major piece of the Warriors team who contributed to the 50-32 season.

- Webber/Sprewell/Don Nelson have arguments which resulted in Cohan siding with Nelson and Webber was traded to Washington. I believe this event to be the key catalyst for what I call “quirkolet,” the downward spiraling trend of losing that the Warriors have grown accustomed to under the ownership of Chris Cohan.

-The Coaches of the last 13 seasons include: Bob Lanier, Rick Adelman, P.J. Carlisemo, Garry St. Jean, Dave Cowens, Brian Winters, Eric Mussleman, and Mike Montgomery.

- In four out of five seasons between 1997-98 and 2001-02, the Warriors finished with an average record of 19-63.

- The Warriors draft Gilbert Arenas in the second round, however after his second season, the Washington Wizards offered him a huge contract that the Warriors could not match.

- Chris Mullin is named Executive VP of Basketball Operations, succeeding St. Jean.

- Chris Mullin trades Speed Claxton and Dale Davis for Baron Davis, which was probably the single most exciting player that the Warriors have had in the last 13 seasons. This also was probably the first thing that actually went against this quirkolet movement.

- Coach Montgomery fired and Mullin hired Don Nelson for the 2006-07 season.

- Warriors trade Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, and draft pick Ike Diogu in exchange for Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington.

- The "We Believe" theme was created which fueled a buzz amongst Warrior fans,the organization, and the team which helped in upsetting of top-seed Dallas Mavericks.

- In the off season, the Warriors traded Jason Richardson for skinny, Mr. Fantastic arms, very raw talented, Brandan Wright from North Carolina – another factor that contributed to quirkolet.

- Baron Davis opted out of his contract after being promised multiple times that he would be rewarded with a multiyear extension, which again was another key event that contributed to this quirkolet movement. I don’t blame Baron for opting out, but more so the people who couldn’t get him signed on the Warriors’ end.

- Monta Ellis was signed for a $67 million contract, and shortly after, he gets seriously injured himself in a moped accident.

- After failed attempts at trying to sign Elton Brand and Gilbert Arenas, the end result ended up being over paying Corey Maggette, a player who is in the purgatory of being a player who can compete against all-star caliber players, and being a 15 minutes a game role player. I question his heart for winning - but thats another topic for later.

My Conclusion

Under the ownership of Chris Cohan, the Warriors have had a .375 winning percentage. And only for 2 seasons have they had records that were above .500. I find it astonishing that Chris Cohan has been the owner for this long. The chart above speaks for itself. I’d imagine that this can only get worse from this standpoint. With recent news of Anthony Randolf being sat out for a good portion of the season, players like Stephen Jackson and Maggette constantly fighting injuries, as well as Monta Ellis going through rehab, its going to get worse. I believe the catalyst for all this mess, or quirkolet, is Chris Cohan and possibly Robert Rowell. There has been a constant trend of abandoning the leaders of the team such as, Jason Richardson, then Baron Davis, and now I’m going to guess they’ll get rid of Stephen Jackson at the end of the season to start what they might call the “rebuilding” process – perhaps the guy who was the sole factor in putting the pieces together in making the playoffs last year, Chris Mullin, will be gone too. Who knows what Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell have planned? All I know is that this quirkolet movement will only continue under the ownership of Chris Cohan.