learned more from coaching than anything, just how dif- ficult it is to be a coach. I’ve always said that if you have a really good team, the most important thing would be having the right coach for the right team. ••• You retired as the general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies in 2007. What made you want to return to the game with the Warriors? The love of my life has been basketball. It sort of gave me a path and guideline to follow for what I wanted to do with my life after I stopped playing professionally. It’s just an extension of something I’ve loved forever, and working as an executive gives you a completely different perspec- tive than as a player. You also
have to understand it’s not an easy job. I was fortunate to work with a couple owners who have given me a lot of authority to make judgment calls, but those things aren’t always easy to do. You’re really testing yourself, testing everything about you. It was just an incredible experience to work for great owners. They were all looking for the same thing. They want to win. Ownership is critical. The owner needs to be a leader, and he has to know what he wants. A lot of times when owners don’t know what they want, it puts a lot of pressure on you. They all want a winning team, but there’s a lot of different ways to win in this league. All three owners I’ve been involved with have all had
different ideas about how to do things. •••
When you look at the current Warriors, how close are you to taking that next step and becoming a perennial playoff team, and a title contender? We’re lacking certain elements, but we have seven first- or second-year players, which is a lot. When you go through the season, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. If it was a sprint, we would have been great at one time, because we started so well. But we had a very dif- ficult schedule and started los- ing some close games. Young players tend to lose confidence. Coaches have to—I don’t want to say prod players—but keep them in the right frame of mind to compete at a high level every night. I don’t care
who you play in this league, you have to be able to compete at a high level every night. •••
If you were starting an NBA franchise tomorrow, who would be the player you would want to build around? Well, I think because he’s the right age, LeBron James is at the peak of his game. He’s still 28 years old. Right now, because of age and experience, he would be the player that most people would look at. If Kobe Bryant—he’s had
a great year—if he were a little younger, I certainly think you would put him in there. He’s a young man in terms of age, but he’s played, what, 17 years? He’s been remark- able, but if you had to pick one player today, it would be LeBron James.
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