Despite the massive payroll and massive expectations as the reigning NBA champions, Warriors president of basketball operations and general manager Bob Myers is still reserving judgment on this early season.
Golden State will enter Thursday night’s contest against the Miami Heat with a 2-2 record and a lot of moving parts. There’s no doubting the quality of the Warriors’ starting five, but the bench mob is still a work in progress, which is to be expected from a unit with two free agents and a host of players under the age of 23.
Myers joined 95.7 The Game’s “Steiny & Guru” for his weekly appearance Thursday and discussed a number of topics, including the team’s NBA-best $7 billion valuation by Forbes, Klay Thompson’s ejection and the development of the second unit.
“I don't know what this team is yet,” Myers told hosts Matt Steinmetz and Daryle ‘The Guru’ Johnson. “I don’t know if anybody knows what their team is yet, four games in.”
There are 78 games left before the playoffs begin. All 30 teams are still going through a feeling-out process. As Myers noted, it was hard to foresee the Warriors winning the 2022 title even after they started out with an 18-2 mark last year.
“We didn’t become who we were until we got to the playoffs,” Myers said.
The starting five of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney boasts a 36.3 net rating in 49 minutes together, with a 135.4 offensive rating and elite 99.1 defensive rating.
Free agents Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green are trying to mesh with the young Warriors wave led by 23-year-old Jordan Poole, along with 21-year-old James Wiseman, 20-year-old Moses Moody and 20-year-old Jonathan Kuminga.
“Poole is the sixth guy, so now what after that?” Myers said. “I don’t know. Nobody does. We gotta see what happens from six guys on, because none of them have really proven it yet with our team. We’ll find out. But I can’t say when that’ll be.”
Andre Iguodala is also working his way back to return, which could further complicate playing time in the second half of the season. In similar comments that Iguodala made earlier in the day, Myers said it’s about keeping the young guys engaged.
“The challenge for us is how do you keep guys' confidence?” Myers said. “How do you keep them focused?”
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