In defense of the superteam of talent-hoarding warriors



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Stephen Curry came out with the seventh pick in the 2009 NBA draft, Klay Thompson the 11th in 2011, and Draymond Green the 35th in 2012.

There is your core of Golden State Warriors. It was enough to win an NBA championship, score a regular season of 73 wins and change the way you play basketball.

The so-called players of this championship arrived by traditional means, but extremely intelligent. well chosen (Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli), signs and trades (Andre Iguodala), swaps (Andrew Bogut) and the casual-agent-inspired casual pickup (Shaun Livingston and Marreese Speights).

Steve Kerr was ripped off TNT's broadcast crew, with no previous experience of training the NBA.

What the Warriors built was both a champion and a championship culture that inspired opponents to dream of joining them.

On Monday, DeMarcus Cousins ​​followed suit by taking the one-year ($ 5.3 million) interim level exemption while rehabilitating a Achilles injury during the season and will almost certainly fit a championship.

Who would have been in the NBA 2017 all-star game that DeMarcus Cousins ​​would join Kevin Durant on the Warriors? (AP)

Yes, DeMarcus Cousins ​​on the Warriors, offering a possible lineup of five All-Stars teams: Curry, Durant, Thompson, Green and Cousins.

One could hear league complaints. The hand-wringing was relentless. Calls for reform to prevent the formation of super-formations like Golden State were, and will be, impossible to miss.

This is understandable. No one likes that a championship is actually won nearly a year before the start of the NBA Finals. It's even worse when the team that is the absolute favorite to do so has taken three of the last four and has lost only one game in the previous two finals. Rich becoming richer.

"In the end, we have a lot of talent," Kerr said after winning the title last month by sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers. "We had more talent than them."

The Warriors of the next season are now more talented than the Warriors of last season.

It is still worth remembering exactly how this superteam is became a superteam that Durant wanted to join and that Cousins ​​sought. 19659016] It was not by tanking for half a decade and hoping that the first three choices would happen.This was not in having a pack of buddies all decide to arrive together.This was not by being an obvious and historic destination for free agents.From 1977-78 to their first title season in 2014-15, the Warriors won a combined series of five playoffs

.This was cleverly built.The three-point guards were taken before Golden State catches Curry (Minnesota took two of them Thompson was a late lottery pick that many teams did not see as an adjustment in the league. Green was a person from Michigan State. Livingston was down. Iguodala was there to take it

The Warriors' luck, if you want to call it so, was Curry suffering from ankle injuries early in his career that led to what turned out to be a four-year franchise, $ 44 million second contract. As he blossomed into a MVP twice that changed the NBA, he was underpaid. When Golden State signed it, however, it was a big risk for a small player who could not stay healthy.

Yes, Durant felt blatant, but the cap space and a team that seemed too fun to pass was available. Durant was not a friend, he was a rival. He chose to join what he could not beat. You can not blame the Warriors for signing it. Curry, Thompson, Green and Iguodala have all taken the time to fly to the Hamptons for the Warriors' encounter with Durant.

That's what a team does. again when Cousins ​​has contacted Golden State in recent days on the signing of a one year contract. His injury had cooled the market for him, so he was ready to make a single season with a (relatively) low salary to prove that he was in good enough health for a long-term contract. Where to do better than in Golden State? It was, conversely, one of the few teams where such a move would even make sense

When a Warriors General Manager surprised Bob Myers heard about the Cousins ​​camp, the team jumped into action. Curry, Durant and Green all called and hired him, everything told him that he would join, everything told him that he was wanted.

What Does a Culture Do

If you root for someone other than the Warriors, there is, at least, this: Cousins ​​do not. is not a lock to return to form, especially not next season. Achilles injuries are brutal and it's a tall man – 270 pounds. He also has to adapt to the Warriors' style of play (he shoots well for three for a center) and does not upset the club's legendary chemistry.

These are minimal risks for incredible potential, of course. Nobody is crying for Golden State. Yet, while the complaints are unfair or the system is broken, the perspective and context are important.

Golden State has arrived here, in the new era of NBA superiority, in the old days,

It may not be fun for everyone.

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