OAKLAND, Calif. _ As fans twiddle their thumbs waiting to see who the Warriors will play in the NBA Western Conference semifinals, the break in the action might be a good time to assess how Bob Myers' latest wondrous year as general manager fits within the context of his wildly successful four-year tenure.
Admit it, even after the Warriors scored their blockbuster free-agent coup with Kevin Durant last summer, you might have been fretful about the mass departures of so many team fixtures _ Andrew Bogut, Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, Leandro Barbosa, Mo Speights _ and how Myers could possibly fill in the gaps with very limited resources.
Six months later, nobody's fretting. Even disregarding Durant's colossal impact, which should be felt for years to come, you could make the case that the Warriors are a better team with a stronger bench than they had the past three seasons with the free-agent additions of JaVale McGee, David West, Zaza Pachulia, the second-round draft find of Patrick McCaw and even the late emergency addition of Matt Barnes.
If Myers doesn't win NBA Executive of the Year for the second time in three years, the award is a farce. The Warriors added so many solid complementary pieces to their core at ridiculously low expense, they didn't even need to force first-round draft pick Damian Jones into the frontcourt mix, and used 2016-17 as a developmental year for the promising young big man.
With all that in mind, here's a subjective ranking of Myers' best free agent/trade decisions since being named general manager in April of 2012, incorporating this year's additions:
