Adding Kevin Durant makes the Warriors an all-time great team, but they will also take on a supervillain status like never before.
Remember a few years ago when the Golden State Warriors were up-and-coming with an adorable star-in-the-making in Stephen Curry, playing an up-tempo, fun offense centered on long distance shots, which had everyone dubbing them as their “second favorite team”?
Well, Curry went from “baby-faced assassin” to arrogant crybaby who throws his mouthpiece at fans with a wife who thinks the NBA is rigged, Draymond Green went from “jack-of-all-trades” to an annoying trash-talker who can’t stop hitting people in the groin, and the Warriors went from “lovable” to an overrated, overhyped team that suffered the biggest choke job in NBA history.
If this team spent the last couple of months embracing their newfound villain status, they’re going to have to get comfortable with it. Like, really comfortable. As much as adding Kevin Durant to their star-studded roster makes them a super-team, it increases their villain status to super levels.
That’s fine, as long as the Warriors meet expectations and deliver another championship (or two, or three).
Odds are, they will. The Warriors were four and a half minutes and a LeBron James chasedown block away from repeating as champions without Durant. With Durant, they have arguably four of the top 10 players and the three best shooters in the league in the starting lineup. They have the last three MVP winners — think on that for a second. They’re adding a four-time scoring champion, seven-time All-Star, a bona fide superstar who is six months younger than Curry and averaging 27.4 points per game over his career.
But as Dr. House said, “If nobody hates you, you’re doing something wrong.” For decades, nobody hated the Warriors because they were more worthy of garnering apathy than hate. It’s hard to gain a footing or even a pulse in the league as a bottom-feeder who looks forward to the draft more than opening night. Though, with the rise of Curry, the improvement of Klay Thompson, and the development of Green — all homegrown players — the Warriors gained a pulse, and with it some respect and praise. “This is how you build a team,” they said. “They are so fun to watch.”
How could you not like the Warriors, with the way they ran up and down the court, launched threes like they were layups, went on a 16-2 runs every other quarter, and just made basketball fun again?
Then they won a championship, and it’s never been the same. From the start, the critics came yelling that the Warriors were lucky that Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving were injured. Even in the midst of their record-breaking 73-9 regular season that followed, the sense that the Warriors were still a fluke unless they proved otherwise hung around. The Warriors undoubtedly heard all the doubt, and went about answering it in manner that appeared to be arrogant, boisterous, and obnoxious.
The playoffs personified that. When Steph dropped 17 in overtime on the Blazers’ court in Game 4 of the second round and proceeded to yell, “I’m back,” when Draymond started targeting dudes’ manhoods and then was called out by LeBron, when Curry hurled his disgusting mouthguard into the Quicken Loans Arena crowd, all of that propagated the Warriors’ role reversal from “beloved team” to “villain.”
Now, they were this monster that was just too good, coming of nowhere and hitting all these threes and jumping up and down and acting like they’ve taken over the league.
And when they lost on the biggest stage, when they choked away a 3-1 Finals lead in historic fashion, the rest of the league exalted and let out a collective, “Told ya so.” For a team that won like none other, the Warriors lost at the worst possible time. They lost at a time when they badly needed to win, to look at their critics and show them not one, but two rings. Instead, it became open season to tee off and laugh at the egotistical Warriors.
They had about two weeks because nobody’s laughing now. The Warriors might as well act like they never lost the Finals, because perhaps losing to the Cavaliers in the championship set them up to win the next five.
And oh, the pressure will be on. By signing Durant and making drastic changes to their depth, the Warriors are essentially accepting that they weren’t good enough. By straying from the homegrown, organic route and resting their laurels on a free agent, the Warriors have diverged from the method that made them great and lovable in the first place. They are admitting that Curry needs another superstar, that he can’t carry this team by himself.
Again, that’s completely OK, as long as they win. The Celtics needed Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. The Heat needed LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Both those teams delivered as promised, amidst the criticism of a “superteam.” The difference here is that both those teams were assembled on the fly; these Warriors were already an extraordinary, hated squad that just got a lot more easier to hate by adding one of the best free agents in league history.
Just for a brief second, it’s fine to feel sorry for the rest of the NBA. This team is going to be so good. Insanely good. If they gel from day one — and it’s going to be a much smoother transition than the 2011 Heat — an 82-0 season is not too far-fetched. A 2017 championship ring is essentially a guarantee.
There’s no more “apathy” towards the Warriors anymore. First, they were the team that everyone loved to watch. Then, they became the villain that everyone enjoyed seeing fail. Now, they are a true supervillain, and, if all goes according to plan, they will be hated by everyone for a long, long time.