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00:00All right, let's go out to the River Islands guest line.
00:04All guests come courtesy of the River Islands guest line
00:07and Lathrop is in a time you discovered the islands.
00:11It's a welcome in Bob Myers,
00:13former president of basketball operations
00:15for the Golden State Warriors, general manager.
00:17What's up, Bob?
00:17How you doing, man?
00:19I'm doing good.
00:20I miss you guys.
00:21I miss you guys.
00:22I miss you too, baby.
00:23Yeah, obviously it's a big night here
00:26coming up at Chase Center.
00:27And you know, I just, it's so long ago,
00:30I just wanted to do the math,
00:32but you were hired in 2011
00:35and Klay was the pick that year, right?
00:38You were hired in April and then the draft was in June.
00:41So had you met him before that down in LA?
00:44What did you know about him?
00:46And kind of take us back to that decision at the time.
00:49I know you were working under Larry Riley,
00:51but you know, what do you remember about that time?
00:55It's interesting.
00:56The year before I was at the PAC 10 or 12,
00:59whatever it was, conference tournament in Staple,
01:01it was Staple Center.
01:02Then I was sitting with Danny Ange
01:04and this was the year before Klay came out.
01:07And he said to me,
01:08cause I was an agent at the time,
01:09he goes, I'm trying to,
01:11I would draft that kid right there in Washington State,
01:13Klay Thompson, if he comes out,
01:15I'm trying to see if he'll come out.
01:18And at that point,
01:18Klay would have been a late first round pick.
01:20And then Klay didn't come out, right?
01:22And so when he didn't come out,
01:25I was then at the Combine in Chicago
01:27or whatever it was my first year,
01:30as an assistant geometer, Larry Riley
01:31and Larry Harris told me early,
01:35Klay was not projected to be a lottery pick
01:37early in that draft process.
01:38He climbed his way up.
01:40So Larry Harris was the first one to say to me
01:43that I really like Klay Thompson,
01:45I really like Klay Thompson.
01:46And so that was,
01:47there's a couple of people I trusted and respected
01:49that liked him.
01:50And then there's that famous story of his workout
01:53down at the old Clippers facility,
01:55like the Spectrum in Manhattan Beach
01:57when Jerry West was there.
01:57And we, not just our team,
01:59but many teams were there watching Klay shoot.
02:02And there's not many guys that you just walk in the gym
02:06and watch him shoot one jump shot, two jump shots.
02:08And you just, you're just mesmerized.
02:10I mean, Ray Allen's probably a guy like that,
02:12Chris Mullen, even Steph,
02:15he obviously, I don't want to,
02:17his jump shot is not textbook.
02:20Obviously he's the best shooter ever to play basketball,
02:23but Klay's shot, Mully, Ray Allen,
02:25they have that, the one that you would teach, right?
02:28Steph's is probably tougher to teach,
02:30a little bit lower release point.
02:31Anyways, after we all saw him do that,
02:35we kind of, as a group, said that's our guy,
02:37if we could get him.
02:39People forget that Milwaukee was picking 10th
02:42and they traded that pick to Sacramento.
02:44I think Milwaukee would have taken Klay at 10.
02:47And then when they traded with Sac,
02:48Sac took Jimmer for that,
02:50and that allowed us to get Klay.
02:51So, yeah, I mean, I remember a dinner with Larry Riley
02:54and I had with him at Scott's Seafood
02:56in Jack London Square.
02:58I don't know if that's still there.
03:00You remember that place?
03:01And so, Klay didn't say anything.
03:04Klay did, he was so quiet with Larry and I,
03:06and we left the dinner, like it's hard to tell with this guy,
03:08but obviously what a career with the Warriors,
03:11and he's still, he's still going.
03:14Yeah, Bob, always a pleasure to talk to you.
03:16We were just trying to, you know,
03:18break down Klay Thompson
03:20and what made fans gravitate to him,
03:22not on the court, that was obvious, but off the court.
03:25How would you answer that?
03:28Well, I want to leave enough time
03:30to talk about your pickup game,
03:31so I just want to be quick with you.
03:32We got it, it's coming, Bob.
03:33It's coming.
03:36How much time can we allocate to the Goose pickup game?
03:39Just want to be, so I know how to answer these questions.
03:42Don't get them upset, Bob.
03:43We can do it in about 2.15,
03:45about 2.15 this afternoon.
03:47Oh, man.
03:50What was the question, Goo, I totally forgot.
03:52Why did the fans pick Klay?
03:54Why did they gravitate to Klay?
03:56You got it.
03:57Authenticity, I think, just kind of the person.
04:00I think we all love people, no matter,
04:03you know, you just like someone who's real,
04:05and I think he was very, he is and was very unassuming.
04:10Work ethic, you know, he was very quiet in his game,
04:14like low, not a demonstrative guy,
04:17but he was appreciated throughout the league.
04:19He got some huge defensive assignments
04:21in those playoff years, guarding Harden
04:23in some really tough series, guarding Kyrie,
04:27and his man-to-man defense was just high, high level,
04:30and then to still be able to shoot,
04:32for anybody that's played, you know,
04:33you look at players in the playoffs,
04:35a lot of times, players do defend
04:38at a lot higher level in the playoffs,
04:39so your shooting sometimes goes,
04:41if you guys remember that Rockets game
04:43where they missed 25 threes in a row,
04:45that would never happen if they weren't having
04:47to work so hard on defense,
04:49and so Klay was able to defend
04:51the other team's best perimeter player and score,
04:54and, you know, he did it a little bit.
04:56He was never the headliner,
04:57and so I think people loved watching him do his job
05:02at the highest level in the biggest moments,
05:04and Klay, he clearly, like, saved,
05:06I can get into it, but that Oklahoma City game,
05:08I don't, guys, I never rewatch much.
05:11I would rewatch that whole, if I could take a game,
05:14I'd pick two games to rewatch,
05:15it'd be that one, and then Curry and Boston,
05:18of my favorite games to rewatch, so.
05:21Yeah, hey, we're joined by Bob Myers,
05:23former president of basketball operations
05:25for the Golden State Warriors.
05:27Let me ask you this, because, you know,
05:30guys say stuff in the media,
05:32and you never know if it resonates in the building,
05:35or if it's a big deal, or anybody cares,
05:37but, you know, when Mark Jackson was coaching this team,
05:40long before the titles ever came,
05:42he said, this is the greatest shooting back court
05:44of all time, and, you know, back then,
05:48it was a gutsy statement.
05:50Do you remember him making that?
05:52Do you remember thinking, boy, you know, easy, Mark,
05:56or what do you remember about him saying that,
05:59and did you believe it at the time?
06:03I did not.
06:05I wish I had that conviction, but he was right.
06:08Like you said, it was not a popular statement.
06:10A lot of people, I imagine many, many people
06:13kind of quietly smirked at that statement,
06:16but it turns out a couple things happened.
06:17One, he was, I think he was correct,
06:19so he was way ahead of everybody else,
06:20and two, most importantly,
06:22forget about what everybody else thinks,
06:24it did, I believe, because I was in the building,
06:26give Clay and Steph confidence,
06:28and sometimes for young players,
06:30a coach making you feel like you're better
06:33than you even think you are is a great piece of coaching,
06:36and I think by him anointing them that,
06:40way before everybody else,
06:41they started to believe in their abilities,
06:43not that they lack for confidence,
06:45but it was a jolt in that area,
06:48and it's kind of like when Jo said
06:50that lonely banner up there, he was right, you know?
06:54And by the way, that's not my personality,
06:58but people like that that are brash and have that,
07:01you know, they sometimes can galvanize a situation,
07:05and so Mark, I've always credited Mark with that.
07:08That was a big thing that he did,
07:10and I think he was right.
07:11Yeah, I'm with you.
07:12Hey, Bob, I follow you on ESPN Countdown,
07:15I hear you when you do the games.
07:17I was telling Stani, it will never look right,
07:19Clay, in another uniform.
07:22Share with us your thoughts when you see him
07:24in a Dallas uniform just playing for a different franchise.
07:28Yeah, it's hard, I mean, it's hard.
07:29I just, but life doesn't,
07:32this idea that everybody gets to finish
07:34where they started as players is so rare.
07:38I guess I always had in the back of my mind,
07:39as much as I think everybody wished
07:42that it would end with, you know,
07:44Steph, Clay, and Draymond walking to the sunset,
07:46it's just, you look at any sport, any team,
07:49even if you want it to happen,
07:51so much has to line up for that to actually take place.
07:54Some of it's economic, some of it's situational,
07:57some of it's just circumstances,
07:59and so I always thought,
08:01although that would be pretty amazing,
08:04that it was gonna be hard to accomplish that,
08:06and who knows if, hopefully, Draymond and Steph,
08:09I think Steph's clearly the best candidate to do that,
08:12but at the end, usually it doesn't happen,
08:15and so it is hard, and I think,
08:18I actually can't really do it.
08:20I can't picture him,
08:21still, even though I'm watching him in Dallas
08:23and cheering for him as an individual,
08:26it's hard for me to do still.
08:28I don't know what you guys think.
08:29It's just, it's hard for me to picture it and watch it.
08:31Yeah, Bob Myers joining us on 95-7,
08:34in the game, former president of basketball operations
08:37for the Golden State Warriors,
08:39of course, Dallas, in town tonight with Klay Thompson,
08:43and the one part of Klay's game
08:47that I thought maybe should have gotten more attention
08:51was his ability to defend ones
08:55and take a little pressure off Steph,
08:58particularly James Harden.
09:01When did you discover that part of his game in his career?
09:08Yeah, he did not come out of college.
09:10Nobody was saying he was an elite defender,
09:12nobody, including us,
09:15and he worked at it.
09:18He really, he's got a quiet tenacity about him.
09:21That's Klay, I think you guys know that,
09:23and so he prided himself.
09:24He's got great pride and a great competitiveness,
09:29and pride on the basketball court
09:31is not only one side of the court.
09:34I think if you're a prideful person,
09:36if you're a winner, if you're competitive,
09:37you realize that playing defense,
09:39although not as thought of as exciting, I should say,
09:45or you don't get the credit when you're just
09:46a great defender, but it matters just as much.
09:49Without his man-to-man defense,
09:51we probably don't win at the level
09:52that we won in those years.
09:54I think we noticed it probably in year two, three, four,
09:58but he was doing shell drills in the offseason.
10:01I mean, he was working on his body.
10:02He didn't come in as thick as he was.
10:04He got much more physical and hardened.
10:06Hardened, people forget, isn't just quick
10:09and agile and skillful, he's strong.
10:11His hands are unbelievably strong,
10:13and so Klay's ability to take that up
10:16and then Steph sliding over to the non-maybe playmaker,
10:20and by the way, people would try to put,
10:24you talked about Steph, too.
10:26Steph worked himself into a very adequate defender
10:29because they would try to pick on him
10:31in many of those series.
10:31So Klay covered up some of our perimeter D
10:38by what he was able to do.
10:39Like you said, take the best player
10:41and make them work as hard as possible.
10:43You don't stop Kyrie or Harden.
10:45You guys are gonna see Kyrie.
10:46I was watching Kyrie the other night,
10:47and what he can do still is amazing,
10:50and so Klay, he did a great job,
10:52and I think we noticed that, Matt.
10:53It was not out of college that we thought
10:55he could be that, but he worked himself into it.
10:58Bob, you got me thinking when you said
10:59you went down memory lane with the OKC game for Klay,
11:04and Bonte put out a tweet last night.
11:06What was your favorite Klay memory?
11:07And there's so many, the 60 points
11:10and 29 minutes against Indy,
11:12the game you mentioned with OKC,
11:14but Bob, mine is the 37 points in a quarter
11:19in 2015 against Sacramento.
11:21Like, Bob, just that's insane,
11:24and I don't think that will ever,
11:26anybody will top that.
11:2737!
11:28No, that was, I was obviously there,
11:32and it was, actually, if you talk to Joe,
11:35he actually missed that game.
11:37He's never gonna forgive himself.
11:38Blake missed it.
11:39It was funny.
11:40His son Kirk was standing there
11:41and being like, you should see this, it's pretty good,
11:43and Joe was obviously wishing he was there,
11:46but yeah, you know, that was almost surreal
11:51watching that happen.
11:53It was, what did he do?
11:55He took like three dribbles.
11:56He didn't even dribble like in a quarter.
11:58He had one, he had, you know, it's crazy.
12:01Well, you know, the best shooters,
12:03you guys play basketball.
12:05Well.
12:06You know, well, the best shooters,
12:09even their misses are makes.
12:10He had a shot there in that quarter
12:12where it bounced up and around,
12:14I think it was a three, and it bounced up and around
12:16and then found its way in,
12:18and I was like, that was the miss, and it was a make.
12:21But then once that went,
12:22it was like, he was just, it was just insane,
12:25and yeah, Gu, that was, you know,
12:30there's certain things that stick with you,
12:31and that was certainly one of them,
12:33and I don't know that anybody will do that again.
12:36I just, I don't know.
12:38That's a pretty good one, pretty good one.
12:40Yeah, yeah, that is.
12:41All right, Bob, well, listen, we appreciate it as always,
12:44and should be a fun night out there tonight,
12:47and we look forward to talking to you down the road.
12:50Nice, are you guys, I know you're there now.
12:52Are you going?
12:53You going to the game, or?
12:54Yeah, yeah, we gotta check it out.
12:55We got to, we're here.
12:56We gotta go now that we're here, for sure.
12:59The guys outside are a little chilly right now.
13:02I wish I could be there.
13:03I wanna hear how it is.
13:04I'll have to call one of you guys later
13:05and see how it was, so.
13:07All right, there it is.
13:08Appreciate it, Bob, take care, man.
13:10Thanks, guys.
13:10All right, that's Bob Myers.