The Selfless San Antonio Spurs
Gregg Popovich is essentially the NBA’s version of Yoda. Yes, he’s a teacher of offensive and defensive principles, but he’s really a teacher of an NBA lifestyle. While the Warriors are imitating in-game strategy from past Suns teams, they’re imitating general organizational philosophy from the Spurs. I see this most evident in three ways…
1) Continuity
Since the 20th century (okay, the late 1990s to be way more specific) the Spurs have had four core players and a centerpiece: David Robinson, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, and the nucleus that is Tim Duncan -whose longevity is making him the Meryl Streep of sports. Every one of these players has spent their entire career with the Spurs. The Warriors mimicked this emphasis on chemistry when they decided not to trade Klay Thompson. If James Harden (to Houston) is the trade of the decade, then Klay is the no-trade of the decade.
2) No egos
The Warriors and Spurs are number 1 and 2 in secondary assists per game. Nicknamed “the hockey assist”, a secondary assist is the pass to a teammate whose pass is recorded as the assist. Having a high number of secondary assists demands ball-movement and a willingness to find the best shot instead of a good one. Coupled with David Lee and Andre Iguodala accepting bench roles, this Warriors team has shown a penchant for truly embracing the “we” over “me”. In a 24-hour news-cycle sports world, the Warriors are a boring drama and that’s a great quality.
Side note: last season the Warriors were dead last in passes per game; this season the Dubs are 8th.
3) Preventive Maintenance
The debate over resting players throughout the season is much like the analytics debate -it’s over. The NBA regular season is simply too long and the new-age offenses of “threes or layups only” demand so much defensive movement that resting players is simply smart. Especially in the case of Andrew Bogut, the Warriors are truly playing the long game with the thought that their players will have the energy reserves the Spurs players could dig into last postseason.
Can Curry and Kerr become the NBA’s next Duncan and Popovich? Definitely possible, but nobody knows. What we do know is that like a young padawan in Star Wars, the Warriors are taking after the ways of Gregg Popovich.