Mullin willing to take chances with Warriors.(Draft Spotlight)

When a man pulls a rabbit out of his hat for his first trick, he doesn't just walk offstage. He grabs a saw and heads for the woman in the box.

So one gets the impression that Chris Mullin has something else up his sleeve three weeks after shocking the basketball world by hiring Stanford's Mike Montgomery to be the Warriors' new coach. The Warriors have not made the playoffs in 10 years, so going unconventional in his first decision as the team's executive vice president of basketball operations might have been the best way to go.

Mullin offers no hints about his next move other than to say he is a risk-taker. When Mullin was promoted from special assistant in April, most figured he would fire Eric Musselman and replace him with a former NBA player. Considering how college coaches have flopped when going to the NBA in recent seasons, no one predicted the hiring of Montgomery.

But Montgomery is considered a teacher and excellent communicator, abilities that should play well with NBA players getting younger every season. The Warriors' nucleus, in fact, is not much older than some of Montgomery's college teams. Swingman Mickael Pietrus is 22, shooting guard Jason Richardson and small forward Mike Dunleavy are 23, power forward Troy Murphy is 24 and point guard Speedy Claxton is 26. It is a group that has Mullin in its corner. "I believe in these guys," he says. "I am putting it on them to take the next step. And I think they can do that with the right summer program and teaching."

But if you think ...