You could make a case that the man most responsible for putting together the Warriors’ roster is assistant general manager Travis Schlenk. He’s been with the Warriors for 11 seasons and in the team’s front office since 2009. In other words, he’s the only guy in the organization who can say he’s been a part of acquiring every single player on the Warriors’ roster.
He was around for the drafting of Stephen Curry and everyone the team has selected since, and he’s also been in on every trade or free agent transaction that’s yielded a current player.
Schlenk came on “The NBA Show” — co-hosted by John Dickinson and me — on 95.7 FM The Game, in San Francisco, on Sunday and had some interesting things to say. Listen here: http://media.957thegame.com/a/101715599/travis-schlenk.htm
Among the noteworthy:
*** It doesn’t sound like the Warriors have any intention of making a trade at this point, — even for a backup big man or wing scoring off the bench. The trade deadline is later this month.
Said Schlenk: “We’ve been good for the past couple years. Maybe not championship quality but we’ve been playoff caliber. I tell (general manager) Bob (Myers) all the time ‘Our job now is not to screw it up.’ When you’re sitting with the record we have, and the year we’ve had, you’d like to tinker but you don’t want to mess it up. Chemistry is such a big thing, and our group of guys has such great chemistry. We’d hate to do a move just to do a move and have it mess up our chemistry.
“I don’t know we’ll do anything. We’re certainly active … But at the same time, we’ve got to be cautious as well.”
*** Though former GM Larry Riley was sometimes ridiculed for it, Schlenk said the common thread throughout all of the team’s transactions and trades has been “high character:”
“Obviously, everyone is looking for talent. But as an organization we focus on character. We try to bring in high-character guys. The first draft I was involved in was the Steph Curry draft (“I can’t take credit for that”). But when you look at the guys we’ve drafted have been high-character guys. Even if they haven’t panned out on the court of us.”
*** On essentially being a team playing small ball:
“You want to be versatile. To be really successful, look at the Spurs. They can play big with Duncan and Splitter or they can play a small lineup by putting Boris Diaw at the four. Having the ability to play both styles is what you’re aiming for.”
Matt Steinmetz 