Appearing on Tuesday at the press conference announcing Bob Myers‘ departure from the Warriors, team owner Joe Lacob told reporters that he wasn’t ready to announce a successor for the team’s longtime head of basketball operations, as Kendra Andrews of ESPN.com relays.
“We’ll make a decision as soon as we can, but I want to make sure that we make the right decision, and if it happens in a week, great. If it happens in a month, great,” Lacob said. “We’ll make that decision through the natural course, have the right process. I think we are preparing for the draft and free agency and all those things regardless, and we’ll be ready.”
Myers’ contract with the Warriors runs through June 30 and he’s expected to remain around the team for the next month to fulfill the rest of his deal. However, Myers said on Tuesday that he’ll be operating in a support role, so it remains unclear who will be taking the lead on draft night (June 22) and at the start of free agency (June 30).
Multiple reports leading up to Myers’ announcement on Tuesday indicated that the Warriors’ next top basketball executive would probably be promoted from within — VP of basketball operations Mike Dunleavy Jr. was frequently cited as the most likely candidate. Lacob didn’t confirm or deny that plan on Tuesday, though he did express confidence in the group that Myers will leave behind.
“I will say that we do have a very strong organization, and there’s a good possibility it could be an internal candidate,” Lacob said, per Andrews. “But haven’t made a decision, so can’t really give you an answer. We are going to work on that.”
In one obliquely worded section of her report, Andrews cites sources who say that “power struggles” within the Warriors, including between ownership and the front office, may limit Golden State’s ability to bring in a big-name executive from outside the organization, making an in-house promotion more likely.
The team could become more of a “family business” in the coming years, Andrews writes, perhaps alluding to the fact that Lacob is reportedly interested in having his son Kirk Lacob – the Warriors’ executive VP of basketball operations – take on a more prominent role in the front office.
Whoever emerges as the Warriors’ next head of basketball operations will assume a role that Myers says requires “complete engagement,” something he felt he could no longer give. Joe Lacob’s expectations in the post-Myers era will remain high, even as the NBA introduces a Collective Bargaining Agreement that will impose more restrictions on the teams with the highest payrolls.
“We are going to win no matter what. I don’t care what the rules are,” Lacob said. “We are going to figure out a way to do it. That’s what good organizations do.”
So in other words this means it’s not necessarily Mike Dunleavy Jr taking on the role but rather Dunleavy and Kirk Lacob teaming up to perform the role together for now.
Dad must believe the son has been learning in the background for long enough yet it would show poor business sense to name him as soul replacement of Bob Myers at this time.
Nobody knows what it really means. It is all just a wild guess right now.
In the famous words of another poster, “I’m never wrong.” Just kidding, but yes you’re right.
It’s complicated situation. It might sound great to be the top guy, but it’s also the person who will get all the blame. Lacob might want to make many personnel moves this offseason that are not popular. He wants someone who will follow orders and then take the blame if it doesnt work out.
Gary the fact you follow the “light years” team and still dont know better to try and predict their moves worries me greatly. Cmon man.
I only know one thing that is certain: Steve Kerr is a very bad NBA coach if Steph Curry isn’t on his roster.
We heard you the first 20 times
And you will hear it until he’s gone or magically becomes a Pop-level gamecaller.
Kirk has a decent amount of experience now, and is reportedly good at his job according to most of the teams beat writers, so it wouldnt be a total nepo hire.
Reportedly he is one of the most likely people in the organization to stand up to his dad so that could be a benefit.
The draft is June 22nd, I think they’ve known internally Myers was moving on and haven’t been linked to any other GM candidates. I think it’s an in-house candidate and maybe they hire a special advisor type.
Pretty critical year though. Basically you have to make a decision now on Klay and Draymond – Will Klay accept 20-25M? Draymond 15-20M? If not, do you move on from this core or run it back 1 more year and try to add that missing piece?
Are Wiggins, Poole, Kuminga, and Moody really the next core members of this team? Do you use Poole’s contract and the upside of Kuminga, Moody, and #19 overall to add to the current core, even if it’s a short-term all-in type of fix? Do you bet on Wiggins or Poole returning to their 21-22 performance?
Do you make moves to clear space for LeBron James next year?
Or do they completely rebuild and trade away Klay, Green, and Curry? They chose two timelines but it backfired. None of the youngsters have developed and their value have plummeted. Warriors could have easily acquired another star and remained a contender with those assets. Now, there’s no room for error, Warriors can easily become a lottery team.
Because you cant trade away the best player you have ever had unless he asks for it. Steph has said he wants to be a one team player, and because he turned a 450M franchise into one worth 12B you just do whatever you can to win him as much as he can until its over.
You can behave like a normal team with rebuilding and stuff once the greatest core in team history retire. Its about long term team legacy where you want your Bird, Russell, Magic, and Duncan like franchise player.
After what they have done for the trajectory of this franchise you cant just do normal tear it down rebuild stuff. They all have to retire Warriors unless they decide to leave, and you owe it to them for what they have done to do everything you can to win till then…
The rising cap and the fact that the numbers on the big 3 should start decreasing soon means this is a couple year problem, but all 3 of them make more non basketball income with GSW than they could elsewhere.
Zero chance to clear enough cap room for any FA and keep the big 3…
I can see them keeping Klay and moving on from Draymond. Draymond overvalues himself. S&T is the only way they add to the roster via FA if they keep 1 or both. Either its trading the young guys, poole, or dray.
Cant ST without getting hard capped well below the current salary.
Why would the Warriors go after LeBron James? He is practically retired.
Well there are rumors about it already. Essentially, it may be how they talk Dray into taking that huge pay cut. Bron 2 yrs from now is still likely to be a Top-30 player, hes Top-10 right now. GSW would have to figure out a way to land Bronny for sure. And that squad would still be favored to reach the finals. Win a ring with your kid? That’s the storybook ending for Bron. And it’d be a real chance at a last championship run for the Curry.
No matter what happens, this situation is the most perfect and cleanest route to get Lebron and Bronny on the same team. Lebron has to be looking at this, knowing that Draymond has been obnoxiously repping him in all his interviews, and drooling at the proposition of playing 25-30 MPG for the next X however many more years he can play for, winning ring after ring with his son.
Im not sure any other team has the capital and willingness to trade the young guys to make this happen like GSW does. Reply guys: for the first time in your lives please be useful here and please inform me who can even pull this off other than GSW? I genuinely don’t know. 76ers or Knicks maybe? But why? GSW is by my eye the only team who could trade for Bron and not immediately make their team irrelevant.
Pelicans could do it for sure.
Why would the Warriors go after LeBron? He is practically retired.
The way Lebron goes to GSW is he tells LAL that they are trading him there on an expiring so he doesnt just walk. Its the players who force these deals by publicly stating their preferred destination, and implying its the only place he is more than a one year rental.
Lebron for Wiggins straight up actually makes a ton of sense for both sides. Maybe GSW throws in future picks, but a current season All-Star for 40 year old Lebron seems like a good return for him.
@8wings That is a stoopid trade. A young all-star, plus picks, for a guy that is about to retire. Do you really want to see the Warriors destroyed?
I don’t, but if the Lebron to GSW move -does- happen, I wouldn’t mind swapping Wiggs for Bron. 39 year old Lebron clears current Andrew Wiggins, sorry.
I dont get it, Lebron and Dray are #1 and #2 highest IQ in the game, how can them playing together be bad?
Darkhorse candidate to replace Myers is Kerr. He is still committed to coaching especially with Paris Olympics coming up, but it’s a perfect opportunity for him to move up if he’s paid enough. Either that or he will be poached by Myers within 2 yrs. Dont let Myers fool you. He will be running one of the top teams after a year off.
Great idea, anything that gets Kerr off the floor and into the seats is the best possible outcome for GSW.