The Golden State Warriors have been is a state of Joe Lacob induced chrysalis since his taking over of the W's regime, promising sustained success to a franchise stuck in the doldrums, and an actual reason for the fanbase to spend their hard earned money on them. Lacob has slowly but surely been moving in the right direction, and the promotion of Bob Myers is another step forward.
CSN Bay Area's Ray Ratto isn;t as sold on the move, calling it no more likening Lacob's turnaround of the Chris Cohan lead Warriors to a "monochrome Rubik's cube of sports," noting that his hand-on approach will actually hinder Myers in his new position:
Myers does not represent a real change of direction. He's been on board for a year, with presumably as much say then as he will have now. Larry Riley will clearly have less, but not so much that it changes the club's direction.
Frankly, the Warriors, down to their final layup line after tonight, have to reinvent the team itself, and the promise of a playoff this year was among the daftest of Lacob's notions. He cannot surely be loony enough to do so again next year, can he?
Or maybe he can. This is ultimately still his team, run his way, and he has the predominant input. In short, Bob Myers, which he's already done, isn't nearly as interesting unless he is given the full faith and credit of the average general manager, which he won't.
But he makes for a nice press release at the tail end of another lost season that avoided hope as though it were despair. It's something new to talk about with a team that has so few talking points.
These certainly are all valid points, and I fully agree with all of them. But Larry Riley had been around for 12 seasons as General Manager, still a holdout from the old Cohan authority. Myers is a Lacob hire who got promoted by Lacob, essentially his No. 1 guy. Not only that, his time as a agent under the legendary Arn Tellum is advantageous, having strong connections with many players in the league already that Riley may not have had.
He's a young, vibrant face to be associated with an up-and-coming franchise, who's got the expertise and breadth of knowledge to really be an asset. What's not to like?
Well, it's all about appearances with Lacob and Co., which is why this move is important because it shows the fans that the old days are out the door, even though they certainly may not be. It's a face-value promotion.
Whatever difference Myers may make from Riley could never be perceived by the average fan, but the fact that the change was made is something that can be pointed to, and possibly even talked about, while in line to purchase some Warriors tickets for next year.
And next year, when Andrew Bogut arrives to save the franchise, Lacob can sit back and look like a genius. But as for this move, I think Ratto sums this title-swap up well:
But it's still upstairs, while the on-floor presentation remains, well, really 13th. And that's the part people care about. Everything else is inside basketball, and Warrior fans want to see some outside basketball before they die.
For more on the Warriors, head over to Golden State of Mind.
