The Power of Culture (an ode to the Warriors)

There's so much hope surrounding these guys, largely based on the fact
that they were drafted by the Warriors, an organization with winning culture.

When Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody were drafted, honestly both of them were players most of us never heard of.  Yet there was a strong sense of optimism that they could develop into great players.  Why?  Because they were drafted by the Warriors, a team who, if you're able to break the rotation, then you will inevitably be a good player.  Meanwhile there's other teams out there that being drafted onto as an average rookie with potential could prove to be like a death sentence.  One situation that immediately comes to mind is what Kevin Knox went through on the Knicks.  Imagine if he was drafted by the Warriors instead?

I guess for the sake of simplicity, we can say that this all dates back to the Warriors drafting Steph Curry in 2009.  Steph is the type of player who just being on the court with him, even if you're on the opposing team, automatically makes you a better shooter.  So imagine how the likes of Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole and even Kuminga and Moody based on recent displays - who play with him on a daily basis - benefit from that relationship.

But this isn't all about Steph either.  Even prior to Steve Kerr, the Warriors had a damn-good coach in Mark Jackson.  Unfortunately for Action's professional life though, he's one of those dudes whose name kept popping up in tabloid circles.

But the point is that just by enlisting the likes of Curry and Jackson, it's like the Warriors know what they're doing.  This is some behind the scenes shit I'm talking about here.  I don't know much about their ownership/executive body and really don't feel like googling right now.  But what I do know is that prior to the mid-2010s and going all the way back to the early-1990s, the Warriors were garbage.  And even then, they weren't exactly what you would call contenders.

I have nothing against assembling superteams and even credit myself with help bringing that trend into existence.  The Lebron era of basketball has been the most-exciting in terms of roster changes.  But having an organization so grounded that they can competitively transition from one competitive core to the next, primarily off of draft picks, is a rarity in the NBA and perhaps most major sports by this point.  In fact the only squad I can instantly think of who has displayed this ability besides the Warriors, though not as much really, is the Boston Celtics.  And maybe I can also say that it would've been cool if KD stuck around.  But he demanded so much attention that it may not have been good for the periphery players on the team.  And right now the Warriors rotation, at full strength, is about a full 12-men deep, if you can imagine that.

CONCLUSION

I personally don't think the issues the Warriors are currently through are going to magically resolve once Draymond returns.  A player at his stage of injury history cannot be consistently relied on court anyway.  The bigger issue is that the Splash Brothers are no longer splashing like that anymore.  They both have their moments, but it's not like before when they were doing that shit every night.  So even Steph has been able to recognize that the young dudes are important right here, right now.  He's not talking about trading them away for Kevin Love or some shit.  No, at least give them a chance to represent.  That's how you build an actual culture around a superstar core.  And I'm looking forward to a Warriors' future where, even if they do (and likely will) need to go after an external superstar at some point, they will also retain all of these young players they drafted and/or developed.