GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 18, 2020

Bob Myers

Media Conference

Q. Can you take us through how you learned of Klay's news, how close it was to the Draft, the mood and how it might have rattled you guys.

BOB MYERS: Got a call this afternoon, I don't know what time it was and I spoke to Klay pretty shortly after and he was driving home. I don't know what time it was but it's one of those deals that you don't really know until you know.

So listened to what he said. And just kind of started, got our trainers involved. Got on the phone with him and they talked to him and started setting up a way to find out more information, really, and then I had to get back to the Draft.

So hard to disengage mentally from it but we had a lot of stuff going on as far as drafts and trades, potentially other things, so it couldn't really let my mind go all the way there but now the draft's over and we'll find out more tomorrow.

Q. I know you guys were still gathering details tonight, but what do you know that you can tell us regarding the injury? I know it's not going to be something concrete, but is there anything along the lines that you can tell us tonight?

BOB MYERS: I do know I'd rather be talking about James Wiseman than Klay Thompson, but I don't know what to tell you guys. But you know as much as I do in some ways. However you process information, you get to decide, I don't know. We'll see. You can be hopeful. You can be concerned. Probably all those things combined. And until we know more tomorrow, I'll save my -- I'll just hope for good news.

So if you can wait one day, we'll answer all these questions and I can do a better press conference, or worse, one day from now, we'll see.

Q. And why have you -- I know you want to talk about James Wiseman as well. What can he bring to your guys team? You were pretty tight-lipped leading up to this process, obviously, but from just on paper, he fits a need right at that 5-spot, what do you guys think he can bring to you guys immediately?

BOB MYERS: Well, we think he's got great immediate help for a position we've coveted for a long time. I think the whole thing does value. Although some people think the whole league is small but we believe there's still a place for a guy like him and we think he's got great potential for him to grow and we love his character, we love his attitude.

We loved sitting with him, meeting him and feel like he's kind of the Warrior type of character we always look for with a tremendous amount of room for growth. But we think he'll put the time in. We think he'll put the work in. We're dropping him into our culture and we think it's one much the best in the league.

And so we're pretty excited about integrating him and just making him a Warrior and it's a fun thing to consider and think about him on the floor and I think our fans are going to like watching him and I think I'll like watching him.

Q. Were you locked in on Wiseman the entire way, and did the worries about Klay perhaps make you think about going in a different direction?

BOB MYERS: We were high on Wiseman. We had him. We had him No. 1 on our board when all the dust settled. Certainly the Klay thing made you think for a second, but it was just a short amount of time and we decided we're staying the course of what we always felt but you have to take pause and think about things for a second.

But no, we're very happy with how the Draft worked out. We got the guy we wanted and excited like I said to get going and get him in our practice facility and get to work.

Q. I heard comparisons to David Robinson and Chris Bosh and Chris Webber. What do you think of those comparisons and how good can this guy be?

BOB MYERS: Yeah, let's hope those comparisons are made in ten years from now and 15 or 20. All the comparisons are good. Any of those names, I think those are all Hall of Fame guys. So he could be. Will he be? I think that's up to him. I think that's up to us. But mostly him, how much time he wants to put in, how much he loves it.

I think all those guys love the game. He's got the talent. He's got the skill. I think he's got the work ethic, but those guys, they charted a pretty unique path and they worked for it. Had long careers and so we think he's got the potential to kind of pave his own way with the skill-set he has. A lot of people want to say he's just a rim-rolling, rim-protecting dunking guy. We think he can be more than that.

But he's 19 years old and people forget how young these guys and are that it's going to take a little time. But like I said we've got a great coaching staff. I don't think he can learn from better players when he's watching, some of our vets work next to him, and he's going to learn what it requires to become great but I think he wants it. So that's what we are excited about. We see a guy that wants to work and wants to be great.

Q. What about some of the uniqueness, speaking Mandarin, wants to be a philanthropist, wants to buy Chick-Fil-A. Seems like there's a lot that he wants to do.

BOB MYERS: That's good. I mean, smart guy. We like intelligent players and like the fact that he's got other interests. I don't think that's a bad thing. Clearly basketball is in his heart and is probably the No. 1 thing in his life but like I said we had a chance to spend some time with him down in Miami pre-Draft, and you're going to like him. I don't know how well you know him. I think you've talked to him, as well. Very personable guy.

He's a type of guy that you love to bring home and introduce to the family and polite young man. Been through a lot. Been through a lot growing up. Been through a lot in the last few years and last few months. I think he's probably just excited to come and start playing basketball and get back to it. He hasn't played basketball. Last time he played basketball, I was at his game in November about a year ago up in Oregon, so I don't think he's played a basketball game in over a year or close to a year. So I think he's just chomping at the bit to play again.

Q. Is the expectation that you guys think he can step in and give you 20, 25 minutes at least, right away?

BOB MYERS: I hope but we'll see. I don't know. Like I said, no Summer League, hard to answer that question, three games in college. I don't know, in some respects, I'm more worried about three or four years from now than I do two, three months from now.

But yeah, we'd like to give him that opportunity and Steve has got to find a way to use him and obviously our lineups are a factor. But we like to hope that he's getting minutes and growing on the job. But we'll see. He's going to have to earn that in camp but we think he's got the possibility of coming out and giving us those kind of minutes.

Q. Have gotten a commitment to spend a favorite player exception, and if so does, Klay impact that at all, whatever happens with Klay?

BOB MYERS: We had the -- we have the green light to do that. We had it. We have it. Klay or no Klay, depending on what we hear. So it's there. Got to find a way to make it work for us. Certainly once we hear more tomorrow, that might -- that might affect it. It might not. We'll see.

Certainly it may allow us to be more aggressive but something has to make sense, certainly, if we feel like we need to add to that position, we'll do our best to do it. Still have free agency and you know, we'll see. We'll see what news we hear and what positions we need to fill. I think we needed wing depth anyway, and so we'll look to look there anyway, no matter what.

So now that the Draft's over, kind of know what we have, know what we have in the center position at least and so we'll start that process probably when I'm done here with you guy, we'll go back and start having those internal conversations.

Q. Did Klay hurt his right leg?

BOB MYERS: Yes.

Q. The lower right leg? And what was he doing? Was it a pick-up game with friends? Was it with some trainer he works with? What exactly were the details of this injury that you know right now?

BOB MYERS: Yeah, as far as I know, he's playing basketball. And I don't know who with. I think it was professionals or I don't know who the players were. But real kind of pick-up game. I don't know anything other than that as far as I didn't really get those details. I think just playing basketball probably like a lot of these guys are trying to get ready for the season.

Q. Given how high you guys were on James, and how the Draft board shook out, did you ever consider trading the pick?

BOB MYERS: We always were open ever since we heard we had two. We listened a lot and we talked a little bit. We like James enough to not just move the pick for nothing. There were teams with interest but ultimately we felt good about just drafting him.

But we always listen. That's our job. We don't hang up the phone on anybody. We were pretty happy with two, especially after the first pick in the Draft, knowing we were going to get James, we were pretty happy there, and that was, like I said, he was the top guy on our list.

Q. Were you surprised Nico fell to you in the second round?

BOB MYERS: A little bit. Steph said we had to Draft guys that went to his Under Armour camp, so we had to take Wiseman and Nico to keep our point guard happy. It is funny, though. Those guys both did go. He remembers them. I think it might have been in Walnut Creek. But I think he knows, it's funny, he got to know James and got to know Nico, I don't know if it was last year or the year before, but I was surprised. We had him higher than 48 for sure.

Q. How much pause does it give you to take a guy like this, having only seen him play three games in college? It's normal now I guess to take a freshman but to have such a small sample size and just by a pick, how awkward is that?

BOB MYERS: It's tougher than you'd like it to be. I'd love all of these guys to play three or four years of college like they used to but that's not the deal any more, and so whether it was Paul who was in Australia and got injured and didn't finish the season. Didn't see Edward play. He played most of the season and some of the other guys we saw, too.

But even the conference tournaments that I was planning on going to, those got cancelled and obviously the NCAA Tournament got canceled. But we got to see some of these guys. Normally you would see a guy a lot more than we got to.

If you look back, the league, most of the time the guy does play more but good news is, he's healthy and obviously everybody knows why he didn't keep playing, and so I'm sure he's just happy to be playing basketball again. Obviously our season is right around the corner.

Q. Who is planning on going to L.A. with Klay tomorrow?

BOB MYERS: Our trainers going to go down there. I think Steve might be going. I don't know who else.

Q. You touched on this at the beginning, but how would you describe the range of emotions that you and the organization have gone through in the last few hours here?

BOB MYERS: Well, I don't know. You lose Game 7 of the finals, you can have some pretty highs and lows going into that game when we did that.

But I don't know, I don't know. Maybe I'll be better able -- certainly a lot of emotional -- you hear stuff, you wonder. But I guess this business teaches you, you always wait to hear for sure on any of these things. I've been in MRI rooms. Steph's hand last year. Had no idea when we walked in there that he would be out for three or four months.

Obviously dealing with some of the injuries we've dealt with in the last couple years, doesn't Harden you, doesn't make it easy you, but I don't know. I was hoping we were through all that and maybe we are. Like I said, maybe there's good news coming. But certainly not a normal Draft. Not a normal day. Draft is stressful as it is.

So I will tell you this: There was more stresses are hopefully like I said, I'll look back and think about what was I stressing about.

But right now, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear.

Q. To follow up on that, what was your sense of what Klay's emotions and demeanor were given with what he's been through the last year recovering from his ACL injury?

BOB MYERS: Hard to say. I think nobody wants to get -- I don't know, it's hard because I'm not in his mind, but I think he just probably as much as anybody wants to know what's going on and try to stay positive till we know more.

But Klay doesn't like missing five minutes of anything and he was probably bummed out he had to leave the pick up game. At this point in time, I don't know. I'm just glad he's -- our players reached out to him and obviously you've seen a lot of NBA players reach out to him and offer their thoughts.

We just hope we hear something good and until then I'm doing to try to keep his spirits up and support him and hear what we hear tomorrow and go from there.

Q. I know we're bouncing around with all these topics. Back to Wiseman. What struck you about him emotionally, because he was crying, he talked about the university not knowing what was going on in the NCAA, striking out on his own and working to prepare himself to be a pro. Did you notice things about his maturity or where he was emotionally?

BOB MYERS: Yeah, he is mature. I mean, for his age. Although you have to remember they are all pretty young, these guys, but yeah, I liked his reaction to getting drafted. I thought, this is a guy that cares and I think he showed he wanted to be with us. A lot of the depth of emotion there, we spoke to him on the phone afterwards, but I think this is what he wanted and I think this is where he wanted to be. This is what we wanted.

But I sense a young man who is serious which we like and who is ready to go. And saying all the right things, I think he'll do all the right things. This is the type of people you like. This is the type of people you bet on and so I'm happy for him, happy for his family. I don't have any clue what it would be like to hear your name called in the NBA Draft, so it's going to be a huge moment for him and you can tell watching him.

Q. Had you seen much of Klay and how he looked before he was hurt?

BOB MYERS: Yeah, I heard he was looking -- he came to our mini camp, so I had seen him. Looking good. Feeling good.

So yeah, and people that have been with him, I mean, some of our players, I think Draymond has played with him or somebody. Said he looked good. So no -- I don't think he would be playing basketball if he wasn't feeling good or been cleared to do it, so yeah.

Q. In terms of rookies, there's no Summer League. How quick do you want them to not just do the press conference but do you expect them to just stick around immediately, not go home, probably maybe even spend Thanksgiving at your house? What do they do to prepare for the start of camp that's not too far away?

BOB MYERS: Yeah, maybe your house, maybe my house, I don't know what these guys, where they are going or what they are doing. I mean, look, I respect people want to be where they want to be on Thanksgiving. But they don't have a lot of time.

So maybe some guys want to come for a few days, get a place to live, go back for a day. Maybe some of them, I mean, basketball players, sometimes you don't get Thanksgiving. A lot of these guys probably aren't used to getting it.

When you play in college, you usually don't get to go home. You have Thanksgiving at some non-conference tournament or with your team.

So we'll see. We're going to figure out some of these guys I think are coming out here tomorrow. And so I don't know. I think it's kind of, here we go, season's -- I don't know if it's a week away or two weeks, I guess. Not much time.

We'll see. Hopefully they will stay if they can, or if they have got to go, they go and come back pretty quick.

Q. What do you think of Wiseman's jumper?

BOB MYERS: I mean, he's got good potential. You know, I look at a lot of the big guys and that can shoot now that I can't name because I'm not allowed to. A lot of big guys that have learned to shoot really well in our league that weren't doing it at 19.

The nice thing about him is that big guys are never really allowed to shoot three-points. I imagine he probably would have shot one or two a game at Memphis, so I like the possibilities.

But you know, like anybody, he's going to need to work on it quite a bit. The NBA line is further out, and that will be something Steve will work with him on. We know the importance of stretching your game out but like I said I think this guy is going to have a long career, and over time we hope that becomes a pretty natural part of his game.

Q. Anything jump out at you from other moves made around the league or other picks made today?

BOB MYERS: I mean, I'm laughing, but there's so many -- this team all of a sudden traded this pick and it's a lot of movement. We've been part of that, sometimes more in the second round. Just great admiration for the people that work in the league. It's a hard job and you know, a lot of competitive people out there and everybody keeps getting better. You know, nothing that hasn't happened in past drafts. Maybe a little different, I guess, because you know, people didn't get to see as many of the Draft picks or maybe knowing free agency is two days away. I don't know. 2020, there's a lot of -- I don't know how to process this stuff.

Q. Did you like Wiseman because of his high defensive ceiling? Is that what attracted you or do you think he's athletic enough to where if he gets caught in a switch on the wing, he can develop the type of defensive acumen to be able to hang out there?

BOB MYERS: We hope both. We like the possibility for both. I think he's going to have to learn to do both. He's big but NBA has got a lot of big guys in it. But I think he's physically can do it but there's going to be a mental growth. He's going to have to learn the NBA game. It's a style, he's never played against these calibre players.

We hope he can do all that but no 19-year-old I think figures it out right away. But I think he's got a willingness and an effort he's going to learn. Can't learn from a better defender than Draymond Green who probably won't be shy correcting him if he needs to.