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OAKLAND – Sometime last December, when they were in the midst of a jaw-dropping 16-game win streak, the Warriors realized they could be better than good. They were spectacular, capable of being historically great.
As they were roaming NBA cities, racking up victories and ratcheting up their confidence, the Warriors shed decades of derision and doubt. They began to believe. They began to dream. And then they chased and caught those dreams.
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The quest to do it again, to silence the skeptics and join the hallowed ranks of teams able to win back-to-back titles in the post-Jordan era, is the challenge that awaits the 2015-16 Warriors.
Assuming they aren’t up to it, as many have lined up to do, is risky to say the least.
[POOLE: Warriors, Curry face challenge of being NBA's biggest target]
The Warriors are built to beat long odds. That is the thread that runs through them, top to bottom. From CEO Joe Lacob to general manager Bob Myers to coach Steve Kerr to MVP Steph Curry to emotional leader Draymond Green, this is a bunch that has lived with doubt and rejection and been inspired by them.
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“That’s what has made this team, our fight, our will, our determination,” Green told CSNBayArea.com. “Everybody’s story is different, but there are some parallels. That’s what makes this team who we are. It’s that will. It’s that fight, that grinding away at it. That’s our makeup.”
Green has gone from the fat kid who wasn’t athletic enough for the NBA to becoming a model for what every team needs. He has evolved from a second-round pick – a gamble by nature – to a near max-contract player. The skeptics have backed off.
Green is just one example. The pillars of this team are men who have experienced the casual brush-off, if not the curt dismissal.
“I don’t want to get this confused with the ‘normal’ population because there’s a lot more going on than basketball,” Myers told CSNBayArea.com. “But in the context of basketball, I see a lot of guys who have had to prove people wrong throughout their lives, whether it was grade school, high school or college.”
Do folks understand how that fortitude plays into a man’s competitive drive? Do they get how rejection can fuel an intense desire for redemption?
Curry was rejected by major colleges and settled for Davidson. Green was rejected by NBA GMs and had to accept being a second-round pick. Klay Thompson, feeling no recruitment love from UCLA or Arizona, wound up in the relative wilderness of Washington State.
Andrew Bogut, the big 7-foot center, was bullied as a youngster with the physique of a scarecrow growing up in an economically challenged community.
The coach, Kerr, had to prove as a baby-faced prep that he was worthy of a college scholarship, then of an NBA contract.
Lacob, the wealthy owner, grew up with blue-collar parents of modest means.
Even Myers, who didn’t grow up poor, has the ultracompetitive DNA. He fought for a walk-on role at UCLA and, to this day, detests losing, whether it’s business or pleasure.
That’s who the Warriors are. That’s what the NBA is dealing with.
The Warriors know the widespread perception, that at the end of an eight-month stretch of lucky breaks and good fortune they somehow ran into a title. They chafe at the notion. As much as they want to prove others wrong, they desperately yearn to prove themselves better.
“We won 67 games, but there were some games we left out there, we felt like,” Curry said. “Even if we don’t win 67 this year, there’s still an opportunity for us to be a better team going into a playoff run.”
This season will be difficult, more so than last. As the biggest target in the NBA, the Warriors, quite likely, will not match their 67-15 record of last season.
But never underestimate the will of a fighter who has been slapped in the face. And never overlook the heart of an underdog, especially when they come as a pack.
The league wants proof that the Warriors are legitimate champs? The doubters need confirmation? That’s a situation to which these Warriors are accustomed. There is little on earth with which they are more familiar than setting out to bring proof to the doubters.