Bob Myers held his first press conference as the Sixers’ interim basketball boss and said a whole lot of nothing
Bob Myers sat alongside Josh Harris on Thursday and addressed the media for the first time since taking over basketball operations following Daryl Morey’s firing. He gave long, detailed answers about leadership, character, team-building, and the search for a new permanent head of basketball operations. He quoted Steph Curry. He talked about competition. He talked about alignment and commitment and work ethic.
He did not say a single thing that changes the reality of the Sixers’ situation.
Bob Myers Is Looking for the Perfect Person Who Doesn’t Exist
Bob Myers described the ideal candidate as someone with character, leadership, the ability to manage star players, manage up to ownership, handle contract negotiations, evaluate analytics, oversee the draft process, manage the medical staff, and be willing to admit where they need support. He then acknowledged that this person doesn’t exist.
“The person that is going to get this job, I hope they check all those boxes. They won’t. It doesn’t exist.”
Cool. So the search is for a unicorn that Myers admits isn’t real. That’s reassuring. The Sixers need someone in the chair before the June 23rd draft and the guy running the search is openly admitting the perfect candidate doesn’t exist.
At least he’s honest about it. The question is whether honesty translates to finding someone good enough in the next six weeks or whether this drags out and the Sixers enter draft night with Myers making the picks himself.
Bob Myers said he’d like to have someone in place by the draft but added “if it hasn’t happened, that’s OK too.” It’s not OK. The draft is June 23rd. Free agency opens immediately after.
The Sixers own the 22nd pick from the McCain trade and have three second-round picks. Those decisions need to be made by someone who has a long-term vision for this roster, not an interim executive who just got the keys six days ago.
The McCain Trade Is Still a Sore Spot
Both Myers and Harris were asked about the McCain trade. Myers said he likes Morey, isn’t going to disparage him, and that the trade should be judged on the ultimate result of the picks the Sixers use. He said the Sixers’ job now is to nail the 22nd pick.
“I made draft picks where we got an ‘F’ right away. Ten minutes after the draft! ‘F’ and I was like, how do they know it’s an ‘F’? The guy hasn’t even played.”
That’s a fair point in isolation. But the reality is that the Sixers traded a 22-year-old guard who was contributing to a contender in Oklahoma City for picks that haven’t been used yet, while the team’s bench collapsed in the second round because it had no guard depth.
McCain shot 12-for-19 from three in the second round as the Thunder swept the Lakers. The Sixers got swept by the Knicks with Quentin Grimes as the only guard off the bench. You don’t need to wait for the picks to be used to judge whether the Sixers would have been better off keeping McCain for the playoff run.
Harris said the trade was “part of a bigger plan” and that ownership, including Myers, approved it. So the guy searching for Morey’s replacement signed off on the move that contributed to Morey getting fired. Make of that what you will.
Harris Says the Luxury Tax Isn’t an Issue
Harris was asked directly about the luxury tax after Embiid publicly called out the front office before the deadline for “ducking the tax.” Harris said the front office has “the green light to go into the luxury tax” and that it’s “not an issue.”
“We’re building an arena here. The amount of dollars you spend on that versus the luxury tax, it’s magnitudes more. We built this facility. We’ve signed a number of max deals, so there’s no issue with the luxury tax.”
I’ve heard this before. The Sixers have ended the season as taxpayers exactly twice during the Harris era. The last time was 2021-22. They sold at this year’s deadline to avoid the tax while the franchise player was begging them not to. Harris can say it’s not an issue all he wants.
The pattern of behavior says otherwise. Signing max deals in the offseason and then refusing to spend at the deadline when the roster needs help is a consistent pattern that Harris hasn’t adequately explained no matter how many times he brings up the arena.
Bob Myers’ Role Going Forward
Myers described his role as high-level decision making rather than day-to-day operations. He said he’ll be present at the draft, available for free agency discussions, and communicating with the new hire daily or five out of seven days a week. He framed it as wanting to be involved rather than it being a job requirement.
“The best part of our work in sports is the competition. If you like competition, it’s a great space to live in, but you got to deal with some pain.”
This is the part that concerns me. The Sixers need someone who is fully committed to running the basketball operation, not someone who is “involved at a high level” while the day-to-day person does the actual work. Myers was great in Golden State. He also had Steph Curry. The challenge in Philadelphia is significantly harder because the roster has deeper structural problems and less flexibility to fix them.
If Bob Myers ends up being a shadow GM who overrides the new hire on major decisions, the Sixers are going to have the same dysfunction under a different name.
If he genuinely empowers the new person and provides guidance without interference, it could work. The track record of owners installing intermediaries between themselves and the basketball operations department is not great across the NBA.
We’ll see which version this turns out to be.
A lot of words were spoken Thursday.
Very little was actually said. Myers wants to find a great leader. Harris says the luxury tax isn’t an issue. The McCain trade will be judged later. The new hire should be in place by the draft but maybe not. Everyone wants to win.
None of that addresses the fundamental problems. The roster is top-heavy with no depth. The cap is locked up in max contracts. The bench doesn’t function. The franchise player’s health is a year-to-year gamble. The owner has spent money in the offseason but consistently refused to spend at the deadline when it matters most.
Saying the right things at a press conference is easy. Building a roster that can actually compete for a championship is the hard part. The Sixers have been saying the right things for years. The results keep being the same.
Find the hire. Make the pick. Fix the bench. Spend the money when it matters. Or we’ll be sitting here next May having the exact same conversation.
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