It is not uncommon for somebody to describe the Washington Wizards as a trainwreck of an organization. While they have made some great trades in recent years, there is definitely room for improvement in how they can construct their roster. This is where the newly available Bob Myers, GM of the Golden State Warriors, becomes extremely interesting.
Now I’ll give credit where credit is due, Tommy Sheppard has been fantastic at hunting down disgruntled players and nabbing steals in trades. Consistently flipping players like Russell Westbrook for players like Kyle Kuzma. Even Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans for Kristaps Porzingis.
He has also found some under the radar free agency signings. Delon Wright and Jordan Goodwin have both been fantastic two-way players for the Wiz. He has even helped secure some major extensions, for better or for worse with Bradley Beal and Daniel Gafford.
Even with all of the good things he has done, moving on from Sheppard may be what’s best for the franchise. His inability to draft has left them in a hole with little wiggle room to grow. This will only get worse if they win in the Play-In tournament and watch their pick transfer to the New York Knicks.
However, he is incapable of drafting quality players that fit the roster. He’s had some selections with positive upside like Deni Avdija and Rui Hachimura, but neither of those players have realized their potential yet.
The biggest weakness of Sheppard is finding talent outside of already established players. While this is difficult to do, it is vital in building a contending roster. He has missed great players over and over again during his tenure as GM.
He has passed on numerous great players with plenty of room to grow like Jalen Duren, Jalen Williams, and even Tyrese Haliburton. This draft history is concerning at the very least and could be the reason to move on from him.
His draft decisions and the failure of Wes Unseld Jr to develop his draft choices could motivate Ted Leonsis to move on to a GM like Bob Myers.
Signing Bob Myers could be the move that turns this franchise around.
There is no doubt that the team that Bob Myers has crafted and polished over the past decade and some change has been one of the best to ever play in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors have won four championships in six Finals appearances. That’s the greatest dynasty since former Wizard Michael Jordan was playing.
In his first three decisions as GM of the Warriors, Myers selected Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, and Draymond Green. Those three players would be key to their first two championships. He would also go on to draft Kevon Looney, Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, and others.
Myers would also orchestrate numerous beneficial trades for his team. This includes trading for Andre Iguodala, D’Angelo Russell, and Andrew Wiggins. He also pulled off a wide variety of smaller trades that helped propel them to numerous championships.
On top of his draft and trade history, he also has probably the best free agency history out of any GM in the league. He signed Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins (who was widely regarded as the best center in the league at the time), and a variety of other vital role players.
Myers also found diamonds in the rough plenty of times, signing JaVale McGee, Damion Lee, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Shaun Livingston, Gary Payton II, and plenty of other players who had been forgotten about.
To top it all off, he orchestrated extensions to Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Kevon Looney, and Andre Iguodala. These are all huge players in the sustained success of the team and being able to keep them happy and on the roster is huge in winning.
The Washington Wizards would have to throw the kitchen sink at Bob Myers to get him to join the franchise.
While there have been rumors that Bob Myers may want out of Golden State, the Washington Wizards would still have to do their fair share of work to get him to leave. It’s not like everybody is looking for the first opportunity to jump ship when in a situation like his.
The first thing in the Wizards favor is the fact that they are an attractive location for a GM like Myers. A team that hasn’t won in around 50 years that has been stuck in no man’s land in all but a small handful of seasons since then.
Any confident GM who has already proven himself but still has some doubters about his true abilities would leap at an opportunity like this. We saw this happen with Danny Ainge just last offseason. He built the foundation for numerous contending Celtics teams, but many still doubted him. Now he’s turning around a Utah Jazz team that has been in the same funk as the Wizards for 20 years.
If the Wizards throw him a massive offer and maybe even some partial ownership similar to the Pat Riley signing with the Miami Heat, they could possibly pry Myers away from the team he built.
Signing an executive of Bob Myer’s caliber could be huge for the Washington Wizards who are looking to start competing for their second ever NBA title.
I recently had a discussion on the Bleav in Wizards podcast with Matt Moderno about this very topic, where we flushed this idea out in a little more detail.