Bob Myers was a polished presence at the podium late Thursday afternoon.
Flanked by Sixers managing partner Josh Harris at the team’s training complex in Camden, New Jersey, Myers was not inclined to divulge much of substance on the organization’s roster-building plans or to say anything juicy about stars like Joel Embiid and Paul George.
He did still provide some notable comments on the Sixers’ next steps. Here’s what we learned:
Myers’ role won’t be small at all
Myers’ official title at the moment is president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment. With Daryl Morey out, he’s overseeing the Sixers’ basketball operations in the interim and heading the search for a new front office leader.
Wherever that search ends, it’s safe to say Myers will play a large part in the front office’s decisions moving forward.
“I view it as taking the next few weeks — not sure how long it will be — to identify a day-to-day leader that will have a lot of authority here, which they should,” Myers said. “What they’re going to get and what our fans are going to get is them plus me. I won’t be on the day-to-day level but on the high-level decision-making, which is being here at the draft, being here leading up to the trade deadline, being available for free agency discussions, free agency meetings and things like that. I’m going to be involved at that level.
“And I can tell you that I imagine … I’ll be communicating with that person daily, if not five out of seven days a week. … I want to hire someone that I can work with, I want to hire someone that Josh can work with. And most importantly, I want to win. I think that I have had some experience in this space and if I have something to say, it’s harder for me not to say it than say it. But that will be my role, and obviously continuing to work with Josh on all the very high-level stuff. I’m looking forward to that role.”
Myers spent 12 years in the Warriors’ front office and won four NBA championships before stepping down in 2023.
What traits does he want Morey’s replacement to possess?
“I’m a big believer in character and leadership and I’m looking for a person that embodies those things,” he said. “But there’s many characteristics under that which I believe qualify in making a modern GM a success. There’s front-facing responsibilities. There’s responsibilities in managing star players. There’s responsibilities in managing up to ownership. There’s contract negotiations, there’s the draft process, there’s evaluating analytics, there’s (working with) the medical staff. You go down the line and these jobs have an enormity to them.
“So I’m looking to find someone that can check as many of these boxes as possible, but also (someone) that can raise their hands and say, ‘Actually, I’m not good in this space. I’m going to need some support.’ … I had success in my previous job, but it wasn’t me by myself. There are teams of people that make a team and an organization successful. So making sure we have the right person to lead but also the right people underneath them, which is important.”
The search timeline
Round 1 of the NBA draft is scheduled for June 23 and the Sixers own the 22nd pick.
As he begins the search process, Myers clearly has that date on his radar.
“I’d like to have someone (before the draft). I’d hope to have someone,” he said. “But if it hasn’t happened, that’s OK, too. But the goal would be to have someone in place for the draft, to get acclimated with a new group. … Whoever we hire — not sure who that will be — will likely or possibly be already evaluating the draft from where they’re coming from. So that’s a benefit in some ways. But yeah, I’d like to and I’d hope to, but it’ll be as much time as required to get the best person.
“Sure, have someone for the draft, but the goal would be to have someone that’s the right person for a long amount of time after that.”
‘That trade isn’t done’
Naturally, Morey’s last trade deadline and the Sixers’ decision to deal Jared McCain to the Thunder came up Thursday.
Harris said both he and Myers signed off on the move, which netted the Sixers their first-round pick this year, a second-round pick next year, and two second-rounders in 2028.
“The way these things work, generally with something like that, the front office makes a recommendation and then ownership, which included Bob at that point, we OK’d it,” Harris said. “So we were involved with it. It was part of a bigger plan. … We don’t know the outcome of that trade right now. We are sitting here with the 22nd pick. … Right now what we’re focused on is what do we do with all the assets we got in that trade? We’ll know whether that trade was a good trade or was not a good trade over the next year or two.”
Myers hit the same notes.
“I like Daryl,” he said. “I’m not going to disparage Daryl here today. I think he did a fine job and I think he’s a good person. … Right now we have the 22nd pick. Our job is to get that right. We (also) have three second-round picks from (the McCain trade). … We should be graded on the ultimate result of transactions like that. … Our job is to make a trade. There will be a reaction, positive or negative, but that trade isn’t done. And our job is to make sure that on our end of the trade, we do a good job with drafting the best player at 22.”
How much authority will new hire have?
Many of Myers’ comments emphasized teamwork and group discussion.
Especially given the active role he’ll play, it’s logical to wonder how much power the Sixers’ new basketball operations leader will truly hold. Prior to Morey’s arrival, general manager Elton Brand had the top title and the Sixers stressed collaboration in their front office. And before that, Brett Brown served as both head coach and interim general manager in the wake of the Bryan Colangelo “Burnergate” scandal.
“You need good people that are in harmony so that there is no acrimony,” Myers said. “You can debate, have healthy debate. In my previous job, we had a lot of people in the room commenting on what we should do, what we shouldn’t do, but ultimately, we came together. I expect a lot of autonomy for this new person. If I do a good job, a tremendous amount of autonomy. That’s what you want. Hire somebody, let them do their job.
“But at the highest level, you certainly give your opinion. You weigh in. In a healthy organization, you’re not in a room where people are storming out, backchanneling and saying, ‘I wouldn’t have done that, I would have done this.’ So hiring a decent person that I can collaborate with. … I’m not going to hire somebody that I don’t think can be malleable, collaborative, thoughtful, take direction, be humble enough to say, ‘You know what? That time I didn’t get it right.’ Or ‘You know what? I really believe in this. You have to give me the strength to make this decision.’
“All those things are part of hiring the right person. And as to what happened in the past, I obviously wasn’t here, but I believe we’re going to get a very high-functioning, quality front office with this hire.”
Harris talks luxury tax
Another sensible question is just how much Morey’s replacement will be licensed to spend.
The Sixers have paid the NBA’s luxury tax twice since Harris became managing partner in 2011, doing so for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.
“I appreciate the question because there’s been a lot of chatter and it gives me the chance to answer it directly,” Harris said. “The front office absolutely has the green light to go into the luxury tax. In fact, we’ve been in and out of the luxury tax.
“So it’s just not an issue. We’re building an arena here. I can tell you that the amount of dollars you spend on that (compared to) the luxury tax, it’s magnitudes more. We built this (training) facility. We’ve signed a number of max deals. So there’s no issue with the luxury tax.”
Myers chimed in on the subject.
“I just can’t imagine a day where I would say to Josh or leadership would say to Josh, ‘This deal makes us a contender, but you have to go into the tax …’ if he says no, which he won’t, I wouldn’t work for somebody like that,” Myers said. “To be honest, if you look at the history of teams that have won a championship — I was one of them — we were in the tax.
“It’d be great if you could win a championship without being in the tax. Very hard to do. But it has to make sense. Again, I’m not worried about that part of the job because if that comes up, I know what the answer will be.”
‘Depth may be more important than it’s ever been’
Myers mainly spoke in generalities about the state of the Sixers’ roster and potential paths to title contention.
He provided perhaps the most insight on his outlook when asked specifically about roster-construction challenges with the NBA’s 2023 collective bargaining agreement and the highly restrictive second tax apron.
“What’s the modern roster supposed to look like with the second apron, which oftentimes operates as kind of a hard cap? The truth is depth may be more important than it’s ever been,” Myers said. “Maybe that’s the pace of play. Maybe that’s what we require of players more.
“That’s not to say that this model doesn’t work, but we have to look at what happened this year and be honest about it. We have to be honest about, ‘Can this model work?’ That’s really the question, and also understanding that depth is key and you only have a certain amount of resources to spend. … It’s all part of what we need to figure out going forward.”
Lack of depth stuck out as one of the primary reasons why the Sixers were swept out of the playoffs by the Knicks. It’s obvious they must improve in that area while also facing the reality that Embiid ($58 million), George ($54.1 million) and Maxey ($40.8 million) take up a very sizable portion of the team’s 2026-27 salary cap.
| # | Наименование новости | Тональность | Информативность | Дата публикации |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daryl Morey out as Sixers president of basketball operations | 0 | 7 | 12-05-2026 |
| 2 | Sixers hiring Mike Gansey as new president of basketball operations | 0 | 5 | 29-05-2026 |
| 3 | Report: Jameer Nelson, Matt Lloyd among candidates to lead Sixers' front office | 0 | 6 | 21-05-2026 |
| 4 | Myers says Sixers must ‘find an identity' under new front office regime | 0 | 5 | 09-06-2026 |
| 5 | Gansey makes it clear Sixers' front office will value the intangibles | 5 | 6 | 08-06-2026 |
| 6 | Sixers promoting Nelson to executive VP of basketball operations under Gansey | 0 | 7 | 07-06-2026 |
| 7 | Report: Mike Gansey and Nick U'Ren ‘names to watch' in Sixers' search | 0 | 5 | 19-05-2026 |
| 8 | Nelson gets ‘goosebumps' from rise up Sixers' ranks | 5 | 7 | 10-06-2026 |
| 9 | NBA mock draft roundup: Looking at some of Sixers' options with 22nd pick | 0 | 5 | 20-05-2026 |
| 10 | Diving into Mike Gansey's history, path to leading Sixers' front office | 0 | 6 | 30-05-2026 |
