Mitch Richmond

Andy Fahey

They never finished higher than fourth place in the division. They won just a single playoff series, and never came close to sniffing an NBA Finals. And yet, the Run TMC teams at the turn of the 90's solidified a spot in the hearts and minds of Bay Area and basketball fans through their revolutionary style and breakneck pace, which forever altered how the game is played today.

During the 2022-23 season, the past has met the present with the reigning NBA Champion Warriors sporting the Run TMC-era uniforms, more formally known as the team’s Classic Edition uniforms, for select games. The throwback threads feature the classic, upward-slanted ‘Warriors’ script on the jersey and the old school Golden State Warriors basketball icon on the left side of the shorts, just like the uniforms worn by the fast-paced early ‘90s Warriors teams headlined by Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin.

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Introducing the Warriors' New Classic Edition Uniform

That Run TMC era was short-lived to be sure. They played only two seasons together and compiled a record of just 81-83. But Run TMC's impact on the franchise persisted long after its abrupt conclusion, and their influence continues on in today’s NBA landscape – and not just through the retro uniforms that harken back to the days of then Head Coach Don Nelson’s up-tempo bunch.

Chris Mullin was the first to arrive, joining Golden State as the seventh overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft. The All-American with the thick Brooklyn accent forged from his days playing pickup on Flatbush Avenue would see his scoring average jump from 14.0 to 15.1 to 20.2 points per game in his first three seasons with the franchise before being joined by the next two incremental figures of Run TMC, Coach Nelson and Mitch Richmond.

Nelson, the NBA's all-time leader in coaching victories from 2010 until March 2022, began the first of his two tenures as the Warriors' head coach the following offseason, and used the fifth overall pick of the 1988 NBA Draft to select Richmond out of Kansas State. Nelson's run-and-gun style suited Richmond perfectly, and the two-guard would go on to capture Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 22.0 points per game. The following offseason, the final piece of what would become the famous trio known as Run TMC was acquired when Golden State selected Tim Hardaway and his 'killer crossover' with the 14th overall pick of the 1989 Draft.

The Warriors went 37-45 and missed the playoffs in the 1989-90 season, but the team was already displaying the characteristics that would come to define the Run TMC era. Golden State led the league in both scoring average and pace of play that season, and Hardaway, Richmond and Mullin had combined for 61.9 of their league-leading 116.3 points per game. The trio, alongside other cult favorites like Manute Bol, Sarunas Marciulionis and Tom Tolbert, made Golden State nightly can't-miss television and a nightmare for opposing defenses.

"Big guys playing outside, small guys going inside, point forwards starting the offense," Hardaway recalled to NBA.com's Fran Blinebury in June 2015. "Around the league it was: 'What are you all doing? What is this about?' They didn't know how to even play against us. They didn't know how to discuss it. They didn't know how to plan for it. It was mind-boggling to the other team."

"People couldn't stop us. They couldn't scout us. They didn't know what we were doing because we didn't know what we were doing. If they went to the playbook, we'd be like 'what are you looking at?' Because we might have a playbook but we're not running them tonight. We're just running you."

A year later, the Run TMC Warriors cranked it up another notch. In the very first game of the 1990-91 season, Golden State defeated the Denver Nuggets by a score of 162-158, which remains the highest-scoring non-overtime game in league history. They'd go on to average 116.6 points per game that season, second-most in the league behind only those same Nuggets, and would finish with a record of 44-38, pitting them against the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs in a first-round playoff series. The Warriors dropped Game 1 in San Antonio by a score of 130-121, but they had seen all they needed to see.

"I remember losing the first game and having a team meeting, and how confident Nellie was that we were going to win the series," Mullin recounted. "He said, 'I found something. I found it. We're going to get them. We're gonna beat them.'"

Whatever Nelson had discovered, it worked. Golden State reeled off three-straight wins to upset the Spurs and claim the series in four games. They'd carry that momentum into the next round and earn a split on the road in the first two games against Magic Johnson, James Worthy and the vaunted Los Angeles Lakers. After prevailing in Game 2, the series transitioned back to Oakland, and Golden State was riding high. So high, in fact, that prior to the start of Game 3, the Warriors were introduced by Run DMC, the popular rap trio from whom the Run TMC moniker was derived from. Unfortunately for Golden State, that display may have backfired.

"As we won Game 2, we was excited to go home," Hardaway said. "But I think we kind of embarrassed them with Run DMC when they announced us…that wasn't the right thing to do."

Right or wrong, the NBA Finals-bound Lakers responded in kind by earning a three-point victory in Game 3 and swept the remaining games in the series to knock Golden State out of the playoffs. It wasn't readily apparent at the time, but their defeat in Game 5 not only brought an end to the Warriors' postseason run, but an end to the Run TMC era in general. Tim, Mitch and Chris would never play together on the same team again.

Coming off their defeat at the hands of the Lakers, the prevailing sentiment was that Golden State needed to get bigger in order to take the next step, and that set forth a series of events that would end the Run TMC era almost as quickly as it came together. Hours prior to the season-opener the following year, Richmond was traded to the Sacramento Kings along with other assets for rookie forward Billy Owens. It was a severe blow to Richmond, and a trade Nelson looks back on in infamy.

"It was the worst trade I've ever made," Nelson said. "Mitch was a star. That's the one regret I have of my career."

Richmond remembered it being a tough time for him personally: "Felt like this was a family to me, and then to get traded, it was very difficult to handle."

The impact of the trade wasn't completely negative though, particularly in the immediate aftermath. Golden State increased its win total by 11 victories in the 1991-92 season to finish third in the conference before suffering a first-round exit from the playoffs at the hands of the Seattle Supersonics. Meanwhile, Richmond continued his eventual Hall-of-Fame career in Sacramento, leading the Kings in scoring each of the next six seasons.

But the long-term effects of the trade were crippling. Following that season, the Warriors would post only one winning season and secure only one more playoff berth over the next 14 years.

When Golden State finally reached the postseason again in 2006-07, enough time had passed for Mullin, Richmond and Nelson to reunite with the franchise, but in considerably different capacities. Nelson was in his second term as head coach of the Dubs, while both Mullin and Richmond had rejoined the organization in front office roles. Later that year, Golden State became the first eighth seed ever to defeat a one-seed in a seven-game series, knocking out the 67-win Mavericks in six games. While they'd eventually go on to lose to Utah in the second round, the 'We Believe' movement reawakened the fan hysteria from Run TMC's heyday.

Fast forward to today, and one realizes that much has changed. On the other hand, in many ways, the past lives on.

The Warriors have won four of the last eight NBA Championships and advanced to the NBA Finals on two other occasions (2016, 2019) during that stretch. In addition, the team has won at least 50 games in seven of the last nine seasons with a foundational core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, all of whom have the C patch – indicating captain – stitched onto their Classic Edition jerseys this season.

The modern-day Warriors are a team predicated on ball movement and unselfishness, and those characteristics were core features of the style of play of those Run TMC teams. &nbsp;&nbsp;

But the similarities between the Warriors teams of then and now aren't limited to their respective triumvirates of scoring talents, nor the breakneck speeds at which they'd operate. There's also a link between the men at the helms.

"On a given night, Nellie would give us the freedom to go out there and play,&nbsp;if&nbsp;we played the right way," Mullin recalled. "In the locker room he'd say, 'You know what guys, tonight I'm going to call no plays. As long as you guys are sharing the basketball, playing the right way...no plays.' And that was an incentive for us to get out there and do just that."

Nelson's genius was equal parts innovation and opportunity. He understood the types of players that comprised his roster, and developed a game plan designed to maximize their skill sets, regardless of how departed from the norm it was. As Mullin so delicately put it during his Hall-of-Fame induction speech in 2011, "Who else would encourage Manute Bol to shoot three-point shots?"

Very few have had the audacity to employ such a philosophy, but it worked for Nelson and Run TMC, and the primary ball handler on that squad sees a similarity in how Steve Kerr and the current Warriors go about their business.

"What coach Steve Kerr is doing is, if you have the open shot, take the open shot," Hardaway said. "That's what Nellie was about. This team is unique in what they have right now."

Just like Nelson, Kerr has emphasized a movement-oriented offense, replete with passing and spacing. The Dubs have led the league in assists in six of the eight seasons of Kerr’s coaching tenure. &nbsp;

Kerr and the Warriors have been at the forefront of an ongoing transformation of the modern game, in which offensive numbers across the league – including points, assists and pace – are at their highest marks in decades. In many ways, the same tenets of Run TMC's offensive philosophy are at the root of this league-wide explosion.

"They were a nightmare to guard," Kerr says of Run TMC. "They pushed the pace relentlessly. They were probably a little ahead of their time, you know, with small ball. Nellie was really the guy that invented small ball in the league, even before Run TMC with Milwaukee, so the Warriors were a perfect team for him."

"Point guard dominant offenses are a common theme around the league now, and Nellie did that with Tim," he continued. "A lot of high screens, and a lot of pushing the pace and three-pointers off the dribble. You see that all over the league now."

"You know, we didn't win championships together," Mullin said. "But we had a lot of fun, and we drove a lot of people crazy because we played a crazy style…Wish we would have done a little more, but for that little three-year period, man, we had a ball."

"It was the most fun I ever had playing basketball."

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Run TMC's Continued Influence on the Warriors and NBA at Large

On Monday, October 20, former Golden State Warriors guard and 2014 Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Fame inductee Mitch Richmond teamed up with the Warriors Community Foundation, The California Endowment and Good Tidings Foundation to unveil two newly-refurbished basketball courts at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in Richmond, CA. The shooting guard hosted 50 youth from Richmond College Prep and the Richmond Police Activities League for a Warriors Community Basketball Clinic on the new courts created in honor of the Hall of Famer.

“I wish that I had the opportunity to play on a court this nice growing up,” said Richmond. “I hope that each of you will follow your dreams, enjoy yourself today and make today a special one.”

The 50 boys and girls arrived at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park Monday afternoon to find two beautiful new regulation basketball courts equipped with 14,000 square feet of all-weather acrylic surfacing, four plexiglass hoop systems, spectator seating and a new drinking fountain for the kids to hydrate and get ready for the next run.

“These new basketball courts help complete a vision, created 10 years ago by local residents as part of the Nystrom United Revitalization Effort (NURVE),” stated James Becker, president and CEO of the Richmond Community Foundation. “The courts will serve hundreds of children and families in the neighborhood and will serve as a centerpiece of the neighborhood,” Becker said.

Mitch Richmond, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, Warriors Legend and Good Tidings Foundation representative Nate Thurmond, The California Endowment Richmond Program Manager Diane Aranda, Healthy Richmond Hub Committee Member Andre Aikins and Richmond Committee Foundation Board Member Roxanne Cruz were introduced by the event’s emcee and ABC 7 Sports Director, Larry Beil, to the crowd to share words of encouragement and excitement for the new playing surfaces.

“Richmond has enjoyed a baseball diamond and a new football field, but what the children in our community have missed are beautiful new public basketball courts for everyone to enjoy,” said Mayor McLaughlin.

After the ceremony, Richmond hosted a ceremonial tip-off with the children before breaking into a Warriors Community Basketball Clinic with Warriors Youth Basketball staff. The youth spent an hour learning and refining their passing, dribbling and shooting skills with the Hall-of-Famer observing and sharing words of encouragement.
This event is part of the Step Up Your Game program, which will hold basketball court refurbishments, additional Warriors Basketball Clinics and Warriors Dance Team dance clinics throughout the 2014-15 season to provide positive lifestyle and fitness programs for Bay Area youth.

“The Step Up Your Game program, part of The California Endowment and the Active Alliance, is so thrilled to be here with you all today to promote healthy habits and physical activity for such an enthusiastic group of children,” said Aranda.
The Warriors and Good Tidings Foundation have refurbished nearly 50 basketball courts throughout the Bay Area to revitalize local neighborhoods and communities by providing youth with a safe and fun place to play.

“We are proud of what our partnership with the Warriors Community Foundation has accomplished and look forward to the projects ahead of us,” said Thurmond.

This event is also part of NBA Cares Week, as the league’s players, coaches and legends participate in activities and events across the country to support the communities in which we live, work and play. Through this league-wide initiative, NBA players and teams have donated over $242 million, completed more than 3 million hours of community service and created more than 915 places where children and families can live, learn and play.

“This court unveiling represents the Warriors Community Foundation, The California Endowment and Good Tidings Foundation’s commitment to the development, health and well-being of our young people,” said Aikins.

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Warriors Great Mitch Richmond Honored at Basketball Court Unveiling Ceremony in Richmond, CA

The Golden State Warriors are tipping off this season’s “Step Up Your Game” initiative in partnership with private, statewide health foundation, The California Endowment, to unveil newly refurbished basketball courts at Martin Luther King Jr. Park (360 Harbour Way South) in Richmond, California in honor of Hall of Fame Inductee Mitch Richmond, it was announced today. Mitch Richmond and the Warriors Community Foundation will join The California Endowment, Healthy Richmond, the Richmond Community Foundation, the City of Richmond and local elected officials to unveil the new courts and conduct a basketball clinic for 50 local youth on Monday, October 20 from 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Youth from Richmond College Prep and the Richmond Police Athletic League (PAL) will attend the unveiling and participate in the Warriors Basketball Clinic. The new courts will feature a 14,000 square foot all-weather acrylic playing surface, four new NBA plexiglass hoop systems, new spectator seating and a drinking fountain.

The Warriors, working in collaboration with Good Tidings Foundation, have refurbished nearly 50 basketball courts around the Bay Area, helping to revitalize local neighborhoods and communities. Courts are resurfaced and receive new backboards, nets, rims, striping, and signage.

Throughout the 2014-15 season, the Step Up Your Game program will hold basketball court refurbishments, additional Warriors youth basketball clinics and Warriors Dance Team dance clinics that will address the need for youth-oriented programs in the Bay Area that seek to promote and reinforce positive lifestyle habits. For more information on Step Up Your Game, click here.

Step up your Game is a project of the Active Alliance, a partnership with: the NBA’s four California teams-- the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers; HealthCorps, a not-for profit founded by Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa; and The California Endowment. The Active Alliance’s goal is to reach over 10,000 California kids in 2014 to measurably improve the health of children in their communities through exercise, nutrition and education.

The completion of the refurbished court is also an important step for the Nystrom United Revitalization Effort (NURVE) which is focused on improving the quality of life for youth and families and aims to revitalize the economy and improve quality of life in southern and central Richmond through building projects, initiatives and community partnerships, and greater connections between stakeholders.

Renovating basketball courts and creating other safe places to play is part of the The Endowment’s mission to make Health Happen in Neighborhoods. Children need safe places to play, so they can exercise and lead healthier lives.

About the Warriors Community Foundation
Established in 2012, the Warriors Community Foundation is dedicated to making a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of underserved youth in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Foundation’s signature programs include philanthropic grants, basketball court refurbishments, and ticket donations. Last season, the Foundation launched the Hoops for Kids program that donated $387,000 to local youth organizations, unveiled refurbished courts in Oakland and San Francisco, and presented the inaugural Alvin Attles Community Impact Award to Warriors forward Harrison Barnes with a $15,000 donation in his honor to Boys &amp; Girls Clubs of Oakland.

About The California Endowment and Healthy Richmond
The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. Headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, The Endowment has regional offices in Sacramento, Oakland, Fresno and San Diego, with program staff working throughout the state. The Endowment challenges the conventional wisdom that medical settings and individual choices are solely responsible for people's health. The Endowment believes that health happens in neighborhoods, schools, and with prevention.
The Healthy Richmond initiative is part of The California Endowment's 10-year, $1 billion statewide initiative called Building Healthy Communities. The overarching goal of Building Healthy Communities is to create places where children are healthy, safe and ready to learn. Richmond/North Richmond is one of the 14 communities involved in this initiative, and Healthy Richmond is the name of the local effort.

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Warriors and California Endowment to Unveil Refurbished Basketball Courts in Richmond, California

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Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony: Class of 2014

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Al Attles Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

The Golden State Warriors are well-represented in the Hall of Fame Class of 2014. Former Warriors Mitch Richmond, Sarunas Marciulionis and Guy Rodgers were inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on August 8, 2014 in Springfield, Massachusetts. A day earlier, Warriors Legend &amp; Ambassador Alvin Attles received the Hall of Fame's most prestigious award - the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award.

Watch the Hall of Famers' acceptance speeches below, plus enjoy photos, videos, interviews &amp; more from the celebration.

Sarunas Marciulionis' Hall of Fame Speech

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2014 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony

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Hall of Fame Class of 2014 Press Conference

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Al Attles Honored with Hall of Fame Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, the home of the “Authentic Bay Area Sports,”
presents a special, primetime show – Yahoo SportsTalk Live: Warriors Hall of Fame Special on Monday, August 4 at 7 p.m. –
honoring former Golden State Warriors and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014 members Mitch Richmond,
Sarunas Marciulionis and Guy Rodgers, and 2014 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Alvin Attles. The Class of
2014 will be enshrined in Springfield, Mass. on Friday, August 8.

Richmond, Marciulionis and Attles will join show hosts, three-time California Sportscaster of the Year Greg Papa, former Warriors
general manager and head coach Garry St. Jean and CSNBayArea.com’s Warriors Insider Monte Poole, to discuss their illustrious
careers and relive some of their biggest thrills and most memorable games. In addition, Dallas Mavericks’ President of Basketball
Operations and former assistant coach for the Lithuanian National Team Donnie Nelson, Warriors legend Tom Meschery and other
Warriors alumni and dignitaries will join the program to pay tribute to the Class of 2014. The live one-hour program will originate from
the Comcast SportsNet studios and on location from an exclusive, invitation-only Hall of Fame party at “The 360,” a spectacular rooftop
venue atop the network's headquarters in downtown San Francisco.

Yahoo SportsTalk Live: Warriors Hall of Fame Special will re-air on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area on Tuesday, Aug. 5 at 3:30 p.m. and
Friday, Aug. 8 at 3 p.m.

The Class of 2014 includes Richmond, seven-time NBA All-Star Alonzo Mourning, 1994 Naismith and NABC Coach of the Year Nolan
Richardson, two-time NCAA National Championship coach Gary Williams and Immaculata University’s AIAW National Championship
teams of the early 1970s. To be elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, finalists require 18 of 24 votes from the
Honors Committee. Marciulionis (International Committee) and Rodgers (Veterans Committee) join the other members of the Class of
2014, along with fellow Direct Elects Bob Leonard (American Basketball Association Committee), Nat Clifton (Early African American
Pioneers Committee) and David Stern (Contributor Director Election Committee).

Richmond, a six-time NBA-All Star, was elected into the Hall of Fame after being named a finalist for the second consecutive year.
Originally selected by Golden State with the fifth overall pick of the 1988 NBA Draft, he spent the first three seasons of his career with
the Warriors (1988-91), averaging 22.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.31 steals and 36.5 minutes in 234 games. In 14 NBA
seasons with the Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers, Richmond posted averages of 21.0
points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.24 steals and 35.2 minutes in 976 games and captured an NBA Championship with the Lakers in
his final season (2001-02). The Kansas State alum earned a gold medal as a member of the United States Men’s National Team at the
1996 Olympic Games after previously capturing bronze at the 1988 Olympics. Along with Hall of Famer Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway,
Richmond was a member of the celebrated “Run TMC” trio in his final two seasons with the Warriors and boasts the fifth highest
scoring average in franchise history.

Marciulionis was one of the first international players to receive regular playing time in the NBA, helping lead the internationalization of
the NBA in the early 1990s. Originally drafted by Golden State in the sixth round of the 1987 NBA Draft, he moved to the NBA from
Lithuania in 1989. Marciulionis played four seasons (1989-93) for the Warriors, averaging 14.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists
while shooting 52.8 percent from the field in 227 regular season games. Over seven seasons (1989-97) in the NBA with the Warriors,
Seattle SuperSonics, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets, he posted career averages of 12.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists
while shooting 50.5 percent from the field in 363 regular season games. A member of the 1988 USSR National Team, Marciulionis won
a Gold Medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

Warriors Legend &amp; Ambassador Alvin Attles becomes the 42nd winner of the Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, which was instituted
by the Board Enshrinement. Named in honor of Hall of Famer John W. Bunn (Class of 1964), the first chairman of the Basketball Hall of
Fame Committee who served from 1949-64, the award honors coaches, players and contributors whose outstanding accomplishments
have impacted the high school, college, professional or International game. Attles has spent more than 50 consecutive years with
Golden State as a player, player-coach, coach, general manager, vice-president, consultant and ambassador.

Rodgers, a four-time NBA All-Star, was originally a territorial selection by the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1958 NBA Draft. In eight
seasons (1958-66) with the Warriors (four in both Philadelphia and San Francisco), Rodgers averaged 12.8 points, 8.3 assists and 5.1
rebounds over 587 regular season games with the franchise, earning All-Star honors three times (1962-63, 1966). A Temple University
product, Rodgers played 13 seasons (1958-1970) in the NBA with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Cincinnati
Royals and Milwaukee Bucks, finishing with career averages of 11.7 points, 7.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 892 regular season games,
leading the NBA in assists two times (1963, 1967).