“You know what he has? He has the ‘it’ factor,” former Warrior World B. Free said. “It’s a person that just knows what he’s doing, knows he’s good. Not many guys have it. You know Michael Jordan had it. Magic Johnson. Larry Bird. Dr. J. Allen Iverson. It factors. When you see those guys coming, you know you’re in for a long night.” For Mullin, the “it” factor is also found off the court. “How he handles himself,” said Mullin, who checks in at fifth on the Warriors’ scoring list. “His appreciation. His dignity. His humility. We can all learn from how he carries himself. With all he’s accomplished, and all he’s been through, yet he has still managed to cling to what’s important and be the kind of person you want as the face of your franchise. It’s inspiring.”
Chris Mullin Rumors
Anthony Slater: Cool postgame Zoom moment: Chris Mullin congratulating Steph Curry on becoming the all-time points leader in Warriors history with a message you could tell meant a lot to Curry pic.twitter.com/te2Po68t3Z
For Jordan, poking his head back into basketball, even for just a moment, was about delivering a message, both to his adversaries and himself. He needed to know how he stacked up before formally attempting a return. “He wanted to go after the best, youngest player he thought could be better than him,” Mullin said of Sprewell. “And he (Jordan) put it to rest that day.”
Though Curry quickly put that talk to rest, scoring a career-high 62 points in his very first opportunity to respond, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Chris Mullin disagrees with the very premise of the discussion.T “He’s one of the top three players of his generation,” Mullin told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Grant Liffman on the “Dubs Talk” podcast. ” … He’s the Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird of his generation. And each generation has those guys. … The accolades, we all know what they are — three-time champion, five times to the NBA Finals — so, yeah, that’s what he’s going to be remembered for. This is all adding to his legacy. His legacy is cemented in stone. He’s adding to it with new challenges.”
They’d have you believe he has been carried to multiple championships, when the opposite actually is true. From Mullin’s perspective, it boils down to jealousy. “I guess they call them haters,” Mullin explained, ” … I just call it being jealous. I really do believe not only how well and dominant that Steph plays; it’s the joy and passion and fun he has doing it, and he doesn’t let that stuff bother him. So, I think a lot of people are jealous of the way he can handle his success and his failures — he handles them both admirably.”
Mullin said that Wiseman, the No. 2 pick, “is going to be a star” and is already impressed with the 7-foot-1, 251-pound center’s athleticism and poise. He said Bazemore, who has eight seasons of NBA experience, brings another reliable veteran presence. And he said that the Warriors would be happy if Oubre simply replicated his prolific numbers with Phoenix over the past two seasons. “To me, the biggest factor for these guys when it comes to replacing Klay Thompson and what he did is consistency,’’ Mullin said. “They need to be consistent in their contributions night after night.”
Mannion on Feb. 6 racked up 20 points (12-for-18 free throws) and seven assists against the USC Trojans. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Chris Mullin broadcasted that game, and provided the scouting report on the former McDonald’s All-American during the latest episode of the “Dubs Talk” podcast with Grant Liffmann.
