It’s not as fun as Fantasy NBA or 2K (or fun at all).
I’ve been playing a lot of 2K and Fantasy NBA and have been getting pretty good at them.
I recently completed a 4-peat in 2K (mainly through simulation) and won my first Fantasy NBA season this past weekend.
“I’m pretty darn good at managing NBA teams,” I think to myself after seeing all of the congratulations posts. “How hard can managing a real team be?”
Apparently, it’s a lot harder because managing a real NBA team is so, so much more than picking up, dropping and trading players.
Appearing on the Old Man and the Three, former Golden State Warriors GM, Bob Myers, told JJ Redick that managing a team is like taking care of a bonsai tree (which is a lot more difficult than you think).
“That’s called Fantasy basketball,” Myers said as he and Redick cracked up. “A GM for me was -not for you- is a bonsai tree that you cut and snip every day, a little f—ken leaf -that was today’s job. Tomorrow, I gotta cut three leaves.
“It is not a cactus. You don’t just stare at it and then come in and water it at the draft and water it at the trade deadline and water it in free agency. Every single day on that job is a snip here and a snip there, and if you don’t do it, the bonsai tree gets ugly fast and dies. So for me, it wasn’t one thing. It was every little thing because you know, five little things unattended becomes a big thing. And in the NBA now, when a big thing comes up, it’s public and when it becomes public, it’s hard for things to get reconciled.”
Myers added that he called up Sam Presti for advice after accepting the Warriors’ gig and Presti told him, “The title general manager. Look at the word manager. Manager. That’s what you’re doing -you’re managing people.”
Myers started working with the Warriors in 2011 as an assistant GM and was quickly promoted to GM a year later. Under him, Steph Curry’s Warriors improved significantly and won four titles between 2015 and 2022.
He was deemed the best executive in 2015 and 2017.
Final Thoughts
Being a real GM does not seem fun at all. I’ll just stick to my Fantasy NBA and 2K leagues.
