Dunleavy will be battling for
rebounds for another 5 years.

Did W's management really need to pay him that much? Dunleavy was the league's 26th-best small forward last year according to John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating. He routinely gets torched by opposing swingmen. His backup, Mickael Pietrus, is arguably a better all-around player.

What's more concerning to Warriors fans is the overall salary situation. As ESPN points out, the team now has $313 million committed to 6 players in long-term deals: Dunleavy, Foyle, Fisher, Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, and Troy Murphy. I'll point out that only 3 of these guys are very good.

As it stands today, the Warriors have the 4th-highest committed salary for 2006-07 (after the Knicks, 76ers, and Mavericks), and the 2nd-highest salary for 2007-08 (behind only the 76ers). By 2008-09, the team will have a whopping $65 million in committed salaries, currently good for tops in the league.

Mortgaging the future by eliminating salary cap flexibility is a reasonable strategy when your team is in the midst of a championship run. However, having failed to reach the playoffs for 11 straight seasons, the Warriors are not in that boat. If the current squad can't get it done consistently like they did for the last 2 months of 2004-05, Chris Mullin may be recognized as another veteran of the lottery process in another 5 seasons.