Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets: A Tale of Two Franchises

Despite their last second loss at the hands of Jarrett Jack and the Brooklyn Nets, the Golden State Warriors are still trending in the right direction. They have a solid brain trust in the front office, an All-Star backcourt, one of the deepest rosters in the league and perhaps the most loyal fan base in the entire NBA.

More from Blue Man Hoop

• 3x champion may come to regret forgoing Golden State Warriors reunion
• Golden State Warriors: History shows USA may need Stephen Curry for more than the Olympics
• 7 players Golden State Warriors might replace Klay Thompson with by the trade deadline
• Golden State Warriors villain pours on more pain to end USA’s World Cup
• Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry continues philanthropic efforts off the court

The Nets on the other hand, are trending in the complete opposite direction. As euphoric the feeling is of beating the Western Conference’s best team in front of a lively Barclays Center crowd on a last second shot in Stephen Curry‘s grill, the Nets will soon come crashing back to reality. The losses are almost certainly going to continue to pile up, and without many assets or any star quality players, Brooklyn is likely to be slumping for more than the next season or three.

But how did the two teams get to where they are now?

Mar 2, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard

(8) drives on Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) during the second quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

For the Warriors, it started back in 2009 when they took Curry with the seventh overall draft pick. Though it’s near-impossible to predict how a player will develop over the course of his career, Golden State certainly drafted Curry with the expectation that he would be a franchise cornerstone for years to follow. Even with Curry in the fold, the Warriors didn’t see success immediately. In the early part of his career, Curry struggled mightily with ankle injuries and the Warriors lost a ton of games, bottoming out with a 23-43 finish to the 2011 lockout shortened season.

But, their ownership change in 2010 is what sparked their ascent from 13th in the Western Conference to one of the top teams in the entire league.

With the new ownership group led by Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber, Golden State finally had the financial flexibility to make some serious roster changes. Unlike most major market teams that finally are able to throw some money around however, the Warriors remained patient. Instead of attempting to make a free agency splash, they hired 17-year NBA veteran Mark Jackson as head coach to help develop Curry’s game after the 2010-11 season.

Over the course of two seasons, Jackson helped transform Curry from a 14.7 points, 5.3 assists per game player into a bona fide superstar who averaged 24.0 points and 8.5 assists last season while also setting an NBA record for three pointers made in a season.

The trade that sent Monta Ellis to Milwaukee and netted defensive stalwart Andrew Bogut and the savvy draft choices of Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes in consecutive seasons, combined with poaching Andre Iguodala from the Denver Nuggets in free agency, quickly turned the Warriors from perpetual NBA Draft Lottery contenders into actual NBA championship ones. The Warriors front office had the foresight to choose the younger Curry over Monta Ellis, the guts to trade for an injury prone center in Bogut and the player development staff to turn their young cornerstones into legitimate NBA contributors.

As a result of their commitment to winning and their never-wavering faith in the team building process, as it currently stands, the Warriors find themselves on track to a deep postseason run.

So what about the Nets?

If the Warriors are the poster-child for smart and savvy team building, the Nets have been the opposite over the past three seasons. While the Warriors planned their team out with a long-term vision in mind, the Nets have made moves as meticulously as a bull in a china shop.

After an ownership change of their own in 2010, the Nets began building their team in advance of a relocation to the heart of Brooklyn in 2012. New owner Mikhail Prokhorov left general manager Billy King in charge of building the team, essentially opening his checkbook and allowing King to do whatever he wanted and to start out, it appeared as if King was on the right track.

In 2011, King landed Deron Williams, (who at the time was a top three-point guard in the league) for two first round picks, Devin Harris and Derrick Favors, but followed that move with a series of questionable decisions. The next year, King traded a second round pick for Mehmet Okur, the first round pick that became Damian Lillard for Gerald Wallace, and a first round choice and a future second round choice for Joe Johnson and his $119 million contract. Because he gave up so much for Wallace, he was forced to resign him that offseason to a four-year, $40 million contract and to ensure that the team had a “star” in advance of their impending move to Brooklyn, signed Williams to a five-year, $100 million dollar deal.

Jarrett Jack and

are a far cry from who the Nets expected to be leading their team this season

Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Suddenly, Brooklyn had mortgaged much of their future for a slew of overpaid veterans that only ended up losing to a Derrick Rose-less Chicago Bulls team in seven games in the first round of the playoffs. That offseason, instead of trying to build around a younger core, King traded away even more future assets to acquire an aging Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. In all, the Nets traded away Wallace (who they relinquished a first rounder for only a year prior), and three future first round draft choices (2014, 2016, 2018) for a “retooled” roster than was supposedly built to beat the Miami Heat.

The Heat ended up demolishing the Nets in five games.

Coupled with his poor player transactions, King also hired three different head coaches in three seasons, failing to allow a culture, rhythm or any sort of consistency to be built in Brooklyn.

Now, Brooklyn finds themselves saddled with a past-his-prime Joe Johnson, and a relegated-to-the-bench Williams for the price of seven first round draft choices and nearly $300 million dollars.

There isn’t a formula to winning championships in the NBA, but it certainly isn’t done by placing all your eggs in a basket weaved with a team of 30-something year old former All- Stars.

As the Golden State Warriors continue to dominate the league, and appear to be primed to do so for years to come, the Brooklyn Nets serve as a reminder for how difficult it is to accomplish what Golden State is currently doing.

This Warriors team is certainly something special. And it’s because of more than just Stephen Curry.

Next: Should the Warriors Sign Javale McGehee?