Warriors GM Bob Myers: 'We're good on paper'

How durable that paper will be is still to be determined.

For all the success Myers has seemingly had in the five months since the former sports agent was promoted from assistant general manager, Golden State's season still rests largely on the surgically repaired ankles of center Andrew Bogut and point guard Stephen Curry. It's a scary, however promising, prospect Myers admits he thinks about often.

With training camp beginning next week, Myers has tried to remind himself there is only so much he can do. He keeps inspirational quotes on his phone, and anytime his mind begins to wander, he thinks back to one by writer Ralph Waldo Emerson that goes: "Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it."

"Basically meaning, let's do what we can do today to make sure everybody's healthy and every day and let that fall where it may," Myers said. "And I think if you want to look back at the history of guys, when they're healthy, they're very good."

Myers will not make any playoff promises — as coach Mark Jackson did a year ago — and is instead taking the opposite approach: a stark look at reality.

Growing up in nearby Danville, Myers has watched enough of his predecessors offer false hope — and fail to deliver — to make any unnecessary assumptions.

But he's pleased enough with Bogut's acquisition from Milwaukee last year for guard Monta Ellis, power forward David Lee's leadership, the additions of guard Jarrett Jack and forward Carl Landry and re-signing Brandon Rush to believe that a franchise that finished 23-43 last season and has made the playoffs once in the last 18 years has a chance to start a positive streak.

Asking anymore at this time, he admits, is not being realistic.

"To be totally honest and candid, we're not being discussed as winning an NBA championship this year," Myers said. "You at least want to be in that conversation. That's a goal. We're not there. Nobody's saying we have a chance to win a title. That's the next step for this organization is to have that conversation. It's incremental. I know we have a long way to go. But that's ultimately where we want to be, and we're not there right now. We don't deserve to be there. But we feel like we're heading in the right direction."