Warriors owner Joe Lacob has made a lot of front office and coaching moves in the past few months. Taken one by one, Lacob has seemingly assembled a pretty impressive teamand certainly a very large one at that.
The big question, however, is whether this team of more than a half-dozen men is capable of turning around the Golden State Warriors, who have missed the playoffs in 16 of the past 17 seasons?
Most important, do the Warriors decision-makers have the ability to work together? They have an abundance of voices, but do they have focus? Heres the real question: Is this group a hodgepodge of talent or a team put together with chemistry in mind?
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Lets take a look:
Joe Lacob: He is the owner, he is interested and he is very much involved in all decisions regarding basketball and basketball personnel. No trade will be made, no player will be drafted and no player will be acquired via free agency unless Lacob signs off on it.
Jerry West: Everyone agrees that his voice is and should be the most respected one in the room. There is certain to be deference shown to West, who has been brought in as an executive board member. We already know West liked Klay Thompson before the June draft, and sure enough, the Warriors selected Thompson with the No. 11 pick.
By the same token, it will not be West working the phones, creating deals or inquiring about players. West will surely be brought in at the end of the processwhen the franchise believes it has a decision to make.
Golden State Warriors
Larry Riley: Technically, Riley, the teams general managerexecutive vice president of basketball operations is above Bob Myers on the organizational flow chart, and yet it is generally acknowledged that Myers, the assistant GM, has more power and will eventually become the GM.
Riley is still going to be the one in front of the cameras, explaining the Warriors trades, signings, etc., but its tough to imagine hell be the decision-maker he was a year ago.
Bob Myers: There are agents out there who know the game of basketball and there are agents out there who dont know as much. Instead, they see the game more through their clients eyeswhich often distorts the view.
We have no idea what kind of basketball mind Myers haswhether hes creative, whether he understands and values chemistry, whether hes got a specific idea of how to build a team.
By virtually every account, he was a respected agent, forthright and competent. But thats a very different skill set than the one hell need now as the teams assistant general managervice president of basketball operations.
Travis Schlenk: After the transition from Chris Cohan to Lacob, Schlenk came away with a promotion and extension. Hes the teams assistant general managerdirector of player personnel.
Last season, he traveled and saw more college and international games than anyone else in the organization. Riley has openly credited Schlenk with the Dorell Wright signing, which brought in a very competent player at a very reasonable salary.
Riley was said to have leaned on Schlenk quite a bit in the past season or two. Riley still may in fact be doing that, but does it matter? Despite Schlenks promotion, he probably has less decision-making power than he did a year ago.
Kirk Lacob: Conventional wisdom is that Kirk Lacob, the director of basketball operations and son of Joe Lacob, will eventually run the Golden State Warriors. And so he is absolutely in on everything of significance when it comes to basketball operations.
He also was recently named the general manager of the Dakota Wizardsthe Warriors D-League teamwhich will give us our first clue as to what hell do in terms of assembling a basketball roster, etc. Kirk is very much like his father in that he wants to know anything and everything thats out there in terms of trades. Kirk certainly doesnt have the kind of clout that his dad or Jerry West has. But its not like hes walking around the office without a point of view.
Mark Jackson: Most of the time a coach shouldn't be on this list. But the sheer force of Jackson's personality is going to make him a factor. Not to mention, on the day he was hired, Jackson said he expected to be involved in personnel decisions. And Jackson, more than anyone else, seemed to quell the talk of Monta Ellis being traded. Point is, don't forget about Jackson.