The best part about being Bob Myers these days, I’m guessing, is that you’ve got a lot of expert advisers. Roughly a million of them, and that’s just here in the Bay Area.
Myers will need ’em all. The Warriors’ genial general manager and his front-office crew are sailing into waters that are uncharted, storm-tossed and shark-infested.
This is the most crucial juncture of Myers’ nine-year run as GM. A dynasty hangs in the balance. The franchise that is lightyears ahead is playing catch-up with the league that is using the Warriors’ tactics — 3’s and D and clever front-office moves — to beat the Warriors.
Can Myers sail the Warriors back to the land of greatness? He does have all that help — all the radio-call-in advisers, the media geniuses, the basketball savants who have managed to gain access to Twitter.
Fortunately for Myers’ sanity, he does not have rabbit ears. He does not spend hours a day on Twitter, gauging the collective mood of Warriors’ fandom, listening to the sage advice.
Still, Myers knows the heat is on, and there are no simple solutions, and the luster of the five-season run of brilliance is starting to fade.
Myers inherited Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and there was some luck involved in drafting Draymond Green. Myers presided over two monumental moves, hiring Steve Kerr as head coach and luring Kevin Durant, but the case could be made that those two recruited themselves, no sales job necessary.
The draft has not been kind to the Warriors under Myers, but don’t forget dynasty helper Harrison Barnes in 2012 and the promising James Wiseman in 2020. Wiseman has tons of promise, but LaMelo Ball is an instant jaw-dropper. Will that go down as a Myers mistake?
Myers has pulled rabbits out of his hat: Andre Iguodala (twice) and Shaun Livingston. But there are the Nick Youngs and Brad Wanamakers.
While you were kicking back enjoying the All-Star Game and a Curry fireworks display Sunday, Myers probably was working his phone to the melting point, plotting his team’s future, hoping he’s in it.
So many decisions. What to do about Kelly Oubre Jr.? Trade him ASAP and avoid losing him with nothing in return after this season, or keep him to give the team a better shot at a top-six seed in the West?
Oubre has become a fan favorite. He’s got style, he plays hard, he seems to be catching on to the unique basketball skill of playing alongside Curry and Green.
In the recent past, the Warriors were such a Garden of Eden that a David West would sign at a significant discount, and a Durant would jump at the opportunity to be part of this crew. Would Oubre take a big discount to sign back on next season and continue his higher basketball education?
The Warriors are making it clear that their vision is the future, like next season and beyond. They’re not going to go blockbuster deal now in hopes of doing deeper in this year’s playoffs. They’re thinking ahead to Thompson’s return from a torn Achilles tendon.
That doesn’t sit well with some fans and critics, who see the Warriors as wasting a year of Curry’s prime, as his biological clock ticks away. But if the Warriors go all-in on this season, that could cost them in the next season or two, when Curry/Thompson/Green still will be in their primes.
Curry is an unrestricted free agent after next season. Myers and the Warriors have to win him over.
When that momentous decision comes down, how much weight will Curry give to past front-office performance? The Warriors helped his career blossom when they traded Monta Ellis to Milwaukee for Andrew Bogut, a month before Myers officially moved into the GM chair, and when they hired Kerr.
You could say that Myers helped make Curry a superstar, by building his supporting cast. But Curry’s got to look out for his future. So everything Myers and his crew do has to be with an eye to keeping Curry’s faith — starting now.
Do the Warriors take a shot at Lonzo Ball, especially now that the family name has new gravitas? How much of a run do they give Jordan Poole and Nico Mannion? How much playing time do they give Wiseman, whose on-the-job training is valuable, but costly in the short term?
The pressure, risks and high stakes, the random nature of fate — it’s enough to drive a man crazy. Fortunately, Myers doesn’t have to do it alone. He’s got a million Helpy Helpeltons.
Scott Ostler is a columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler
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March 08, 2021 at 05:51AM
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Is Bob Myers steering Warriors’ ship in right direction? - San Francisco Chronicle
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