Warriors hire assistant GM; expected to be groomed to full time GM

Myers is a contract law expert to help with negotiations and signings. Larry Riley to get two years as GM.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/13/SPPT1J05F7.DTL

 

Thank goodness, something positive and new. Okay, Lacob may have acted slower than fans may have wanted but this shows he's got some plan going forward that does not involve just keeping the status quo.

 

First order of business. If Riley is the one doing the grooming, then don't go to wherever he gets his tan.

What was curious to me was Larry Riley getting a two-year extension. Maybe he won't have GM powers. Kawakami has an explanation.

* NBA exec after watching Anthony Randolph get heavy minutes (and stats) for Minnesota in the last few weeks: “Does anybody realize how good this kid could be?”

Yes, Randolph has value. Had it last summer, had it while languishing on the Knicks’ bench and has it now in Minnesota–and he’s still only 21.

1–As pointed out in this Woj piece, around the league it is assumed that Bob Myers’ initial title as Warriors assistant GM under Larry Riley is a temporary formality.

Myers is being brought in to run the basketball shop as GM and wouldn’t have left his rich agenting practice for anything less.

He’ll get the GM title at some point soon, probably after a season, with Riley possibly moving to a more ceremonial role.

So how to explain Joe Lacob picking up Riley’s contractural options through 2013, as reported by Comcast’s Matt Steinmetz?

One–we don’t know how much of that is guaranteed money.

Two–Riley was already one of the lowest-paid GMs in the league, I doubt he got a raise and it’s possible he took less money for the longer-term.

Three–Lacob/Rowell likes Riley. It’s very logical to assume that L/R wanted to make sure he was happy about Myers’ arrival (and the motivation to help groom him) and to do that the Warriors gave Riley the security of a longer deal.

Four–It’s clear that Lacob is planning a major restructuring of the basketball offices. Maybe Riley will get bumped up to a VP-line, maybe Myers gets that slot, and there’s always Kirk Lacob to account for.

It looks to me that Lacob is making room for a personnel/draft guru, as he broadens the scope of the hoops operation. Lacob has been silent for a few days, so I’m just analyzing what I see and hear.

–What does this mean for Rowell’s future? Until I hear otherwise, I’m assuming he’s part of Lacob–he’s morphed himself into Lacob’s best buddy and I’m guessing all of Rowell’s trusted lieutenants are safe for now.

You know who they are. They sure as hell do.

–What does this mean for Keith Smart’s future (his pre-game comments about his status are at the bottom of this take)?

Doubt it changes much, but I think Lacob will want Myers to re-analyze the situation, so a Smart dismissal might take a week or so.

Myers presumably has some ideas of his own about what he wants out of a head coach and what candidates he’d like to interview. TBA on this one.

–By the way, because I’m mean, and because this was the major move of last summer…

Here’s David Lee’s year-by-year record:

-2005-06 New York Knicks: 23-59 record. Team defensive ranking: 27th.

-2006-07 NY Knicks: 33-49. Defensive ranking: 20th.

-2007-08 NY Knicks: 23-59. Defensive ranking: 22nd.

-2008-09 NY Knicks: 32-50. Defensive ranking: 28th.

-2009-10 NY Knicks: 29-53. Defensive ranking: 28th.

-2010-11 Warriors: 36-46. Defensive ranking: 27th.

...

3–You go Chronicle! Great job!

Hours after I reported the Bob Myers hiring and after Steinmetz reported the Larry Riley contract extension, the Chronicle reported BOTH news updates without crediting either the Merc or Comcast.

Instead, the Chron cited a “league source” conveniently for both items.

Yep, the Chron has that great league source. I’m sure that was all independently reported, not at all just poached from Comcast and the Merc.

Or it was incredibly weak journalism.

Readers don’t care about this stuff. But reporters with real sources have to care–it’s what we do; and those who don’t have real sources and take short-cuts foul up the waters.

We’re supposed to disseminate accurate info as fast as is logical, and trust that others will respect the process. Sometimes we can’t trust that.

—-KEITH SMART pre-game presser, partial transcript/

-Q: Do you feel comfortable about your situation? We’ve all noted that your contract isn’t guaranteed for next season.

-SMART: Ever since I started playing basketball I’ve been in a one-and-done situation and I’ve always managed to focus on what I needed to do as a person, as a coach, as a player. I’ve always felt comfortable with what I’m doing, to have confidence in what my abilities will allow me to continue to do.

I remember coming out here on a one-year deal. I’ve been here eight years now. So I just focus on the work that I’m going to do and how I’m going to do that work and not worry about that kind of stuff. I never have.

What is security in this world? There’s no such thing as security.

-Q: There’s the security of a long-term deal.

-SMART: But I want to coach. I don’t care about the deal. I could go get a deal and work anywhere else. But I want to be a coach. That’s what I’m doing. I’m focusing on the coaching part more than the security part.

I had a team that followed me like I had a 100-year guaranteed contract because they did everything that I wanted them to do and bounced back to play basketball for me this year. I think they went out and proved that they enjoy what I was doing.

I pushed them hard. They bounced back. So I think this group showed me a lot. So we never looked as “Keith” and the situation that he was in. They looked at me as a coach and that’s how I looked at them.

-Q: Do you believe you’ll be back?

-SMART: I focus just on now. I have a contract and we’re going to at a certain point in time and conversate. But at this point we’re focusing on this game here tonight.

[EDIT]

-Q: A couple days ago I read where you said that anywhere else this season would be considered a success but not here. I don’t really get what you meant by that.

-SMART: Just communicating that we’re moving in a positive direction… not where we want to be right now. I talked to a few guys last night watching some of the games, trying to jockey for position last night. Just communicating to a few of the guys last night that we want to be in that position…

Got a lot of response back from that. So we’re moving. I think our team is moving in the right direction.

Eventually if we continue to do the right things, me as a coach, you as a player, we as an organization, we’re going to get there.

-Q: What’s the difference between your team and a playoff team, do you think?

-SMART: No. 1 is experience. No. 2 is that they have players that have a super belief in what they’re doing.

And they have the size. I look at a team, if I can use it (as an example), like Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City was very, very good already, but they needed a playoff-type team. They went out and made a huge deal and got a playoff-tested big guy.

So I think that’s where it lies with the strength and the size of some of these guys that are going to move into the playoffs, so they can adjust to whatever team they play in the playoffs.

That’s something that I’ll be looking at with our season.

-Q: What are you most proud of this season?

-SMART: I’m that I convinced myself that I can coach in the NBA, coach an NBA team, run an NBA team. So I’m proud of that there. I’m proud of how these young men responded to me. How we put this thing together and get them to follow my lead of what I wanted to do.

I see that they were committed to what I wanted to get done. I tried some things this season, some of it worked, some of it didn’t, but that’s what every coach does when he starts off.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawaka...rs-the-sharks-prediction-and-more/#more-10801