Bob Myers has offered his explanation for one of the defining roster-building ideas of the Golden State Warriors dynasty: the "two timelines" approach. Speaking on Tom Tolbert's podcast in October of last year, the former general manager defended the team's decision to use high draft picks on younger, higher-upside players rather than leaning only toward prospects who looked more ready to contribute right away.
Myers said there was "a contingent of fans and media and maybe even people in the organization that felt like, ‘Let’s get somebody more ready to play.’ But when you draft high…it’s a chance to take a swing." That was the core of the Warriors' thinking during Myers's tenure, when the franchise tried to build around Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson while also adding younger talent for the future.
How the Warriors approached the draft
The idea behind "two timelines" was simple enough. Golden State wanted to keep chasing titles with its veteran core while also developing younger players who could help later. In practice, though, that balance is much harder to pull off than it sounds. The source notes that the Warriors' late lottery picks did not work out as hoped, which is a major reason the strategy has been viewed less favorably in hindsight.
That matters because the whole debate is tied to the rise and fall of the Warriors dynasty. When a team has already reached the championship level, every draft decision gets judged through two different lenses: present need and future upside. Myers argued that the higher the pick, the more reason there is to swing big, even if that means passing on a player who might have been more game-ready.
What it means now
In hindsight, the two timelines plan is one of the clearest examples of how difficult it is to extend a dynasty once the veteran core is already established. The Warriors were trying to thread a narrow needle, but the late lottery selections around that era did not produce the kind of immediate or long-term impact the team hoped for. That leaves Myers's defense of the strategy as both a reminder of the logic behind it and a reflection of how quickly draft evaluation changes when results do not match the plan.
For Golden State, the lesson is less about one quote than about the reality of team-building at the top of the league. High draft picks are valuable because they can change a franchise, but they also come with risk. Myers made the case that the Warriors chose upside because that is what teams are supposed to chase when they are drafting high. The results, however, tell the rest of the story.
