Back in early February, the Golden State Warriors traded Glenn Robinson III and Alec Burks to the Philadelphia 76ers for 3 second-round picks. The general manager of the Warriors Bob Myers was initially confused by the way the two veterans reacted to their trade.
“It was first a point of confusion,” Myers told the Bay Area News Group’s Dieter Kurtenbach.
Last season’s NBA finalists have the worst record in the NBA this year, with Klay Thompson and Steph Curry being injured. Burks and Robinson were really enjoying their time playing in Bay Area having great numbers to back that statement.
Burks averaged 16.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists, while Robinson was averaging career highs in points (12.9), rebounds (4.7), assists (1.8), steals (0.9) and field-goal percentage (48.1).
“That’s a hard thing to do for Steve to create an environment where people like coming to work every day in the midst of such losing,” Myers added.
“And so I tip my hat to him and his group, and everybody that interacts with the players. It’s hard to create and cultivate a healthy environment in our league. It’s not easy. It’s not as easy as people think. There are so many different layers to making a player feel like he’s part of something bigger than himself feel like he’s in an environment that he can flourish in. It’s a challenge.”
“It takes a lot of work, takes a lot of effort, it takes a lot of communication. And so to see two veterans – who’ve been around the league feel like it’s something that they wanted to see through … is nice. It really is. And it means we’re doing something right,” Myers continued.
While Philadelphia was a winning “environment” that season, both players would rather stay in Golden State proving the several variables being in play in the NBA.
