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Music:
➤ Poverty (Prod. CorMill)
➤ Lackin' (Prod. Syndrome)
➤ Losing My Mind (Prod. Young Taylor)
➤ Japan (Prod. Ty Rose)
Golden State has made a complete turnaround over the past couple months, and all that talk about the gap closing, the chemistry issues, and the beggining of the end of this dynasty.. It’s all been forgotten. Were back to the same old disbelief in the dominance and overall unfair advantage this team has over it’s competitors. But to many, KD’s still gone next off-season, regardless. Meaning golden state’s reign as an unmatchable force in the league may be comin to a close.. Leavin that throne up for grabs. Let’s entertain the idea, if that is truly the case.. Then who’s next?
The latest evolution of the league that GS began.. That’s over. You look at the Raptors, Celtics, Bucks, Nuggets & others and you see they’ve already emulated a number of things from GS. On the surface, “chasing” GS is the completely logical thing to do. Matter fact, that’s what you’re supposed to be doing as an nba franchise. GS themselves are a melting pot of varied managerial and coaching styles. Just a quick look into Kerr’s history uncovers a uniquely diverse collection of mentors & influences, winning 5 titles alongside the likes of Michael Jordan, Pippen, Duncan, in systems implemented by Phil Jackson & Gregg Popovich. He also was GM of a Phoenix Suns team led by Mike D’Antoni & Steve Nash. And we’ve yet to even touch on the likes of former coach Don Nelson, whose success with the Warriors “Run TMC” group ft a lineup of three guards and two forwards, & the “We Believe” group, paved the way for another small-ball, positionless brand of basketball to exist today.
The problem arises when teams get too caught up in emulating one specific team. In terms of taking things past adoption to straight up imitation, there’s no better example than the Atlanta Hawks selecting the Steph-like Trae Young, the Klay-like Kevin Huerter and the Draymond-like Omari Spellman. It’s a deliberate attempt to recreate the early dynamic of the GSW, all in one draft.
Before Schlenk was named GM of the Atlanta Hawks in 2017, he was actually working behind Bob Myers in GS. Not only did he have a front row seat to watch the dynasty blossom, he actually played an instrumental part in the construction of that team. But while these were major achievements, they were not achieved alone. & some of Schlenk’s most notable contributions will always have a huge * next to them. Take drafting Thompson, where Jerry West is also credited. A legend in the executive realm, responsible for the construction of 2 dynasties in LA that between them won 8 championships. West didn’t leave the Lakers for Grizzlies and then go retracing his steps tryna replicate exactly what he’d built in LA. He didnt go into his first draft thinkin he was bout to sniff out the next Kobe or the next Shaq. He used the cards he was dealt with, and took a separate approach that better matched that team, same as he did afterwards in GS, and after that with the Clippers.
Before GS initially rose to success, the general sentiment was that the 3-pointer was an inconsistent part of the game. In fact, a large part of what made this team so successful early on had to do with how new and different it was. Teams weren’t able to effectively deal with GS because they’d never seen it before. Players that weren’t only able to take the kinds of shots that the Splash Brothers do, but making a conscious effort TO take these shots.
GS just seemed to be ahead of the curve when it came to the direction the NBA was headed. So in order for another team to be crowned as truly the “next warriors”, they cannot be a team that is built exactly like GS is, rather, they’d have to be the contrary, they’d have to revolutionize the game of basketball in a way of their own. Otherwise, you’ve built the new warriors, not the next warriors.
The most telling sign is that even GS refuse to remain stagnant & now with the addition of Boogie, GS’ll have someone that combines the traditional role with the modern. Post play, rebounding, etc but also, just as the hybrid bigs we see more and more of today, shoot 3s, handle, playmake, etc. This proves GS is not only willing to revert back to a more traditional team structure but that they’re also ready to push forward into the next era. And that next era is the key to it all. Defining exactly what that is and jumping out to be the first team that fully commits to this new structure. So let’s define what that is & let’s take a look at some of the teams around the league best suited to take this challenge on. Teams that’ve already begun experimenting with new concepts & ideas that could lay the groundwork for the next era. We'll discuss all of that in Pt 2.
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