The Golden State Warriors won their second straight championship and third in the last four years in 2017-18, but once the buzzer sounded in Cleveland after Game 4 of the Finals, it wasn’t raw jubilation from the champs in defending their crown. There was as much a sense of relief that they’d gotten the job done as there was pure joy for winning the championship again.
In the locker room afterwards, some players hinted at internal struggles and the incredible grind the 2017-18 season had been for the Warriors, although to this point no details have been made public. Entering the 2018-19 season, the team is once again the heavy favorites to win the title and are openly discussing a three-peat amongst themselves.
However, Draymond Green is hoping that some fresh faces in the locker room can help create a different vibe around the team. Green spoke candidly after Monday’s practice about why last season was such a “drag” for himself and the Warriors, because they returned almost the exact same team from 2016-17 and felt they had nothing to really work on for the regular season. He also noted that this season there is more motivation because of the addition of DeMarcus Cousins and more young players on the roster that will play bigger roles, and as such, the Warriors may be more focused during the regular season.
Draymond Green was pretty candid today about why last season was so draining for him. Here’s some of what he had to say: pic.twitter.com/cCZsKSkBw9
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) October 8, 2018
“The whole year was a grind, man,” Green said. “Like stuff wasn’t as fresh as it was the year before. You know, KD coming in the year before, that was something you had to work on and make that work. And then, coming in to last year, who we bring back? Thirteen out of 15 guys from the year before or something like that? It was the same team. So, this is going to sound bad, but there was nothing for us to work on. Nothing to make work. It was like, we know what we’re doing, we played together, we know how good we are. Let’s just go play. There was really nothing to work towards.
“We knew the whole year we were just trying to get to April, and then get to May and June. And there was nothing to kinda spark that fire, so it just made everything a drag. This is an amazing job we have, and as much as you love that job if you don’t have a fire lit under you motivating you to do something in your line of work, it’s just not going to be as easy. I think thats where we were last year. There was nothing to push that group to try and be great in the regular season. It was just try to be great in April, May, and June.
“I think this year we got something to work on. We got a lot of young guys, so that for the time being, and then with DeMarcus coming in. Making that work. JB, Damian, Loon, they’ll play bigger roles. Making that work. So, I think we’ve just got more to work on than we did last year. And that’s why it was just all around tough. There was just nothing there to push you night in and night out.”
That was apparent in the Warriors occasionally spotty play last regular season, although that was sometimes precipitated by injuries, but this year as they go for a three-peat, there are some things they can focus on in the day-to-day to improve on that can maybe keep the season from feeling like a slog to the postseason. It seems like a very good problem to have, being so good that you struggle to find motivation on a nightly basis, but Green clearly wasn’t satisfied with last year’s effort. Once Cousins comes back one would think that will offer a bolt of energy for this team as they get to figure out how to incorporate him and, just generally, have some fun bringing in another star.
