When the Warriors agreed to a taxpayer midlevel deal with DeMarcus Cousins, many NBA fans and some in the media reignited their takes about how Golden State is unfair and how there’s no reason to even bother with the regular season.
The responses were predictable, but also somewhat understandable, as the sticker shock of seeing Boogie, a four-time All-Star, join the already loaded Warriors was a stunner. However, Cousins coming off an Achilles injury isn’t likely to make a huge impact until late in the season at best, and even then it would take a fairly miraculous recovery for him to be the player he has been in the past in his first few months back from the injury.
The Warriors were going to be overwhelming favorites to win the title with or without Cousins, especially after the way the Rockets have seen their roster depth get depleted by the departures of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah A Moute. The Lakers not getting Paul George or another star, as of now, to join LeBron also keeps them well behind the Warriors in the West.
Still, there were cries that the Warriors have broken and ruined the NBA, and for Steph Curry he finds that pretty hilarious, as he told USA Today’s Sam Amick.
So everybody says how we’re ruining the NBA – I love that phrasing; it’s the dumbest phrase ever. We are always trying to find a way to get better. If we were just happy with winning a championship and staying stagnant, we wouldn’t be doing ourselves justice. Obviously with KD (Kevin Durant signing in 2016), with DeMarcus this summer, with the bench guys that we’ve been able to sign, everybody is trying to get better and we just happen to be the ones who set the pace and set the narrative around how you need to structure your team to beat us. That’s great. I love that vibe, because it keeps us on edge seeing the ripple effect around the NBA and where guys are going and that type of stuff.
The frustration of fans outside of the Bay about the Warriors is understandable, but also a bit misguided. The Warriors have been an incredibly lucky team with regards to their contract situations, cap explosion, and, while a testament to their development staff, having three homegrown All-Stars that all took the leap at about the same time. The addition of Durant obviously opened up the gap between them and the rest of the field, but again, that was all set up by their cap situation and being a very attractive option (with a need on the wing) that summer.
The league is still trying to catch up to Golden State, and while it’s made for a fairly incredible run of dominance, it’s also made for some fascinating summers as players have taken it upon themselves to try and come together on squads and shuffle themselves around the league to make runs at Golden State.
