How long is this Golden State Warriors three-point fueled joy ride going to last anyway?
Are we talking a tantalizing tease like Jim Harbaugh’s coaching tenure in San Francisco? Extended success over decades and multiple parades like Eddie DeBartolo’s tenure leading the 49ers? Maybe teams catch up to what Golden State is doing but the Dubs consistently stay in the title mix like the three-time World-Series winning, Bruce Bochy-led Giants. Perhaps they top them all and become the most dominant era in Bay Area sports history.
I’m not going to revisit much Warriors antiquity. You know the deep-rooted pain. Incompetent ownership (Chris Cohan), WTF drafts (Todd Fuller over Kobe Bryant), laughable trades that made you cry (Robert Parish and Kevin McHale for Joe Barely Cares), and long playoff droughts (One playoff appearance from 1994 to 2012).
You, the die-hard Warriors fan, have earned this long-overdue spin at the top of the mountain. Like waiting at Disneyland in a two-hour line, 95 degrees, no wind, no clouds, four screaming kids and the sun beating down worse than a Chris Washburn first round draft pick. This run of swishing nets on one end, rejected shots on the other is your payback. Not a two-minute Space Mountain whirl. I’m talking park is closed, roll-as-many-times-as-you-want earned redemption.
So how long until we get kicked off this magical hoops journey?
Assuming Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are being truthful and they will both re-sign in the off-season, the core will be there for the foreseeable future. Curry signed a four-year, $44 million dollar deal in 2012. The deal has turned out so well for the Warriors, it almost makes you forget they once gave Mike Dunleavy a $44 million extension as well. Curry is in line to make in the neighborhood of $210 million, at around $36 million per season over five years if he takes the maximum years allowed for his service time. Durant signed a two-year, $54.3 million deal with the Warriors last offseason, but the deal includes a one year opt out which he will undoubtedly exercise. With a new deal, Durant’s first year salary will jump from $27.7 million this season to around $36 million next season. The Warriors knew all this before signing KD last summer and are prepared for the financial gymnastics which will force them to lose some key bench players to keep the core intact. Draymond Green is on board for three more years after this season and Klay Thompson is inked for two more seasons.
The issue will thusly be: Can the Warriors, as the Spurs have done so well over the years, find team-fit veterans who will come to the Bay for less money in return for the allure of a championship run? Andre Iguodala, Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, Shaun Livingston, David West, Ian Clark and Matt Barnes are all free agents after the season. Pachulia and West took less than market value to play here, McGee, Livingston and Clark may have priced themselves out of the Warriors pay range. It’s imperative that young players Patrick McCaw, Damian Jones and Kevon Looney become at least meaningful role players on the cheap.
Perhaps most notably on the free agent front, Andre Iguodala, the 2015 NBA Finals MVP, is finishing a four-year, $48 million deal signed in 2013. He is likely too rich for the Warriors to keep and would be a valuable mentor for a young and up-and-coming team who has more cash to spend than Golden State. Having made about $140 million in his career on the court, Iguodala could also decide to take less from the Warriors and stay for more jewelry.
The biggest question in keeping this Warriors juggernaut steam rolling is a three-point specialist, the NBA’s all-time three-point percentage leader. No, not Steph Curry who is third at 43.8% all-time, but Steve Kerr at 45.4%. Kerr’s back may hold the key to whether this is more one ring or a fist full of diamonds and white gold. You may look at the Warriors record without their on-court architect of 49-4 over last season with Luke Walton (39-4), and these playoffs with Mike Brown (10-0), and think the NBA’s all-time win percentage leader is overrated.
You would be as wrong as picking Joe Smith over Kevin Garnett in the 1995 NBA draft. While the front office group deserves a ton of credit shopping for the groceries, Kerr has combined the ingredients and perfected the meal like Wolfgang Puck. He is the creator of the NBA’s most envied and copied offense, he sets the organizational tone on and off the court, he has All-American looks, charm and whit in front of the cameras, but can blow a fuse and bark like a Rottweiler behind locker room doors. He pushes the right buttons on the court and with the players better than a NASA engineer. That’s not to say the team can’t win a title this year without him on the bench. He has set the course of this team and they may be able to win on cruise control with Kerr remotely controlling the team in sweats during practices and shoot arounds. Long-term sustainability, though, likely depends on his health. He’s not Bill Belichick or Gregg Popovich yet, but he’s as important to this franchise as they are to theirs.
How long is this dream Warriors ride? Who knows. Will Joe Lacob and the ownership group be okay with mounting luxury tax bills? Will players get greedy and leave for more cash? Will key veterans come aboard for less to win titles? Will Kerr’s back hold up? Will the front office continue their magic touch? Will the move to San Francisco change the roaring fan base home court advantage?
Stop asking so many damn questions and enjoy the ride.