OAKLAND, Calif. — The Spurs were licking their wounds, the Clippers were trying to comprehend theirs, and what were the Warriors doing Tuesday? ADVERTISING OAKLAND, Calif. — The Spurs were licking their wounds, the Clippers were trying to comprehend theirs,
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Spurs were licking their wounds, the Clippers were trying to comprehend theirs, and what were the Warriors doing Tuesday?
Watching a compilation of joke video clips and celebrating Australia Day, of course.
There have been and will be stern and serious practice days in the Warriors’ season, of course.
But those are mostly rare because Steve Kerr wants them to be rare and because his players flourish in this relaxed and convivial environment.
The Warriors’ coach wants a team that can destroy the Spurs one night — as the Warriors did on Monday — and then essentially skip a real practice the next day in order to rest, laugh and play loud music.
That’s not the main reason they’re 41-4 and playing at historic levels, but the Warriors’ whole sense of lightness, togetherness and joy cannot be underestimated.
It’s about consistency, continuity and the over-arching leadership of Stephen Curry.
It’s also about the Warriors’ front office understanding exactly what it has, and the inherent value of every piece.
It doesn’t mean they will be dancing and winning forever; but on Tuesday, for instance, it meant that the Warriors were relaxed and ready to attack the rest of the season while the Clippers were dealing with the repercussions of star Blake Griffin breaking his hand apparently in a fight with a team staffer.
The Warriors used to be the franchise of excuses and mishaps; now they’re a peaceful, prosperous island apart from all NBA storms.
How did this all happen?
“Steve’s really good at having a great pulse of the entire team and organization, whether it’s building a coaching staff or building a roster, a training staff,” general manager Bob Myers said Tuesday.
“He’s got a unique way of valuing the familial component of a team. I think he got a lot of that from San Antonio, to be honest. The cultural component, finding people that are good at what they do, that have an ability to improve, to get better, and players fit into that, too.”
Point of fact: Though Myers and owner Joe Lacob are famous for their restless pursuit of new talent, the Warriors essentially sat out the trade and free-agent market last offseason.
They re-signed Draymond Green, shed David Lee’s salary, and kept two veterans who didn’t need to be kept — Leandro Barbosa and Marreese Speights.
And so far this season, how can you argue about anything the Warriors have done … or didn’t do?
“Sometimes nothing is better than something,” Myers said. “There wasn’t a reason to try to shake things up.
“Look, they’re proving that decision — the players are showing why that made some sense.”
This makes sense because of the Warriors won 67 games and the title last season, and makes sense because Curry is comfortable with this entire locker room and he’s the best player in the world.
It makes sense because this group of players is supremely talented, supremely connected, and why would you break that up?
“You have to kind of take your ego out of it sometimes and just say, ‘Look, leave it alone. Don’t screw it up,’ ” Myers said.
The Warriors logically continue to look around maybe for an extra shooter off the bench or depth somewhere else, of course.
Despite the gaudy record, the Warriors’ second unit has been up and down and Speights has played himself mostly out of Kerr’s rotation.
But they’re 41-4 and they have spent the first months of the season largely clearing the field of true competitors.
Another point: Maybe things wouldn’t have gone as smoothly during Kerr’s 43-game absence if the Warriors had made more changes to their roster last summer.
As it was, 90 percent of the players were very familiar with interim coach Luke Walton and knew the team’s built-in systems and standards.
“I think you have to be aware that disrupting things can have a ripple effect,” Myers said. “They’re not done in isolation.”
The Warriors won’t keep the roster intact forever; there will be tweaks in the future and maybe even a major move or two next summer.
But there’s no pressing reason to do anything right now, or maybe not even for a few more years, not if the Warriors keep winning, laughing, and celebrating championships.
