Remember back in 2002 when the Golden State Warriors selected Duke forward Mike Dunleavy Jr. with the third pick in the draft? He was coming from a very good college career at Duke, but having a successful collegiate career does not always equal success at the next level.
Dunleavy never lived up to his draft status with the Warriors even though he struggled mightily during his rookie year. However, Dunleavy improved and was rewarded with a multi-year contract extension from the Warriors in November of 2005.
As a member of the Warriors, Dunleavy averaged 5.7 points in his rookie season but saw his scoring average increase in his first three seasons with the team. Under head coach Don Nelson, Dunleavy saw his playing time fluctuate; however, General Manager Chris Mullin liked Dunleavy and rewarded him with a five-year contract extension worth $44M in November 2005.
Looking back, this may have not been the right move for the Warriors, but the NBA takes a very short-term based approach when it looks to re-sign drafted players.
However, Dunleavy struggled after re-signing with the team. The Warriors decided to shake things up by making a tr ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Karthik Tadisina
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October 14th, 2011 by Karthik Tadisina Leave a reply »
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