After more than a decade as the decision maker in Golden State — and winning four rings — Bob Myers stepped out of an NBA front office and into the media with ESPN/ABC, where he has served as a studio and game analyst.
Now, Suns owner Mat Ishbia is “pushing hard” to bring him back into the front office and to take over as the head of basketball operations in Phoenix. That was first reported by Marc Stein and Jake Fischer at The Stein Line, and added to by Duane Rankin at the Arizona Republic. From Rankin:
Sources informed The Arizona Republic earlier this week the Suns will likely look to add someone to the front office. They currently have James Jones working a general manager and team president and CEO Josh Bartelstein. The two have collaborated with team owner Mat Ishbia on basketball personnel decisions, but sources also informed The Republic that Ishbia has been “pushing hard” to get Myers.
Stein has said landing Myers is a long shot, and for good reason. For one thing, Myers prefers to work in a collaborative setting, but with Jones, Bartelstein and a hands-on owner in Ishbia, there are already a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Myers would demand the hammer — final say on all personnel decisions — before he walked in the door, but how does that really work when Ishbia is in the decision-making mix and owns the team?
This past season, the Suns had the most expensive roster in the NBA, yet could not even qualify for the Play-In Tournament in the West.
Myers — or whoever gets the job — will oversee a massive roster overhaul, remaking it with Devin Booker as the centerpiece. Kevin Durant and the Suns will work together to find the future first-ballot Hall of Famer a new home, although the market for the 37-year-old (by next season) is not going to be as deep or bring back the haul that Phoenix expects. The Suns will attempt to trade the anchor of a contract (and still some solid production when healthy) belonging to Bradley Beal. Additionally, they must hire a new coach after firing Mike Budenholzer, the team’s third coach in three seasons. Through all of that, the Suns need to find an on-court and organizational identity, while owner Ishbia has admitted to not being patient or wanting a rebuilding situation — he wants to win big and win now.
Myers will have his choice of front office jobs should he return to the NBA, is this the situation he wants to walk into.
Bucks GM Jon Horst — a Michigan native, like Ishbia — was mentioned as another name for the job, but no so coincidentally, it was reported Thursday Milwaukee has worked out an extension with Horst to remain head of their basketball operations.
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