The real reason behind the Golden State dynasty
The Golden State Warriors, the NBA Champions of 2018 have now placed on their resume, a possibility of being a dynasty. The team has won three NBA Championships in the last four years while making the playoffs throughout the four years.
Further, in the 4-year run, they managed to make history by creating a regular season record of 73 wins in a season. However, before this decade(2010) the Golden State Warriors were a franchise forgotten since nearly 3 decades. So what was the difference maker?
Th fact which analysts, reporters, players or even fans when talking about the GSW franchise don't mention and the reason for the turn of their fortunes was the change of ownership in 2009. Peter Guber and partner Joe Lacob bought the team for a then-record price of $450 million.
This was the biggest game changer in the history of the franchise, it arguably had more impact on the franchise than Chris Mullin or even Steph Curry. Guber and Lacob, when bought the franchise, came with one intention - to win an NBA Championship.
After taking over, Lacob famously said, "That logo( 1975 Championship Drape) looks very lonely up there. We want another one!" and hence began the most interesting turnaround in a franchise history.
Now, fans disregard the impact of the ownership in the sports teams, they very often believe that it is the General Manager and President of Basketball who runs the show and that the coach is boss on the court.
But like any organization, the ownership has the ability to listen or disregard the opinions based on their need for the franchise. This is what Gruber and Lacob brought to the Bay Area, they wanted a whole shelf of trophies and were determined to get it at nearly any cost.
This want, created the culture of the whole franchise and was built on one very basic yet fundamental aspect- selflessness. Through the hiring of Bob Myers, picking Steph Curry over Monte Ellis, bringing in reputed legends like Jerry West and Steve Nash as on and off court advisors, the ownership was driven to their dream of becoming the best.
All in all, there is one more aspect which amazes me, how Lacob and Gruber saw and planned something in terms of sports and monetarily a decade in advance. A team they bought for $450 million is now worth on the upwards of $3.2 billion, not counting the profits the team has made throughout the decade even last year after paying high luxury taxes.
Hence increasing the value of the investment by nearly seven times and being placed in the glory of being the owners and leaders of an all-time NBA dynasty.
