Lacob's vow realized, Warriors the envy of basketball world

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OAKLAND –- Given how high the Warriors have risen and how low the Lakers have fallen, there will be no small amount of irony on display when the teams meet Tuesday night at Oracle Arena.

The Warriors, mediocre or worse for the better part of the last 30 years, have evolved into defending champions seeking an exalted place in NBA history.

The Lakers, NBA royalty since arriving in Los Angeles in 1960, would walk the streets begging for wins if they thought it would help.

[POOLE: Curry: Lakers' 33 straight wins 'other number that's out there']

These franchises, in a stunning three-year span, have traded places in the NBA pecking order. It is still, on some days, hard for either team’s fans to believe. Surely no one could have foreseen this.

Well, wrong. Actually someone, Warriors CEO Joe Lacob, did foresee this.

Upon being introduced in November 2010 as the team’s newest owner, Lacob spent the better part of two hours sharing his vision for the future. He was, to put it mildly, too bold to behold. One statement, however, was impossible to ignore.

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“We’re going to be able to recruit players who want to be part of this organization,” Lacob said that day. “The Celtics and the Lakers have fantastic histories, but there is no reason in the world that we can’t be as successful as those teams. There is no reason that we can’t turn this into a championship contender.”

Those not bothering to roll their eyes in the wake of such a sweepingly grandiose statement were quietly urging this naïve clown to sit down. This sounded suspiciously like a bogus campaign promise any 9-year-old could see through.

But here we are, five years and a few days later, with the Warriors reigning champions, the envy of the basketball world.

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Warriors forward Draymond Green, with a mountain of evidence at his back, co-signed on Lacob’s bold vow.

“We have the players that we need,” Green said Monday. “Everybody fits their role. We have everybody in a certain role. We have a great coaching staff, a great organization. Everything is in place for us to do something great.”

The Warriors last season followed up their first back-to-back playoff appearances since 1992 by posting the best record in the league and rolling through the NBA Finals without needing even one elimination game.

They captured a truckload of individual honors, the biggest being Steph Curry’s MVP award. They became the “it” team, and five months after their championship parade, they’re even better. Curry is mobbed at every stop and the undefeated Warriors are must-see TV.

“You want to keep it going and the only way you can do that is by staying sharp, staying focused and bringing effort every night and that's the mentality that we have," Curry said. "That's the reason we're 15-0. It's the reason why last year we had a 16-game winning streak. We built up a winning mentality and confidence in each other. We want to bottle that up and ride the wave as long as we can."

Meanwhile, as the Warriors ride higher than most could have imagined, the rebuilding Lakers would be pleased to gain a rumor of respectability.

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Kobe Bryant, once the king of NBA rock stars, is hoping to have one more respectable season, allowing him to leave the game not just with five championship rings but also with his dignity intact.

The league that once belonged to Kobe now belongs to Steph.

The league so often ruled by the Lakers now is under the thumb of the Warriors.

The Warriors want another chapter in the NBA record book – most wins to start a season – and they have to go through the Lakers to get it.

What could be more fitting?

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