Latest / The Facts with Jamal ๐บ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ / The #Warriors quest to remain a dynasty in the #NBA has finally caught up with them.
Transcript
- 0:02It's rare nowadays in professional sports that success
- 0:08is really a straightforward path.
- 0:11And I'm not necessarily talking about, you know, from an
- 0:14individual standpoint. I'm talking about the collective
- 0:18of a franchise. If you've noticed, there's not
- 0:24really many dynasties anymore. I mean sure you had the Florida
- 0:30Panthers in hockey who tried to go 3 in the row winning three
- 0:35straight Stanley Cups, but unfortunately they missed the
- 0:38playoffs. The LA Dodgers are trying to do
- 0:41the same thing in baseball after winning back-to-back World
- 0:45Series, although they have kind of hit a bump in the road.
- 0:49If you want to say it's that, I still give him a punch's chance.
- 0:56And of course, in the NFL, there has never been a team to ever
- 1:00win three straight Super Bowls. Now, mind you, the Green Bay
- 1:06Packers in the offense from Bali era won three straight NFL
- 1:12championships along with the two Super Bowls and 66 and 67.
- 1:19But if we're talking about strictly Super Bowls, there have
- 1:23been teams that have been the three in a row, but not one all
- 1:27three in them. And in the NBA, that's the
- 1:33cruxer form we're about to get you today.
- 1:36There hasn't been three in a row since the Kobe and Shaq Lakers
- 1:41of the 2000s. Many teams have tried to come
- 1:47close, but many have failed. Whether it was the Miami Big
- 1:54Three from a decade plus ago, or even the Warriors when they were
- 2:02on, their dynastic run fell short.
- 2:08That latter part is the focus of today.
- 2:13Here. The Warriors of this generation
- 2:21has cemented themselves as one of the NBA's great dynasties,
- 2:27winning 4 championships from 2015 to 2022, led by the
- 2:36greatest three points to many people's size.
- 2:40Is Steph Curry, a workmanlike Hall of Famer, and Draymond
- 2:45Green, one of the more undervalued 3 pointer
- 2:49specialists in his own writing. Klay Thompson and really being
- 2:53led by a coach in Steve Kerr, who has smelled himself as one
- 2:58of the best coaches over the last hand four years.
- 3:04But after 2022 is when everything starts to fall apart
- 3:08for that group. Now players come and go.
- 3:11That's not unusual. Even coaches that were once your
- 3:16top assistants get coaching jobs elsewhere.
- 3:21But I'm about to explain why the Warriors quest for still trying
- 3:29to be relevant the last couple years has haunted them in more
- 3:34ways than one, and how their thought process of still being a
- 3:39dynastic team has them, as far as the foreseeable future, in a
- 3:44really bad situation. After being Boston in the 2022
- 3:58NBA Finals, Golden State has cemented themselves with their
- 4:034th championship at that time. But it was also the end of the
- 4:10core group of players. Aunt I had the dollar had
- 4:14finally walked away. Kevon Rooney had, despite being
- 4:20a role player, a key one in their championships, went
- 4:24elsewhere. And the cracks of the team, you
- 4:27can argue, start to show after they had won the championship
- 4:32the very next season. Jordan Poole, who had
- 4:37established himself as a promising player at the time and
- 4:43one of their key pieces on the bench after winning the
- 4:48championship, was subsequently punched by Draymond during a
- 4:54preseason workout, which, if you hadn't seen by that point, you
- 5:00can go look for yourself now. We know Draymond has always had
- 5:06his moments. That's me being kind, but that's
- 5:11not exactly the way you want to try to start your season if
- 5:15you're trying to defend your tie.
- 5:18One other key problem for the Warriors that year in particular
- 5:23was that there was some wormings about is this team gonna be able
- 5:29to win a fifth tie now, even though they had the nucleus, at
- 5:34least a couple of them that were part of all four, those
- 5:36championship teams, you could tell immediately things just did
- 5:41not. It just wasn't going to be the
- 5:44same after that. Despite another great regular
- 5:48season, the Warriors finished nearly in the play and finishing
- 5:54in the sixth spot in the first round they went up against
- 6:01Sacramento who made the playoffs after a decade plus drought.
- 6:06The young Kings gave the Warriors all they could handle.
- 6:11The Golden State's experience prevailed them in the drilling 7
- 6:15game series. But then any hope for a possible
- 6:21title defence came to an end in the semi finals when the Lakers,
- 6:26led by LeBron James and Austin Reeves, ended Golden State's
- 6:30quest for repeat and the Semi finals.
- 6:37Now again, we haven't had a repeat champion in the last
- 6:42eight years now with the Knicks winning the championship back in
- 6:47June. But a lot of people thought
- 6:50that, well, even though Golden State had fallen the show
- 6:53against the Lakers, they would be right back in the mix for
- 6:56another title, right? And that's when another tip of
- 7:03the iceberg start the fall after that, Klay Thompson, one of
- 7:08their franchise cornerstones and a guy that was a part of the
- 7:11team when Joe Laker bought the Warriors a decade plus early in
- 7:152011, the franchise felt that Thompson had seen better days.
- 7:22They felt that, along with what they felt was the menacing of
- 7:27his skills. Many felt that his significant
- 7:32entry in the 2019 Finals against Serrano contributed to that, and
- 7:38the Warriors didn't think he was worth investing in long term as
- 7:43a key part of the franchise going forward.
- 7:48So he ended up going to Dallas not long after that.
- 7:54GM and architect Bob Myers, who had been such an integral part
- 7:59of building that team, who stepped down that offseason and
- 8:06went to join ESPN for a couple of years before being hired by
- 8:11Philadelphia to help one of their basketball OPS this
- 8:15offseason. And this was another thing that
- 8:22was so flagrantly obvious as to why the Warriors eventual demise
- 8:30and eventual uncertain future will come into play a little
- 8:34later. Even with the success of the
- 8:39team at that point, it was clearly an older team that was
- 8:43going to have to eventually rely on younger talent.
- 8:47The problem was, if you go back and look at the Warriors draft
- 8:53picks in recent memory, a lot of them, let's just say what's a
- 9:00mixed bag. From James Wiseman to Brandon
- 9:04Forzynski to John Poole to Jonathan Kaminga, Moses Moody
- 9:10and a long line of others. The guys that was supposed to be
- 9:14a part of the next iteration of the team never was really able
- 9:23to get the keys to the franchise consistently.
- 9:28And what I mean by that was knowing that Steph and now
- 9:32Draymond were gonna be really the two to focus on, you
- 9:36would've thought it would've been ideal to get some of the
- 9:38younger core players an opportunity to kind of let them
- 9:41develop and see what they can do, right?
- 9:46Apparently, Steve Kerr, Mike down, really Junior, who was now
- 9:51the GM after Bob Meyer stepped down in the scouting personnel
- 9:57department, didn't agree within what it seemed like a span of a
- 10:04couple of years. All those draft lobby names that
- 10:07I had mentioned, we're not even on the team anymore.
- 10:14Well outside of you know, Petchevsky and Rudy, but the
- 10:19names wise men Jonathan Kaminga and join Pool who unfortunately
- 10:27was on that long end of the punch by Draymond Green have
- 10:32been completely off the team by that point.
- 10:35This is past season, if you will, and it wouldn't be long
- 10:42after that you see why you had to.
- 10:48If your Golden State start to turn the franchise over to young
- 10:53cast the players the following season, you know it was clear
- 11:00that Golden State has seen better days.
- 11:03Now mind you, they were still competitive the next two
- 11:07seasons, but they were nowhere near the team that had firmly
- 11:16established themselves as the dynasty they were just a decade
- 11:20prior. But this past past season, right
- 11:262526, that is when the wheels completely fell off.
- 11:37Golden State the year prior in the 2025 season, had acquired
- 11:44Jimmy Butler as a veteran name that he hoped that his
- 11:50experience being in the finals to help that team get back to
- 11:57where they were. But then that didn't translate
- 12:02to them having much success in the playoffs.
- 12:06And then there was the offseason after that really thing started
- 12:11to spill over between a divide of Steve Kerr and what was
- 12:15supposed to be one of their promising players.
- 12:19Jonathan Kamenga, as I mentioned, was a slew of Lolli
- 12:23picks that was supposed to be the next iteration of the
- 12:27franchise, and for whatever reason, he just kept being in
- 12:37Steve Kerr's proverbial dog house.
- 12:42And even when this past, not this offseason but the previous
- 12:47one when Kaminga contract was done, Steve Cook wasn't exactly
- 12:54in all with the idea of bringing him back for whatever reason for
- 12:59a distance. I never understood why I
- 13:02couldn't play Comingo all that much.
- 13:05I can kind of see to an extent how he kind of have points,
- 13:11specially after Comingo was moved to Atlanta.
- 13:15But this year, but my thinking was he's supposed to be one of
- 13:21your players for the future. Only way you're going to be able
- 13:25to see what he's capable of, you give him an opportunity to play,
- 13:30right? Yeah.
- 13:34That didn't necessarily pan out. There were rumors that offseason
- 13:40whether or not Kamenga was even going to be with the Warriors
- 13:44'cause remember, he was a restricted free agent.
- 13:49So me, any team that tried to sign him, the Warriors could
- 13:54easily match. And it even got so bad to where
- 14:00there were clashing of words. I guess Eagles taking a huge hit
- 14:06here and by the time this past season came and rolled around,
- 14:16it started to show itself not just with the Kamenga situation,
- 14:20but how Golden State's quest to try stay a dynastic team
- 14:27completely has backfired. See, Jimmy Butler earlier in the
- 14:36season has suffered a significant knee injury that
- 14:40forced him to miss the rest of the season.
- 14:44And Steph Curry and Draymond obviously being the older Fets
- 14:49they are, miss their share of time as well.
- 14:52Even despite having guys like Al Horford and the Mets who
- 14:57actually was serviceable for the Warriors this past season, even
- 15:02he missed time. So you would figure that while
- 15:06it's time to finally let the young guys play, right, even
- 15:12though Kuminga had gone his spots every now and then up
- 15:17until he was moved, it just felt like it was more so Kurt having
- 15:28been forced to play him 'cause some of his key guys were out.
- 15:34And I'm not going to lie to you, outside of Gary Payton the
- 15:38second I cannot in a Patinsky and even Moody, I could not even
- 15:44tell you one other name from that Warrior's death that I know
- 15:50of and that we are this ugly head.
- 15:54Once Butler was lost for the season entirely, Kaminga was
- 15:59soon not long after that before the trade deadline was moved to
- 16:03Atlanta. And Long story short, this is
- 16:09really how the Warriors season could be summed up in one way.
- 16:15When they were on the road to play the Knicks at MSG one
- 16:19afternoon, their lineup was essentially a minor league
- 16:29roster. And by that I mean AG League
- 16:33team. I mean, that's yeah.
- 16:38And I actually remember watching the game itself.
- 16:42I remember thinking, who the hell are these guys that are out
- 16:45there for Golden State outside of, you know, some of the names
- 16:48that I mentioned, 'cause I was like, wow, 'cause remember Curry
- 16:55Green, a horse that I believe didn't play in that game.
- 16:59And so Golden State had to try out their guys that were, you
- 17:04can say, pretty much all bench players.
- 17:13And yeah, it was that ugly. But despite all of that, the
- 17:24Warriors were still within the range to be in the play offs
- 17:30because they were in the play in scenario.
- 17:33Unfortunately, the number of injuries, the serious lack of
- 17:38real death, and the toll of being an older team at that
- 17:45point, particularly to the two franchise players finally called
- 17:49to them as Phoenix Suns ended Golden State season in the first
- 17:54playing game, effectively eliminating the Warriors from
- 17:58playoff. Now, am I surprised that Golden
- 18:05State ultimately missed the playoffs?
- 18:08Well, considering the fact that they were even able to be in the
- 18:13play in spot, considering all the injuries, that's actually
- 18:17remarkable on their part. But again, this is ultimately
- 18:21what ends up happening. We still believe that you are
- 18:26the team you were from a decade prior, that you're not anymore,
- 18:31and that you have finally started to see why that is.
- 18:35Now don't get me wrong, all of this or a good majority of it,
- 18:40should go to Steve Kerr for that reason.
- 18:46Now, if you heard me earlier talk about why he never really
- 18:51let any of the guys that was supposed to be the next crop for
- 18:55the franchise finally take off for one reason or another.
- 18:59He never trusted them. You see, he couldn't.
- 19:03He wanted to go with the facts. The guys that had either helped
- 19:07him win championships or even the guys that won apart those
- 19:12dynastic, that dynastic run from different teams.
- 19:16He wanted to go with them. He didn't feel as comfortable
- 19:21trusting the younger players with opportunities even as high
- 19:25as they were drafted, Kerr still felt.
- 19:28You go with the veterans stalwarts and look.
- 19:33For all the success that Kerr has had in Golden State these
- 19:38last four years, now has essentially shown major flaws in
- 19:46really his coaching style. His reluctance of not playing
- 19:51younger players, relying on the feds until literally the wheels
- 19:56fall off and in a lot of cases, being stubborn to the idea that
- 20:03he knows what he's doing. Not counting obviously some of
- 20:09his political bias, but I'm not going to go there.
- 20:15He, in a lot of ways has become his own worst enemy.
- 20:20And I thought after this season, past season, that I thought they
- 20:23were going part ways with him. I'm not going to lie to you.
- 20:27I thought Joe, wake up, Mike Dunleavy, Junior and Steve Kerr.
- 20:33I thought they were going to have a sit down meeting to
- 20:36discuss where this franchise is going.
- 20:41And if you saw, I believe it was that last game for Golden State
- 20:48where Steph and Draymond were really embracing Kurt kind of
- 20:53acts like a swan song, if you will, that this could be it for
- 20:58me. I could, you know, mutually
- 21:00agree to leave the franchise. This, you know, I thought
- 21:07initially that was it. I thought Kurt was going to be
- 21:10on Golden State and that would be the end all be apparently.
- 21:15And I don't have a problem with making this.
- 21:19Apparently I was wrong because Kurt is coming back for let's
- 21:24say another 2-3 years with the franchise.
- 21:27OK, I guess I can understand considering there's not many, to
- 21:32be honest, coaches out there in the NBA, even to an extent in
- 21:37college that you will look at and say we should be talking
- 21:41about that guy a lot more. But really, and again, This is
- 21:46why Steve Kerr has to absorb a lot to blame for this.
- 21:53Him not being willing to play younger players and give them an
- 21:56opportunity has caused you to say, Steph, an opportunity to
- 22:02win champions. Now in Draymond's case, he's
- 22:06back with the Warriors, presumably for this season.
- 22:11Now, could he betrayed our Golden State?
- 22:14Well, remember, he was on, according to Sean Savaya, on the
- 22:21train block at one point. But that was really about as far
- 22:27as it went. I never really thought he was
- 22:29going to be moved anyway. It would have had to take like a
- 22:32last second surprise for that to be the case.
- 22:38But as far as you know, Steph Curry, think about from this
- 22:42perspective. I mean, he's been with that
- 22:45franchise since 2009. He know he has been, you can
- 22:50argue the heartbeat of the franchise throughout that
- 22:54dynastic run, OK. But the reality is he is getting
- 23:01up there in age and with the Warriors franchise facing at
- 23:05this moment a real uncertain future as far as what are they
- 23:10going to be, let's say 2 years down the line and more so this
- 23:14season. Could this be maybe a sign that
- 23:20Steph could potentially want out in Golden State?
- 23:25And look, while I don't have any doubt he may want to finish his
- 23:28career with Golden State, he's also got to come.
- 23:35He's also got to realize I am probably going to spend whatever
- 23:44the last of my prime is on a team that's not winning,
- 23:50probably won't be in the playoffs and it's facing really
- 23:55kind of a rebuild. Now, look, as far as the season
- 23:59goes, I have no idea what will happen for the Warriors as far
- 24:04as the win, loss, record. The one thing I can tell you, he
- 24:10said don't be surprised if maybe not this season, but sooner be
- 24:14the one after. If Steph decides to say, you
- 24:19know what, I'm having second thoughts about wanting to be
- 24:24here. I wanna try to win the 5th
- 24:25championship if possible. I might want a change in
- 24:32direction as far as going elsewhere.
- 24:36Don't be surprised if that happens.
- 24:39And look, wow, you know Steph probably won't ever want it.
- 24:44I think he even knows the handwriting's on the wall.
- 24:48Not so much as far as his career, 'cause when healthy, he
- 24:52could still get it done. OK, But it's more or less about,
- 24:57do I foresee myself being with this organization for the long
- 25:03term? Do I want to be here knowing
- 25:06that this franchise is going to go to another turbulent period
- 25:10for the foreseeable time? And look, when you're as
- 25:15grateful players staff is, you don't want to leave the
- 25:19franchise. You essentially help wrestle
- 25:22rack. That's just, you know how it
- 25:26goes. But if the Warriors were to
- 25:29really bottom out next season, oh it's upcoming season rally
- 25:33and let's say the year after they get off to a slow start,
- 25:38then Steph's going to have to realize maybe I should lead to
- 25:44try winning our championship if I can.
- 25:50There's a reason why dynasties in sports don't always last
- 25:55forever, especially as I mentioned in the NBA, more so
- 25:59because we have not had a repeat champion.
- 26:02Now ironically, since the Warriors, we've had now 8
- 26:09different champions from 8 different teams the last couple
- 26:13of seasons. And while it's really hard to
- 26:17say at this moment, you know why that is the case as far as you
- 26:22know, different teams winning and all that.
- 26:25And I actually think it's good for the NBA.
- 26:28The bottom line is in all sports, diocese don't last
- 26:33forever. I mean, think about how
- 26:38impressive the Patriots run was, you know, back a couple years
- 26:45then. So they had two, you can say
- 26:48elevations of their dynasty. The first part took place is
- 26:53when they won three Super Bowls in four years.
- 26:57OK, but remember from 2004 to 2014, when the second iteration
- 27:05came around, they had gone 11 years without a Super Bowl
- 27:09victory. Now they had got into two of
- 27:12those Super Bowls, but they had lost to the Giants in both
- 27:16instances. And then when the second
- 27:20iteration came, they won three Super Bowls in six years along
- 27:26with 4 appearances, ironically, Well, maybe not ironically as
- 27:34far as the years, but four Super Bowl appearances in six years,
- 27:38winning three of those. OK, so in the Patriots, you
- 27:46know, case, this wasn't just like a year by year thing where
- 27:49it was continuing. No, that that gay gap between a
- 27:56last Super Bowl from the first dynasty run if to the second
- 28:00relation. That was over a decade.
- 28:06And as I mentioned, there hasn't been a repeat three years in a
- 28:10row champion in the NBA since the Kobe and Shack Lakers.
- 28:16It's been since the Yankees from 1998 to 2000 in baseball and
- 28:23from the New York Islanders of the 1980s, winning three
- 28:27straight in a row in four straight overall in the early
- 28:3280s. And obviously in the NFL, there
- 28:35hasn't been a team that's won three straight Super Bowls.
- 28:40But in the Warriors case, and this is where unfortunately they
- 28:44only have themselves to play, them still believe, and they are
- 28:49that team that they were from over a decade ago, believing
- 28:56that they're always going to be in the mix has finally caught up
- 28:59with them. Them not giving the keys to the
- 29:03franchise to younger players and keep relying on the old veterans
- 29:10has shown itself really more so the last three years.
- 29:14Injuries galore, top assistant coaches coming and going in a
- 29:20franchise facing now a murky future.
- 29:24You just have to ask yourself one question.
- 29:29Has Golden State's quest to continue to stay relevant
- 29:34ultimately has resulted in them being less than what they were
- 29:39from that get go? The answer?
- 29:43Unfortunately, you will have to say yes.