Why the Golden State Warriors Are Ready to Become the New San Antonio Spurs
In this generation, no NBA team has better defined the term "sustainable success" than the San Antonio Spurs.
With 50-plus wins to show for each of the last 16 seasons—and playoff berths captured in 25 of the last 26—the label fits this historical power like a glove.
The Golden State Warriors are getting set to make their third consecutive postseason appearance. By Spursian measures, the Bay Area ballers are still in the temper-tantrum-throwing toddler stage.
But Golden State, the NBA's new juggernaut, is already hinting at a future as bright as San Antonio's present. With budding stars on both the roster and the sideline, the Warriors are built for the long haul.
In a lot of ways, it's fitting that this team would submit its formal application to become basketball's next powerhouse. Since rookie coach Steve Kerr first grabbed the reins last May, he's been working feverishly to fashion his group in San Antonio's image.
He didn't draw up his blueprint for basketball dominance inside Oracle Arena or even anywhere along the Pacific Coast. No, its roots were planted between the Alamo City and South Beach during San Antonio's historic demolition of the Miami Heat in last year's NBA Finals.
"I have those games in my computer," Kerr said of last year's Finals, per Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I spent a lot of time watching 'em this summer. It was just scintillating to watch the poise, the balance, the ball movement—to me, that’s the epitome of what I'm looking for with my team."
Granted, the Dubs are far from the league's only team trying to replicate the Spurs' success. But what separates Kerr, who credits his former coach Gregg Popovich among his many mentors, and Golden State from the throng of attempted copycats is the quality of the team's impression.
It's not just the style of play, though the similarities in that department are glaringly apparent.
Stephen Curry brings a different set of skills than Tony Parker, but both fill their club's head-of-the-snake role. Each team employs a lockdown defender/knockdown shooter at the 2 (Klay Thompson and Danny Green), a do-it-all forward with transcendent defensive talent (Draymond Green and Kawhi Leonard), a cerebral, selfless big (Andrew Bogut and Tim Duncan) and a playmaking sixth man (Andre Iguodala and Manu Ginobili).
In strict adherence to Pop's "good-to-great" mantra, Kerr has prioritized getting better ball movement and generating cleaner looks. The Warriors are averaging nearly 70 extra passes per game than last season (314.9, up from 245.8) and have exploded as an offensive power as a result.
| 2013-14 | 104.3 | 10th | 23.3 | Seventh | 55.0 | 10th | 105.3 | 12th |
| 2014-15 | 109.7 | First | 27.4 | First | 57.2 | First | 109.6 | Second |
Former coach Mark Jackson leaned heavily on Curry, Thompson and David Lee to handle the scoring load last season. Considering the trio combined for 60.6 points per night, it wasn't the worst strategy in the world.
But it also wasn't one that Pop would ever use, despite possessing an even more lethal three-man army of Parker, Duncan and Ginobili. The Spurs have always taken advantage of every available weapon, and Kerr has the Warriors sticking to the same script.
"The result is a system in which the only sin is standing still," wrote Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard. "...The bigs use dribble handoffs, the shooters curve and cut in a continual churn and everyone, eventually, gets to touch the ball."
In other words, every player on the floor is an offensive threat. As tempting as it is to sell out on stopping the Splash Brothers, doing so leaves defenses vulnerable to Harrison Barnes' corner triples, Marreese Speights' elbow jumpers, Leandro Barbosa's off-ball cuts, Shaun Livingston's post-ups, pinpoint passes from any number of bigs—the list goes on and on.
But there's an underlying philosophy behind this systematic change, one that may as well be written in silver and black. The Warriors are learning—as the Spurs have known for years—the importance of sacrifice.
They have traded individual statistics for team success.
Curry and Thompson see nearly seven fewer minutes combined per game than they did last season. Iguodala, a career starter, has thrived in his new substitute role. Lee, an All-Star in 2012-13, has lost his starting gig to Green and struggled to find a permanent rotation spot. Reserves have been promoted and demoted—sometimes in the same week.
"There isn't [ego] here, and that's very important," Lee said, per Fred Kerber of the New York Post. "... None of us care. We just want to win games."
They're certainly doing that. The Warriors have already established a franchise record for wins (62 and counting). Their plus-10.7 point differential is the highest the NBA has seen since the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls had a plus-10.8.
And, as scary as this sounds, Golden State's best may still be yet to come. In Curry (27 years old), Thompson (25) and Green (25), the Warriors have a Spurs-like trio to power them through the next five to 10 years.
The Dubs will have to break out their checkbooks to keep this core intact, but their future finances show enough wiggle room to keep their key contributors around.
| Andrew Bogut | $12,000,000 | $11,027,027 | N/A |
| Stephen Curry | $11,370,786 | $12,112,359 | N/A |
| Andre Iguodala | $11,710,456 | $11,131,368 | N/A |
| David Lee | $15,493,680 | N/A | N/A |
| Klay Thompson | $15,501,000 | $16,663,575 | $17,826,150 |
Noticeably absent from that group, of course, is Green. The versatile forward is headed to restricted free agency at season's end and is sure to snag a major-money deal when he gets there.
But the Warriors have the option to match any offer he receives, which Klay's father, Mychal Thompson, has heard they will, per Bay Area News Group's Diamond Leung. It might require footing a luxury tax bill depending on their ability to shed any payroll this summer (cough, David Lee), but the team can keep Green without cutting anyone loose.
In fact, as ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss explained, Golden State's salaries are staggered in a way that always accommodates one of its young players getting paid:
"Whenever someone is up for a big new contract, an old one comes off the books. When Harrison Barnes is a free agent in 2016, David Lee’s deal expires. When Stephen Curry is ready for a well-earned max in 2017, the Andrew Bogut and Iguodala deals come off the books. That's also when the NBA's TV money should blast the cap upward like a burst water main.
"
The prominent pieces in Golden State's rapid rise are not—or, at the least, should not be—going anywhere.
That's San Antonio-style continuity for a group that already may have the league's best chemistry. It's a dream scenario for the Dubs with nightmare potential for the rest of the NBA.
"Golden State's super team can stay together until it runs out of gas," wrote SB Nation's Tom Ziller. "Barring injury, that could mean seven or eight more seasons like this one in the Bay Area. It could mean a new West Coast dynasty."
Or even a new San Antonio Spurs, a fresh—yet familiar—standard of basketball excellence.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com. Salary information obtained via HoopsHype.com.
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