By: Jared Williams
In the most ridiculous sports gripe known to fankind, the Warriors’ greatness has become too predictable. I still go nuts when Steph hits rainbow 23-28 footers, or when Bogut throws passes 99% of coaches would immediately bench their center for attempting, or when Draymond does Draymond things, but in the back of my mind I’m not surprised anymore when the Warriors’ greatness comes to fruition. It’s a weird and unchartered time for Warriors fans!
These Warriors are like…
- Watching that annual Little League World Series (LLWS) player who obviously fudged his birth certificate and is hitting 3 bombs a night off a bunch of 12 year olds.
- Or, those times when your natural gait alternates perfectly between light and dark tiles in the grocery store.
- Or, the moment you realize it’s a 3 paycheck month.
Put simply, this Warriors team is an incredible experience that never gets old, but like the 15 year-old in the LLWS or a couple steps that perfectly time the tiles, after experiencing it a couple times it becomes predictable.
Instead of rehashing how unbelievable this team is, I want to talk about something less predictable: the long term future of the Warriors. Four seasons ago OKC seemed destined for multiple titles; now, they’re close to becoming one of the greatest “Almost Dynasties” of all-time. All of this volatility and the NBA hasn’t even reached the sheer delirium that will be the impending 2016 off-season in which the salary cap per team will jump from about $66 million to a projected $90 million. I can already sense Kings owner Vivek Randadive passive aggressively asking his GM if they’ll have the cap space to throw a 5 year offer at Joakim Noah for $125 million!
Last December Nate Silver (aka that guy who correctly predicted every state in the 2012 Presidential election) of FiveThirtyEight projected the number of championships each NBA team would win through the 2018-19 season (5 seasons). The Warriors projected at winning 0.95 titles. Not even one ring is somewhat demoralizing until you realize the next highest projection was the Clippers at 0.42 titles. Our beloved Warriors had double the projected number of titles than any other team in the NBA!
With great opportunity comes great responsibility. Here’s my humble opinion on how the Warriors can turn this into a Golden Era.