Warriors a team made for these times
Sports Illustrated honour attests to how franchise sets bar for the NBA
PORTLAND, ORE.— There is always going to be some drama when you hothouse more than a dozen Type A personalities that are NBA players for eight months or so each year and toss in a half dozen or so coaches, maybe two dozen other support staff workers.
It can get ratcheted up when you toss in the fact a handful of them are true superstars of the league, destined for enshrinement in the hall of fame when careers are complete, and that the expectations are every season will end with a shot at a championship. How those teams handle those pressures, that drama, is often telling.
The Golden State Warriors, who have won three of the last four NBA championships, have handled every imaginable scenario with class, a sense of responsibility, an inward-looking attitude that allows them to smooth over rough patches while outwardly doing nearly everything right.
The Warriors are the prime modern day example of a franchise that “gets it” because they deal with difficulties head on, have a wide-ranging sense of social justice and responsibility combined with some of the most delightful playing methods of the modern era.
“Every team I’ve been on period has had to deal with all of the above. When you’re a championship team, those things are in the limelight a little bit more,” coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday night, rattling off all the distractions and pressures that come with being the favourites.
“You don’t go through a long NBA season without your share of obstacles — all 30 teams.”
Examples of the breadth of their existence:
The Warriors were able to handle internally as well as anyone a very public spat between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green this season;
The Warriors, years ago, overcame an extended absence of their head coach and spiritual leader Steve Kerr and thrived;
The Warriors won without Stephen Curry this season and Durant a year ago and remain an odds-on favourite to compete for their fourth championship in five seasons when next June rolls around;
The Warriors promote social causes in the Bay Area regardless of their play on the court — LGBTQ causes, voting rights, gun control, every imaginable off-the-court aspect of life;
The Warriors’ new arena coming next season is a private- ly funded palace — nary a public dollar nor new taxes needed to build the billion-dollar-plus San Francisco palace.
They are, is so many ways, the prototypical team for the times, combining on-court excellence with a solid sense of personal societal responsibility that had them named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year this week.
It hasn’t been easy, it never is because as calm as things may be above the water line, you know the franchise is paddling maniacally out of sight.
But truly great organizations, ones that are great beyond the simple playing of the game, do that. And do it well.
For the last quartercentury, the San Antonio Spurs have been held up as the gold standard of franchises in the NBA. Times change. Today? That mantle goes to the Warriors.