The Golden State Warriors have promoted Bob Myers to General Manager, the team announced today. Larry Riley, who has spent the last four years in the Warriors’ front office – including the last 12 months as General Manager/Executive VP of Basketball Operations – will remain with the organization as the team’s Director of Scouting.
Myers, 37, joined the Warriors on April 14, 2011 as Assistant General Manager/Vice President of Basketball Operations following a highly-successful 14-year stint as a representative to numerous NBA players. During the last year with Golden State, Myers has worked closely under the tutelage of Riley on all Basketball Operations matters, including contract negotiations, talent evaluation, roster management, scouting and CBA compliance. In his new role, Myers will report to Co-Executive Chairman & CEO Joe Lacob and will oversee the entire Basketball Operations Department on a day-to-day basis.
“We’re extremely pleased to announce Bob’s promotion as we conclude the 2011-12 season,” said Lacob. “We are confident that he is the right person to guide our Basketball Operations Department into the long-term future and, similarly, through a very important time for this franchise as we begin to prepare for next season. As we acknowledged a year ago, we think his potential as a young executive in this business is outstanding and that intuition was certainly confirmed during his first year with the organization. Bob is a well-respected, intelligent and dedicated executive who has developed many solid relationships in the game of basketball and understands what it takes to be successful in this business. He’s the ideal person for this job.”
A Bay Area native who attended Monte Vista High School in Danville, Myers graduated from UCLA in 1998 with a degree in Business/Economics and later earned his Law Degree from Loyola Law School. As a member of the UCLA basketball team, Myers and the Bruins captured the 1995 NCAA Championship during his sophomore season and advanced to the 1997 Elite Eight two years later.
Prior to joining the Warriors last spring, Myers spent five years at Los Angeles-based Wasserman Media Group (WMG), one of the largest global and sports entertainment companies in the world. He represented a client list of nearly 20 NBA players before his departure from WMG. Myers began his career in 1997 as an intern at Tellem and Associates in Los Angeles – working under long-time sports agent Arn Tellem – and eventually served as Vice President of SFX Sports. He negotiated over $575 million in contracts during his 14 years in the business.
“I’m grateful for this tremendous opportunity and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead,” said Myers. “The last year has been a learning experience for me as I’ve had the chance to familiarize myself with all facets of the organization while working with Joe, Peter, Larry, Coach Jackson, Rick Welts, Jerry West and many other talented individuals. In conjunction with all of those people, we hope to build a team that our great fans can be proud of for a long period of time. I’m convinced that many of the pieces are in place for this organization to be extremely successful, including our ownership group. If you have committed ownership, you have a chance in this league. I’m excited to have that chance and the opportunity to be a part of something special.”
Riley, 68, joined the Warriors prior to the 2006-07 season as an assistant coach and has spent the last six years with the organization, including four in the front office. Overall, he owns more than 23 years of experience in the NBA as a front office executive, coach or scout. Prior to his arrival in the Bay Area, he spent six seasons with the Dallas Mavericks (2000-01 – 2005-06), six years with the Vancouver Grizzlies (1994-95 – 1999-2000) and six years with the Milwaukee Bucks (1988-89 – 1993-94).
“Larry has been the consummate professional dating back to my initial conversations with the team almost two years ago,” said Lacob. “I’ve relied on him immensely since the early stages of our our ownership and he has done a very good job of putting this team in position to be successful in the future. His overall body of work, including in the last year with the drafting of Klay Thompson and the acquisitions of Brandon Rush and Andrew Bogut, has been extremely solid. Larry has laid a strong foundation and he will certainly have an imprint on our future success. I’m happy that he has elected to remain a part of the organization as our Director of Scouting and he’ll continue to be an asset for all of us.”
“I appreciate the fact that Joe and Bob have asked me to oversee the college scouting department and I embrace this opportunity,” said Riley. “Scouting has always been in my DNA and this will allow me to contribute to the organization in a meaningful and productive manner. Additionally, I think Bob is ready and prepared to accept this responsibility and I anticipate that he will do an outstanding job in his new position. I know he will benefit from having an aggressive ownership group that is completely committed to reaching new heights.”
