Myers responds to criticism for not adding buyout big man

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Bob Myers has heard the criticism of how he has handled the Warriors' roster this season.

With Draymond Green missing 31 games due to a disc issue in his lower back and James Wiseman suffering multiple setbacks in his meniscus rehab, many Warriors fans wanted Myers to add a big man either at the trade deadline or on the buyout market. But nothing materialized for Golden State, and Myers has a simple explanation for the moves he didn't make.

"I can say this, there wasn't some great big man that was available," Myers told 95.7 The Game on Wednesday. We canvassed and looked around and tried to figure that out. We're somewhat limited in tradeable assets. We have four veterans making a good chunk of money, and then Looney and then our rookie scale guys. So you don't have a lot of tradeable salary which people listening may or may not care about, but salaries have to match in a trade."

The ever-changing return timetables for Green and Wiseman played a role in how Myers assessed the landscape.

"There wasn't a viable, 'Hey, this one makes sense let's not do it,' " Myers said. " If I had known that Draymond would be back when he was or that James would suffer setbacks, yeah, who knows, any team could say that. But at the time, thinking James is coming back, thinking Draymond is coming back a little bit earlier, probably fed into that. I don't think there was one thing that was there that was really very good that we didn't do. I would push back a little bit. Not trying to be defensive, but there wasn't an obvious,'There's a great big guy, let's go get him.'

"But that's what fans do. I get it. They're allowed to. We don't get everything perfectly right. I never have, never have said I have. I don't think any roster is perfect. It's hard to know a roster when we have had health problems. Again, that probably falls flat. But I do think, the fact that those three guys, what our record would be, I don't know. But you can't expect a great amount of rhythm or continuity when they have played 11 minutes the whole season."

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It has been hard to evaluate a Warriors team that hasn't been at full strength this season.

Golden State opened the year with Klay Thompson still rehabbing his torn Achilles. Green's back issue flared up just as Thompson returned. Green returned March 14, but Steph Curry sprained a ligament in his foot one game later and is expected to miss at least two weeks.

Wiseman, meanwhile, saw action in a handful of G League games but suffered a setback, and it is conceivable he will miss the entire season. Kevon Looney has been an iron man for Golden State, but the Warriors' need for another big man has been apparent over the last six weeks as they have struggled on the glass and defending the paint.

But there were no moves to make, so the Warriors will enter the playoffs with Looney and Green as their options at center, and hope that's good enough.

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