The Warriors officially and very publicly became Robert Rowell's to run last weekend as the Golden State president held a news conference to discuss a 30-game suspension for rising-star guard Monta Ellis and that, oh, by the way, he has emasculated Chris Mullin.

This is the kind of back-room politics that goes down in organizations all the time, except that it's Mullin this time, the Warriors just lasted through a season of inner turmoil and were hoping to gain some stability, and it's Mullin this time. One of the most popular figures in team history, an All-Star forward who became the basketball vice president and rebuilt the team into a roster with a promising future, and he got slapped around at what was supposed to be the announcement of a discipline for Ellis.

Rowell's consolidation of power immediately put a different spin on a 2008-09 that only two weeks earlier, at the start of training camp, projected as a time to come together. The locker room that splintered last season as the long list of free agents-in-waiting turned stat-hungry in contract drives had been resolved, with some departures (Baron Davis, Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes) and some returnees (Ellis, Andris Biedrins, Kelenna Azubuike) but the uncertainty at least finally settled.

This just in: Not settled.

It's everyone else's turn now, with coach Don Nelson in the final season of his contract and weighing returning vs. retiring, because he's 68, and Mullin in the final season of his contract and weighing returning vs. not dealing with this anymore, just because.

That would have been enough lingering doubt about the direction of the franchise that had just found its way again, even with Mullin doing well at swatting away any attempt to turn his status into an issue, except then Rowell did at the Ellis news conference. Rowell volunteered to the assembled Bay Area media that his decision to suspend Ellis for 30 games in a $2.99 million hit for the 22-year-old guard was in direct contrast to Mullin trying to dismiss the issue of riding a moped in violation of the contract and then lying about how the ankle injury occurred.

A little later, in a one-on-one interview, Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News asked Rowell if he expected Mullin to stay beyond this season or wanted the basketball boss to return.

Rowell easily could have bluffed his way through with a non-answer answer. He could have dodged the question he had to know was coming with diplomatic double-talk, something along the lines of, "We'd love Chris to return, but it's his decision as well, and there's plenty of time to sit down with him and talk." Instead, clearly not minding the chance to put into public record that Mullin would have to go through him, Rowell responded that "Chris has a year on his contract. 'Nellie' has a year on his contract. We have a lot of work to do. And we're going to evaluate and make the appropriate decisions along the way."

Definitely not a dodge.

Coincidence or not, the news conference came a few hours before the Warriors left for two exhibitions in China without any Bay Area reporters, providing a virtual news blackout in a place where no one would have interest in asking about a Rowell-Mullin showdown that could point Mullin to the door. Mullin, good at hiding out even when there are positive stories at work, has yet to address the situation, giving the impression the contract uncertainties in the locker room last season may be nothing compared to the real drama unfolding in 2008-09.

Call The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper, (916) 321-1210.