The hip new thing for retired NBA players to do is to say their team could beat the Golden State Warriors. Obviously, no one is going to say “our team would get ran off the court because they are better than us,” so old athletes keep making arguments for why their squad could beat the Dubs in their heyday.
Even current Warriors player Matt Barnes got in on the fun.
Steve Kerr has heard all of this, apparently. With his team one win away from becoming the first squad in postseason history to go 16-0 en route to a championship, Kerr decided to take a moment to respond to those who believe their teams were better than this Warriors squad.
Steve Kerr on all the former greats who said they'd beat this #Warriors team. #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/5uxheYHQoX
— Jimmy Durkin (@Jimmy_Durkin) June 9, 2017
Kerr and his 2020 running mate, Gregg Popovich, are revered for their ability to churn out money quotes like it’s nothing. He backed up that reputation with just under 60 words, each one a little more sarcastic than the next. Kerr also makes a bunch of decent points in here that get lost among the silliness of this quote.
We always talk about basketball skill and ability as the thing that would decide the series, but as humans are getting bigger/faster/stronger, that would also play a role in a matchup between a team from the 1970s or ’80s and the 2017 Warriors.
Either way, the entire “Could [older team] beat the Warriors?” debate is kind of stupid. Good on Kerr for responding to it with the sarcastic response it deserves.
