Bob Myers is NBA’s GM of the Decade

Bob Myers has built the best personnel group, coaching staff and team culture to turn the Golden State Warriors into a perenntial title…

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NBA’s Most Valuable GM

Golden State Logo on wood background

Through the first half of this decade, the most valuable NBA general manager is Bob Myers. Strong, credible arguments can be made for Sam Presti, Darryl Morey, RC Buford, Danny Ainge and Pat Riley but the Golden State Warriors have become a dominant, league transforming, entertaining show and joy to watch that’s growing the league’s audience.

The elephant in the proverbial room is Steph Curry. Bob Myers; a former UCLA walk-on national champion, turned nba agent, turned personnel head; inherited the most important piece of the puzzle from his predecessor (Larry Riley) when the team selected Curry number seven overall in the ’09 draft. Myers influenced the Klay Thompson (’11)selection, led the Harrison Barnes, Festis Ezeli & Draymond Green (’11) picks; signed Mareese Spieghts, Shaun Livingston, Leonardo Barbosa as free agents; and orchestrated signings/trades for instrumental pieces Andre Igoudala and Andrew Bogut. He added 2 All NBA players (Klay & Draymond), 2 defensive stalwarts (Iggy + Bogut) and 3 key reserves (Livingston, Speights and Ezeli). He did while turning a perennial bad cap position into one of strengths (that gives the team $10M+ in available space this summer to pursue another “piece”). On the personnel side he deserves an A-, maybe B+. RC Buford rates slightly higher as he identified a dynamic top 5 talent in Kwali Leonard, convinced top 20 player LaMarcus Aldridge to sign and has consistently found great role players (like Patty Mills) on the cheap. All while fielding a perennial top 5 team with late picks and a full cap (thanks to HOF’s Duncan, Parker & Ginobili).

The coaching and organizational responsibilities are often underrated, this is where Myers takes the gm of the decade award and will be copied in the future. Meyer’s had represented dozens of NBA players, he played the game so he understood that culture was of utmost importance. This contributed to the Monte Ellis (for Bogut) trade, and it was a driving force behind the hiring and ultimately firing of Mark Jackson as head coach. Jackson should be remembered and credited for being the culture and team chemistry turning point. He fostered a tight family like flow for camp, practices, road trips and most team touchpoints. Under Jackson’s leadership the team went from a perennial underachiever who won 85 games the 3 years prior to his arrival to a perennial playoff team that won 98 games (and a playoff series victory) in his 2nd & 3rd/final seasons coaching them. However despite the progress Myers realized the team had hit a ceiling with Jackson, and aggressively identified, recruited and signed Steve Kerr as head coach. Kerr was the former GM of the Phoenix Suns, he is an accomplished 16 year NBA veteran and 5 time champion. Myers could have felt threatened or his inexperience could have deterred Kerr, but they didn’t. With Kerr at the helm and the above roster tweaking, the team has gone 140–24 the past two years (and set single season record of 73 this year) and has one title (with another pending Cavs series).

If the Warriors win this year, they’ll be tied with Miami for most titles this decade but there’s a recency bias. The Heat have some good young pieces, however they’re not all ascending, young complementary truly a team group that has the look of a title favorite for the rest of the decade. For that Bob Myers deserves the mythical general manager of the half decade award.