Three years into his stint as Warriors general manager ...
Wait.
It's been only eight months?
It's been only eight months.
Larry Riley became a personnel boss for the first time in May and got a chair in a wind tunnel, with just about every possible scenario flying at him before his rookie season is half over. And, of course, he has the little matter of an 11-25 team in last place in the Pacific Division.
Riley has crammed seasons worth of uniquely troubling scenarios into his first months on the job. He had one team captain trying to force a trade, and another drilling the front office for its Draft decision. Along the way, the Warriors also weighed a blockbuster trade that didn't happen (Amar'e Stoudemire), went through with an important trade (Stephen Jackson), made a lottery pick (Stephen Curry, though that decision was made by the teams that passed on Curry and turned him into a no-brainer at No. 7) and got repeatedly gut-punched by injury.
Riley, a former director of player personnel for the Vancouver Grizzlies, replaced Chris Mullin on May 11, 2009, after moving from assistant coach on Don Nelson's staff into the front office earlier in the season. The Draft came, and Curry, the Davidson guard, fell into their laps. Summer league came, and Anthony Randolph went from an impressive regular season finish to blossoming into a star of the future. Hey, this job is easy!
"At the end of July, I'm having a good summer," Riley said.
Then Jackson demanded a trade. He said it during a promotional event for a shoe company and he said it at every opening thereafter, including media day, the day before training camp opened. There went Riley's good mood.
All that came about the same time that Monta Ellis ripped the selection of Curry, who plays the same position as Ellis and has a similar style. Both players can put up big numbers in the Golden State system without much hope of stopping any opposing backcourt when they play together. Jackson eventually forced his exit and was dealt to the Bobcats on Nov. 16, but Ellis' concerns about the Smurf-sized starting lineup have been replaced by 26.2 points per game and 47 percent shooting from the field.
Nelson got sick, missing two sets of games because of pneumonia, in what unofficially became a tryout for interim Keith Smart as a potential successor. Andris Biedrins got hurt. Brandan Wright got hurt. Kelenna Azubuike got hurt. Ronny Turiaf got hurt. Raja Bell, considering wrist surgery when the Warriors got him from Charlotte in the Jackson deal, went through with the operation. Finally, and most recently, Randolph got hurt.
That makes Riley a candidate to be knocked on his heels, someone perhaps driven to frustration. Maybe even someone whose confidence is shaken.
"It's interesting you bring that up," Riley said. "I think 15 years ago I would have had those feelings. I would have thought, 'What have I stepped into? Why are the basketball gods moving in this direction?' I hate clichés. But there's an old one that's awfully good, about seek to control the things that you can control and the things that are out of your control, leave them alone. There's a prayer about 'God, grant me the wisdom to recognize the things I can control and those that I cannot control.' And that's pretty much been the way I've approached it."
He's probably still a long way from quiet time. The Warriors want to make a trade, maybe even a bold stroke for a big name. They have contracts of all sizes to offer and players of varying experience, from prospects to tested veterans. They can get into a lot of conversations, even while sticking to the company line that Curry is off limits. (Then again, that was the same company line about Randolph in the summer, and now he can be had. Golden State hasn't put him on the auction block, the way some have made it seem. But management, in a policy shift from the offseason, is open to Randolph discussions.)
The problem is, a lot of the guys they'd be interested in -- scoring bigs Stoudemire, Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer -- are heading toward free agency and therefore are a huge risk. To rent a guy for a few months could mean years of setbacks. It's one reason they backed off Stoudemire talks on Draft night.
But the Warriors are hoping to get in the middle of something before the Feb. 18 trade deadline. It's been that kind of hectic baptism by fire for the general manager who has mostly missed the honeymoon period.
It's been that kind of three years.
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