No general manager is defined by any one thing, but if I had to give Golden State's Bob Myers a calling card it’s this: He’s endlessly curious. He’s the rare GM who’ll walk right up to you and ask what you thought of the team’s performance, on the off chance you might be able to tell him something about his team.
With the Warriors coming in at No. 2 in our Front Office Rankings, I interviewed Myers on Monday about the state of his front office and how he goes about his work. The interview, which is edited for clarity, is interrupted by a call from his wife. When he returns, he remarks that elements of his job are a lot like marriage: Constant communication is needed.
I’ve noticed (basketball analytics coordinator) Sammy Gelfand sometimes rebounds Stephen Curry’s shots in practice. Is this part of how you guys integrate everybody?
Myers: Yeah. I think that a lot of people are underutilized in any company. So, I'll even ask Sammy Gelfand, as the trade deadline approaches, even if it's not in his job title, I'll tell him: "Email me 10 ideas of things maybe we're not considering looking at." And that's not necessarily his job description. He's at the forefront of our analytics department, so, maybe there's something we're not seeing, analytically. All it is is information and I think it's wise to use each employee in our ops department because they all have strengths and you want to get as much out of your employees as people you work with.
Q: Does (head coach) Steve Kerr (a former GM) ever say, “I know what that’s like,” to you about your job?
Yeah, it happens all the time! Sure. Absolutely. And I can't do that to him because I never coached in the NBA. It's almost like when I'm speaking to an agent, like right now. They're going through recruiting. I can say, and it's not false empathy, I can say, "I know what that's like." When [Kerr] says "I know what that's like," it's sincere. That helps communication even.
Q: What have you improved on since becoming a GM?
I feel like as a GM each year I've been in it, I've learned a little bit more about how to be efficient with my time, whether to better utilize that, whether to go on the road with the team or not, whether to communicate with the coach, how much to communicate with the coach, how much to communicate with the players, how much to communicate with your owner, how much to communicate with the rest of your staff. I think I was very inefficient in the beginning because I didn't know my own way and I continue to think there are areas I need to grow in, but I think I'm getting a little bit better as far as managing my own time because anybody that is a GM in any sport, I feel like there's not enough hours in the day for you to do your job. Because you always feel like you should be scouting, you always feel like you should be with your team, you always feel like you should be watching other teams, media. You don't even have a good sense of what to agree to do, when to not, when's the right time, how much is enough, how much is too much, those are all things that I think experience provides.
I called a bunch of people when I first got the job and asked them for advice and [Thunder GM] Sam Presti said, "Think of your title." Sam's got a really good way of communicating. He said, "The manager word in your title is more important than you think." And I took that to heart. I didn't understand it when he said it, but now I understand it. How important it is to manage relationships in the organization, because so much goes through you.
I remember [Spurs GM] R.C. Buford, when we were playing in the playoffs two years ago, I asked him for advice. And he said you have to learn how to delegate, or else the job will eat you up. Both of those things stuck with me and are things I haven't perfected by any stretch.
Q: So being a “manager” is different from the fantasy sports way people envision themselves as GMs?
When you run a fantasy team, you're not managing human beings. You're pushing buttons and it says a name on your thing and you don't know what that player's going through or who you're dealing with when you make a trade. I mean, it's probably a friend you went to high school with or something. So much is lost about what the job actually entails when you compare it to something like that.
Q: Was going after DeAndre Jordan after the lockout (and burning an amnesty to do so) an initial misstep?
I think the hard part about that is everything was so expedited and rushed. We wanted to pursue DeAndre Jordan, which in hindsight, that was a very good contract. I don't think there was any issue, or any discord. Everything was so rushed. We didn't have time to execute strategies because going into most free-agency periods you have months to plan. You know what your numbers are going to be, know what the rules are going to be, but we were literally handed the rules as was everybody else five days before free agency started. Then a shotgun goes off and you gotta go, and everybody was kind of running around, covering all our bases.
Q: I’ve noticed you ask local journalists like Tim Kawakami what the other Bay Area teams are up to. Why? (Note: Myers was fascinated by the 49ers’ situation with Jim Harbaugh.)
It’s like, I asked R.C., I asked Sam. I like to elicit advice. You know the piece you did on me, the GM piece, where you asked me all the questions on TrueHoop? I want to watch another GM do that to see what they do. I wish that wasn't me. I wish you'd get somebody else to do that. That's the impetus behind asking anybody about what other organizations do. I don't have any insight into other organizations. So I'm curious. They're probably doing things that we could do to make us better. I don't know what they are. I'm positive there's things we can learn from other organizations. But there’s no competition issue with me asking Billy Beane if he'd go to breakfast and ask him how he does things.
Q: What did you learn from breakfast with Billy Beane?
[I learned] to not be afraid. To be courageous, to trust your instinct, to take risks.
Q: What it’s like to be negotiating Draymond Green’s extension with your former boss, Arn Tellem (Green is represented by B.J. Armstrong, who works for Tellem)?
I mean, it's good, (negotiating with) anybody you respect like Arn and B.J. Yeah, I look forward to it. I like those guys. I know them. I think the hardest thing to do is negotiate with somebody that you don't have any prior relationship with. It's much easier to negotiate with somebody you have a history with, that you have a respect for and appreciation for, that you know you're going to get the truth.