Getty Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob and team president Bob Myers look on during a game against the Denver Nuggets.
Former Golden State Warrior Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers shared one of his biggest regrets as an NBA executive.
In 2020, he passed up on drafting Tyrese Haliburton despite his impressive workout and interview and went on to select James Wiseman, who is no longer with the Warriors and is turning out to be a draft bust.
“Let’s talk about that. That workout was a few miles from here in Vegas,” Myers said on NBA Countdown before Haliburton led the Indiana Pacers past the Milwaukee Bucks to advance to the In-Season Tournament Finals. “[With] myself, Steve Kerr, Joe Lacob and he did what he does.”
”He made a ton of shots and we looked at each other and said ‘he might be pretty good.’ Different kind of shot, kind of a set shot, but he made them all.”
“What bothers me more than anything was his workout was good [but] when we met with him after, I should have known then because of how he is as a person and as a leader. Because you meet with people, you talk to them. But that conversation left a mark because of how smart he is and how confident [he is]. It’s not fake, it’s not arrogant, it’s confidence.”
Reporting for NBA Countdown on @TyHaliburton22 and the Pacers’ vision for a future together
That confidence was in full display on Thursday in Las Vegas. Haliburton became the first NBA player to have three games with 25+ points, 15+ assists and 0 turnovers. He finished with 27 points, including the dagger 3, and 15 assists against Damian Lillard and the Bucks.
It’s Haliburton Time
After hitting the dagger 3, Haliburton trolled Lillard with his “Dame Time” signature celebration with “It’s my time!”
“What time is it?”
Not Dame Time.
“It’s my time!” – Tyrese Haliburton
But to be fair, Haliburton was only the second-best point guard prospect in that 2020 Draft Class. That label belonged to LaMelo Ball, who went No. 3 behind Wiseman.
After Myers, 10 more GMs made the blunder of passing up on Haliburton who went to the Kings with the No. 12 pick. And the Kings chose to build around De’Aaron Fox over Haliburton and shipped him to Indiana where he’s blossomed into one of the league’s rising superstars.
Hindsight is always 20-20.
But imagine Haliburton zipping out those crisp passes to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson with the efficiency of a younger and taller version of Chris Paul.
That ship has sailed. Myers and the Warriors could only watch with regret as Haliburton continues his meteoric rise.
Steve Kerr to Tweak Starting Lineup
After their young, athletic players energized the lifeless Warriors to pull off a 110-106 win over the lottery-bound Portland Trail Blazers, Steve Kerr plans to shake up his starting lineup.
“The puzzle hasn’t fit this year,” Kerr told reporters. “We’ve had a lot of guys playing well, but we may have to think about moving the starting lineup around from game to game depending on who we are facing. I’d still prefer to get something solid, but we haven’t established anything this year. We’re a quarter of a way through so there is a lot of thought that has to go into this.”
Incumbent starters Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson struggled anew. The veteran duo combined to hit just 6 of 25 shots.
On the flipside, Jonathan Kuminga had 13 points — all in the second half — while Moses Moody continued his stellar play with 12 points off the bench.
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Ex-Warriors GM Bob Myers Regrets Passing up on Rising Star for Draft Bust