Warriors General Manager Bob Myers has been named the 2014-15 NBA Basketball Executive of the Year
Warriors General Manager Bob Myers has been named the 2014-15 NBA Basketball Executive of the Year, the league announced today. Myers joins Dick Vertlieb, who was named Executive of the Year during Golden State’s championship season in 1974-75, as the only recipients of the award in Warriors history.
Myers assembled a roster that won a franchise-record 67 games (67-15, .817) in 2014-15 and clinched homecourt advantage throughout the 2015 playoffs by virtue of posting the NBA’s best record. The Warriors became the 10th team in league history to win at least 67 games in a single season, setting franchise marks by winning 39 home games (39-2, .951) and 28 road contests (28-13, .683) en route to capturing their first Pacific Division title since 1975-76. Under first-year Head Coach Steve Kerr, who was hired on May 19, 2014, Golden State set team records with win streaks of 19-straight at home (Nov. 13 – Jan. 25), 10-straight on the road (Nov. 16 – Dec. 14) and 16-straight overall (Nov. 13 – Dec. 14).
Myers originally joined the Warriors on April 14, 2011, as assistant general manager/vice president of basketball operations and was named general manager on April 24, 2012. In his first draft as the club’s general manager in 2012, he selected Harrison Barnes (7th overall), Festus Ezeli (30th overall), Draymond Green (35th overall) and Ognjen Kuzmic (52nd overall), all of whom remain on the team’s roster, including a pair of starters in Barnes and Green.
During his tenure, the Warriors have retained many of their top talents, signing starters Stephen Curry, Andrew Bogut and Klay Thompson to multi-year contract extensions. In 2014-15, the Warriors returned their top seven players in terms of minutes played from the 2013-14 season (Barnes, Bogut, Curry, Green, Andre Iguodala, David Lee, Thompson), the first time they’ve maintained such year-over-year continuity since bringing back their top seven minute-men in 1988-89.
Without a selection in each of the last two drafts, Myers has fortified Golden State’s roster through trades and free agency, acquiring Iguodala in a three-team deal on July 10, 2013 and signing key contributors such as Leandro Barbosa, Shaun Livingston and Marreese Speights over the past two summers. The Warriors have qualified for the postseason in each of Myers’ three full seasons at the helm, making three consecutive playoff appearances for the first time since 1975-77.
In his first year with the Warriors, Myers worked closely under the tutelage of then-General Manager Larry Riley on all basketball operations matters, including contract negotiations, talent evaluation, roster management, scouting and CBA compliance. Prior to joining the Warriors, Myers spent the previous five years at Wasserman Media Group (WMG) in Los Angeles, capping a successful 14-year stint as a representative to numerous NBA players.
Myers totaled 82 points and received 13 of 30 first-place votes from a panel of fellow team basketball executives throughout the NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ David Griffin finished second with 69 points (eight first-place votes), and the Atlanta Hawks’ Mike Budenholzer was third with 36 points (four first-place votes). Executives were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.