Warriors Purchased for $450M by Joseph S. Lacob. One Question: Who IS Joseph Lacob?

As any die-hard Warriors fan knows, the Warriors were purchased by Joseph Lacob, ending the Chris Cohan era for once and for all.

However, many of us expected Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, to purchase the team. They had a long-standing history of collaboration with the Arena in Oakland currently called the "Oracle Arena," and the rumor that the Warriors and Ellison were to wed was mentioned under fans' breaths for over a year.

So as we come to terms that Ellison is not the new owner, we should probably figure out who the new owner is.

The first fact that struck me after digging up dirt on him was that he was a part-owner of the Boston Celtics ( http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/press011806-lacob-ownership.html ). He joined the board of directors shortly before the Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, which transformed the team into an automatic title contender. They ended up winning the championship in 2008. How much of a say he had in all of that is not documented, but any track record of previous success in the NBA is always a good sign.

The next thing to note is that he is based in the Bay Area. He has served as the director of Align Technology in Santa Clara since 1997. And seeing as he went to UC Irvine for his undergrad, and got an MPH from UCLA and MBA from Stanford (where he is also an advisory board member of the Athletic department), it is safe to assume that he is California grown. This is important to us Warriors fans. It was easy for Mikhail Prokhorov to purchase the Nets and move them into the great American city, but there is no connection between New York and the Nets. At least not yet. Maybe it's just my townie bias, but knowing that someone is from the area means they have been around to witness the failures of the last Warriors generation. Joseph Lacob obviously has, if he decided that buying the Warriors was worth breaking the record for purchase price of an NBA franchise by $50M.

Lastly, he seems to be a director for anyone and everyone. Check out his profile on BusinessWeek ( http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/private/person...). The most notable position in my mind is of sportsline.com, which leads me to believe that he really loves his sports. They were purchased by CBS in 2004.

So an affiliation with the Celtics, Stanford Athletics and an early startup. I feel good about this purchase now. Larry Ellison's track record with sports is nil.

Of course, how he will run the Warriors franchise is yet to be determined. However, I see his history in sports and perennial successes as positives for the Warriors. And I also don't think he would have let us draft Ekpe Udoh.

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Posted 15 days ago

Residential Mobility

I'm sure you've all heard me say this, but for the sixth time in 18 months, I will once again be changing the place where I sleep and shower.

-I stayed in two different dorms when I was in Korea.
-I moved back home in Marin when I got back.
-I moved to the Sunset District when I started school.
-I moved to the Richmond District when my mom purchased place there.
-I will now likely be moving to the Inner Sunset or somewhere around Taraval.

One of the main reasons that I decided to leave my current living situation was the fact that living with my mom was death to all independence. I always think about my cousins in Korea and how they are totally okay with just living at home, even well into their 30's, and wonder why I'm incapable of doing so.

I guess we'll see how this adventure goes. I've already convinced myself that if I move, I will be going to the gym and the rec center to play basketball a lot more often. Someone please hold me to it.

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Posted 17 days ago

NBA Elite 11 - Separate Hand, Foot Controls

Goodbye, one-button-press shooting? This kind of makes me want to get a PS3 or Xbox 360...

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Posted 23 days ago

Darko Milicic - $20M Deal (No I'm not making this up)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5345905

Did the Timberwolves just make a huge mistake?

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Posted 29 days ago

Warriors Summer League Roster and Schedule

http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/2010_summer_league_announcement.html

The three skinnies are on the roster. Should be an interesting summer.

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Posted 1 month ago

Chris Brown's Michael Jackson Tribute

Not much I can say about this that isn't already in the video comments...

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Posted 1 month ago

11 Tips on Hiring a Rails Developer

Peter Cooper wrote an interesting article about how to hire a Rails Developer.

http://www.rubyinside.com/11-tips-on-hiring-a-rails-developer-662.html

I stated a few months ago that if Rails Development ability was like Basketball ability, then I was a middle school kid with a ball and shorts. I feel like I've come a long ways since then.

However, I guess this is what it takes to reach ninja status. Actually, I agree with a lot of what he has to say.

Specifically, he mentions mastering things outside of Ruby. Yes, yes and yes. I totally agree with this and I plan to start mastering the domains outside of this language.

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Posted 1 month ago

World Cup Schedule

ESPN posted up the schedule for World Cup.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/fixtures?cc=5901&ver=us

Mark down the matches that are important to you, and if I marked them down too, let's watch them together! YEAH!

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Posted 1 month ago

50 Cent - 50 Lbs = 100% Respect

http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/05/27/50-cent-drops-50-pounds/

Insane respect for anyone that has enough self-control to do this.

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Posted 2 months ago

U.S. - Czech Republic, 4:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN3.com

Any Yank fan can tell you about when Jan Koller, Rosicky & co. ate us for Breakfast in Germany.

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/decision-time-for-bradley-and-u-s/

Watch revenge at 4:30pm at http://www.espn3.com

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Posted 2 months ago