OAKLAND – Though there are many layers to explain why Warriors general manager Bob Myers is the NBA's Executive of the Year, it may be best to begin with two messages he received upon being notified of the award Friday morning.
The Warriors general manager was congratulated via text message from Mark Jackson, the coach he dismissed last spring.
Myers also was congratulated via phone call from Flip Saunders, the Minnesota coach/GM whose trade proposal last summer was rebuffed by Myers.
No grudges, no jealousy, no animosity. With Jackson and Saunders, each of whom could have been sour with Myers, bygones were bygones.
That's because Myers consistently displays characteristics that serves him well in general, and certainly in his capacity. He's amiable, accessible and credible.
"I don’t think Bob knows how to lie," said Warriors forward Draymond Green, who credited Myers with "helping turn this whole organization around."
"At the end of the day," Green added, "he gives you a certain comfort level and makes you feel wanted."
Myers played a major role in building a roster that posted a league-best 67 wins – one of only 10 franchises to ever reach that level – was the galvanizing force behind the Warriors changing their culture from one of ineptitude and despair, to one of hope and prosperity.
It was Myers who chased and caught veterans Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala via trades, and signed star guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to extensions that will keep them at the team's core for years to come.
Myers was the architect behind the 2012 draft that netted Draymond Green, Festus Ezeli and Harrison Barnes.
Moreover, it was Myers who last spring pointed to himself as the reason why the Warriors didn't have a better team. During a postseason conversation, he told me Jackson should have had a better bench and blamed himself for not arranging it.
Though the Warriors brain trust operates as a group of six, Myers is chiefly responsible for the personnel. A former Los Angeles-based player agent who was a backup on UCLA's 1995 National Championship team, Myers was recruited to the Warriors in 2011 as assistant GM before being promoted in April 2012.
Having grown up in Danville and attended his first Warriors game as an 8-year-old – he still has the $8 ticket, saved by his mother – Myers got emotional reflecting on his journey during a news conference at the team's downtown facility.
"I really did remain a Warriors fan," Myers said of his years in Southern California. "It's so nice to see the organization in the place it's in now. It's something you can't dream of or imagine. You just have to remove yourself from the situation and realize its happening."
Myers, 40, thanked his wife, Kristen. He thanked CEO Joe Lacob, co-owner Peter Guber, fellow team executives Travis Schlenk, Kirk Lacob, Larry Harris, Larry Riley and "mentor" Jerry West.
He also thanked head coach Steve Kerr and his staff for guiding the roster to the best regular season in franchise history.
Myers did not thank himself.
"I don't play and I don't coach," he said. "What we do is more a reflection of the coaches and players."
