Bob Myers is 2014-15 Executive of the Year

Golden State Warriors General Manager Bob Myers has been named the 2014-15 NBA Basketball Executive of the Year, the NBA announced today.

Myers, in his third season as general manager, presided over a roster that produced the NBA’s best record (67-15) and the most successful regular season in franchise history. The Warriors earned both a Pacific Division title and the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs for the first time since the 1975-76 season.

Myers totaled 82 points and received 13 of 30 first-place votes from a panel of fellow team basketball executives throughout the NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ David Griffin finished second with 69 points (eight first-place votes), and the Atlanta Hawks’ Mike Budenholzer was third with 36 points (four first-place votes). Executives were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.

After the Warriors went 51-31 in 2013-14 and made the playoffs for the second consecutive season, Myers hired a head coach with no previous coaching experience, Steve Kerr. Golden State improved by 16 games, the highest increase in league history for a team that won at least 50 games the previous season, and Kerr set a record for victories by a first-year coach. The Warriors led the NBA in several categories — including scoring, field goal percentage, assists, opponents’ field goal percentage and defensive efficiency — and their point differential of 10.1 was the eighth highest in NBA history.

Myers’ moves since the end of last season also included a long-term contract extension for guard Klay Thompson, who made his first All-Star team and averaged a career-high 21.7 points, and the free-agent signing of guard Shaun Livingston, who added depth to the Warriors’ backcourt.

The Warriors also benefited this season from the improvement of Myers’ selections in the NBA Draft presented by State Farm. Forward Draymond Green, the 35^th pick in 2012, went from being a key reserve to a full-time starter in his third season, finishing second in the voting for the Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. Forward Harrison Barnes, the seventh pick in 2012, averaged a career-high 10.1 points and raised his field goal percentage from 39.9 last season to 48.2 this season, the biggest jump for any player who attempted at least 600 shots in each season.

Myers, who was named general manager in April 2012, is the second Warriors executive to win the award, joining Dick Vertlieb (1974-75).

via NBA press release