Q&A — Warriors assistant GM Bob Myers

Warriors assistant general manager Bob Myers is like mostothers in the teams front office -- awaiting the start of the 2011-12 season.Its been more than six months since Myers gave up being an agent and took ajob in Golden States front office.I had a chance to catch up with Myers to find out how hesdoing in his job and what will happen once the lockout ends.Question: What have you been doing?Myers: I get asked that a lot. For us,with all the changes in the organization weve had to do quite a bit -- all newcoaching staff, new trainer, new strength coach, just hired security for theteam. Im working with our president Rick Welts, hiring a generalcounsel.Were running out of people to hire. After that, itsgetting ready for when we can go back to work.Question: Will this be challengingbecause when you head into free agency and training camp its likely to becompressed because of the lockout?Myers: I think this will be different foreverybody. Everything is going to get squeezed. Preparation will be key.Approaching it from the other side for me will be different. First time doingit.Its still the same game, so to speak, for lack of a betterword. Ill see it from a different angle. I feel like Im more of a buyer thana seller now. But youve still got to make the best decision and inevitablyyoure still negotiating.Relationships will be key. Informationits alwaysimportant to have the best information. But it will be different for me thefirst time around.Question: Youre going to have a youngteamHave you talked in general what your strategy will be once the lockoutends?Myers: Weve had a lot of time to go overwhat the steps will be once this is resolved. There are three ways to improveyour team: Draft, free agency and trades.Well, the draft has come and gone. You hope youve made theright decisions there and we think we did.Then theres trades that you explore. A lot of things havebeen put on hiatus. And theres free agency. You explore all of them. Theinteresting thing now because the period will be shortened, the question ishow do you accomplish a lot of the things in a short amount of time? Youregoing to have a of balls in the air and a lot of different variables to dealwith. Some of the decisions you make will have a domino effect.Once certain players have signed, take them off your wantedlist. Youre constantly going through the process, processing information andseeing how it helps your team. The more efficient and the more diligent you canbe in that process the better youll come out of it.I dont think you want to make rash decisions. In sports,there is always emotion when it comes to making a decision. So you have to becareful to make the right decision without letting emotion or short-termthinking play into it at all.Question: You guys have reshaped theentire front office. How is that going? Is that all done?Myers: I dont think theres anythingleft. Thats one of the things weve been working hard on. Its all new people,which is great, but everybody has to get acclimated with one another. Thatswhat were doing.If it was a whole new group in your office, even thoughtheyre all accomplished and experienced, youd still have to get to knowthem.So thats happening with the coaching staff. Were all goingto know each other. Were all going to know the trainers, strength coaches.Theyre going to know us. Thats good for our organizationspecifically.I get asked, 'Whats going on?' Our organization has made somany changes so this period has allowed us to get to know each other withoutthe pressure of time.Question: Youve got owner Joe Lacob, whois very involved. Youve got Jerry West, youve got you, Larry Riley. MarkJackson is someone who also has said hes going to want to know whats goingon. Is there a danger of too many voices?Myers: This is what I believe. If youhave people willing to leave their ego at the door and recognize theyre notgoing to have the best information or have the right answer all the time -- andbe OK with that, and say this time somebody else might have had a better way togo about it -- then it will be fine.Ive known Larry a long time. Ive known Mark a long time.Ive known Mark and Jerry 10-plus years. That gives you the ability to have thehard conversations when youve known somebody a long time.Certainly its Joes team. If there is a situation where someoneneeds to step in and make the final decision it will be Joe. Everybody knowsthat and nobody has an issue with that. The only time weve gone through it --and I can tell you as an example-- was the draft.Not everybody lined up perfectly at the beginning. But whenit came down to decide we were all on the same page. Will there be days whenone person doesnt think if it was their decision theyd make the same onewere all making? Of course. Thats OK. The mistake people make is allowing oneperson to make a decision without input.Jerry, whos been doing it so longit would beirresponsible not to listen to his experience. So, it makes sense to get a goodgroup together.