Joe Lacob responds to being mercilessly booed by Warriors fans

Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob appeared live on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area’s “Chronicle Live” Tuesday night to discuss getting booed by Golden State fans during the ceremony to retire Chris Mullin's jersey. Both Mullin and Rick Barry tried to quiet to crowd before Lacob was finally able to finish his presentation of Mullin.

“It was an unfortunate occurrence that happened on a night that was meant to be a beautiful evening for the Warrior fans and for one player in particular, Chris Mullin,” CSN Bay Area’s Jim Kozimor said.

“It’s uncomfortable to watch,” admitted Lacob. “It was pretty uncomfortable at the moment, as well, and all I could remember during it was (thinking), ‘I wish they'd stop so I could just honor Chris, because that's what we're here to do.’”

Asked what he thought the fans' intention was, Lacob responded, “I really don't know. I obviously think there's some frustration with the trade that occurred (last) week. Monta Ellis was one of our most popular players ... (and) 20 years of history not making the playoffs, a lot of different things going on. It's just hard to say. Things happen sometimes and (the reason is) not really clear. I don't think any of us expected it. Maybe we should've, but we didn't really expect that reaction. ... ”

“We don’t hold it against the fans that they booed,” Lacob added. “I didn't enjoy it, certainly, it was very uncomfortable, but it is what it is, and the fans, I still believe, are the greatest fans in the world, and I certainly hope that they'll just bear with us and understand we're trying to make a lot of improvements and trying to improve this team and trying to get us to the promised land.”

Lacob stressed his commitment to turn the Warriors franchise around. “Money is not an object, commitment is not an object,” he said. “We are going to make it happen, and so we have bought draft choices. We didn't have much of a draft. We didn't cause that this year, the previous administration did. We now have three draft picks coming up in a very good draft. We’ve gone out and acquired players and taken on some future cash obligations, and it's not just about the money. It's about everything else.”