If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.
- JP Ferreria
- Oct 31, 2018
- 2 min read
This afternoon, I was watching a video on how the Golden State Warriors dynasty was established. Now they're putting up historic numbers and their players are breaking records after records. But how did they achieve the success that they are having now? Well one, they made the right decisions, and two, though they don't have a four-leaf clover, they were very lucky. Let me highlight some of their strokes of luck over the years:
The Minnesota Timberwolves didn't sign Stephen Curry before Golden State did.
Jeremy Lin became a star with the New York Knicks, not with the Warriors.
Steph got injured in 2011 and only played 26 games.
They didn't acquire their first choice for a new head coach in 2014, Stan Van Gundy.
Their other star player in 2014, David Lee, got injured and missed the opening games of the season.
They lost the 2016 Finals to Lebron and the Cavs.
With the exception of the first one, every item on the list was pretty darning at the least. How could those be strokes of luck?! For the Warriors, if they weren't lucky, they were blessed. Somehow for them, everything that seemed like a setback was actually a setup! Now, let's look at these events from a different perspective.
Had the Wolves signed Curry, this whole Warriors dynasty thing would not even have started (and this blog post would not happen).
Had Linsanity happened with the Warriors, the franchise would not have probably given him up. He would have taken some minutes from Curry, or he might even have been their go-to starter rather than Steph.
If Steph had been healthy all through-out the 2011-12 season, Golden State would probably have signed him for a pricier contract and they wouldn't have had the cap space to sign Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Had they acquired Stan Van Gundy as head coach, they wouldn't have went with Steve Kerr. Need I say more?
If David Lee didn't get injured, they wouldn't put Draymond Green, their best defensive point forward, in the starting lineup.
Had they gotten the ring in the 2016 NBA Finals, they wouldn't have called Kevin Durant to play with the Warriors.
BONUS: JR Smith thought they were ahead.
Fans and experts alike are in awe of how Golden State is playing right now. They are arguably the best team ever assembled in the sport's history. But they would not be enjoying this success now without the "disasters" that hit them along the way. Somehow, these detours ended up actually bringing them closer to where they are now. So if you yourself are experiencing hardships and troubles, you're in a good place. If you endure the storm long enough, fighting as hard as you can to thrive, you will soon see the sunshine. Remember what brought the Warriors to this side of history. Then write your own.
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