On NBC's broadcast of the Magic-Hornets game Saturday, Peter Vescey said negotiations between the Memphis Grizzlies and Jerry West are complete, and all that's left is detailed work among the lawyers.

Then he turned his attention to the Golden State Warriors.  

Vescey says that Chris Mullin has been offered the keys to the executive washroom.  No decisions have been made yet, but Mullin has been told he can be president, general manager ... his choice.

Current GM Gary St. Jean will look after the upcoming draft for the Warriors, but Vescey says we can expect Mullin to take over after that.

He might have been an arrogant player, hated by all those who went near him, but this was 20 years ago.  That was the last time that Warriors great Rick Barry played in an NBA game, and now Bob Padecky of the Press Democrat believes that Golden State should make Barry their new head coach.

"I would ask every player to give me two plays they want run for them," Barry said. "These could be plays that have been run for them or plays that never have been but that they would like run for them?

"By doing that, I will learn two important things. I will learn about his grasp on reality. Does he really know his ability and his limitations? I know I do. I have studied all the Warrior players. I know what they can and can't do. I want to see if they know.?

Barry is a thinker, someone who looks outside the square and isn?t afraid to try new things.  But as a player he abused anyone who got in his way, which is why the Warriors and the league have avoided him at all costs.

"I didn't go out of my way to make friends," Barry admitted .

"I know why that's happened," said Barry. "The perception is I am a monster, But I am not a monster. I am not the ogre I have been portrayed to be."

Barry insists that he has adjusted his personality so it would not rub today?s somewhat immature players the wrong way.

"I was brutally honest," Barry said. "I was honest to a fault. I have learned I still can get my point across without hurting feelings. The game came easy to me. But I am a reasonably intelligent man. It would be foolish to expect my players to play like me. If they can't 'see' the court the way I did, I can't teach them that. But I can teach them the fundamentals: How to pass, how to set a screen, how to execute the pick-and-roll properly."

God knows the Warriors need all the help they can get.  Why not give Barry his chance?

As the Golden State Warriors battle the Chicago Bulls for the worst record in the NBA and the right to more pingpong ball combinations in the draft lottery, there is a sweet song blowing in from the East.

It's the sound of a net rippling. Again and again. Chinese center Yao Ming is supposed to be one of the first two players picked in this summer's draft -- along with Duke's Jason Williams -- and his feat last Wednesday has to be raising eyebrows throughout the NBA.