What We've Learned About The Warriors Player Developmental History

Over the past eight seasons, the Golden State Warriors have completely dominated the league by winning four championships, establishing themselves as the greatest dynasty in the modern NBA. Then after winning the most recent finals and grabbing yet another ring, it appears we'll be seeing a lot more from them in the future because from the way their ownership is paying into the luxury tax, it's clear that as an organization, they have zero plans of giving up their throne anytime soon. So the million dollar questions today are, how did the Dubs get to where they are now, what made them so dang good throughout these years, and how will that maintain going into the future? Before racking up countless trophies and raising championship banners one after the other, the Dubs weren't exactly glamorous. I mean, in 2014, before Steph ever won his first MVP and before the Warriors started dominating, the Warriors were only the 9th most valued team in the NBA and were right in the middle of the pack when it came to playoffs. Yet today, they are at number one for both categories. If you're wondering what made the difference, well, the simple answer to that is, they were just extremely good at picking the right bunch of guys during draft night, developing them, then finding great complimentary players that nobody wanted. Because look, the truth is, in their current championship core, which consists of six players, none of them were drafted by the Warriors with a top five pick. And heck, half of them practically came in the second round. I mean, in 2009, they drafted Stephen Curry at number 7, then two years later, they drafted Klay Thompson as their 11th overall pick, then in 2012, they picked Draymond Green in the second round of the draft as their 35th pick. These three guys laid out the blueprint for their championship success and eventually became the franchise's cornerstones, which still remains intact to this very day. Then, uh, Kevon Looney was the last pick in the 2015 draft, Jordan Poole was drafted late in the first round as well, and then Andrew Wiggins was the 2014 number one pick that nobody wanted. As of today, although a lot of fans at the moment are extremely worried about the Warriors' young talents like Moody, Kaminga, and Wiseman, the truth is, it took time for every Warrior to develop. I mean, even with Steph drafted back in 2009, the Warriors didn't even make the playoffs until 2013. Jordan Poole didn't truly become effective until his third year, and heck, even Kevon Looney didn't start averaging 10 minutes per game until his third season. It takes time, and that magic number seems to be three years when it comes to developing the picks. And that's exactly why I'm still super excited when it comes to the young crop of players the Warriors just recently drafted, which also includes PBJ and Ryan Rollins. The interesting thing here to note though is that this is a championship caliber team, and if you go up and down that roster, you'll soon realize that all the names except Wiseman and Wiggins weren't really top 5 picks in their respective draft classes. But at the end of the day, the dubs transformed them to become all-time greats, key contributors, as well as potential future superstars. I mean, just look at Jordan Poole. If you remember, before he became known as the Pool Party, he was just a rotational player playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors, but after working hard and following the blueprint laid out for him by the Golden State Warriors developmental team, he became a champion, and more recently, he just signed a 4-year, $140 million contract extension. Meanwhile, the same thing can be applied to Gary Payton II. After being undrafted in 2016, he bounced from one team to another before playing in the G League. Then some years later, the dubs saw his talent, and after they signed him, GP2 became a defensive beast who played a crucial role in the dubs championship run last season, and now, he's playing for Portland after signing a 3-year, $28 million deal with them in the offseason. Still wish he wore a Warriors jersey though. But anyway, there are some examples that show that the dubs really know how to develop and take care of their players when they're not fully ripe yet, and I believe that the nurturing the rest of the young guns like Moody, Kaminga, and Wiseman as they move forward. As we all know, Wiseman was just sent down to the G League for some developmental minutes, and if I were a betting man, I'd bet that by the time he comes back, he's going to be what Jordan Poole was last season after his G League stint, a rockstar. Anyway guys, keeping everyone's ego in check as well as making sure everybody understands each player's role is definitely one of the major factors that you have to consider if you want to have sustained success, just like the Warriors did over the last couple of years. And according to Steph, Steve Kerr has always been on top of this, and as the head coach, he says that Kerr knows his way around his players by communicating with them on a personal level. He's wise, you know, just in terms of how to manage people, right? That's a big thing in the league, no matter if it's the first guy or the 15th guy, you gotta be able to be honest, be able to set expectations, and figure out ways to get the best out of guys. I think anybody that would play for him would tell you, you always know where you're at. You always know, if you get a couple of DNPs, he's going to tell you why, he's going to keep you engaged, he's not just going to walk by you and not say nothing. We've had experiences like that across the board, and I think that's the biggest thing for long-term success. You know who your best players are, you know that they're going to go out and do what they need to do every night, but your role players and the guys that are going to help you throughout the regular season, that have those spot moments during playoffs, that's going to make a difference. They gotta be engaged all year long, and it starts in the summertime, the training camp and all the way through, and coach is the best at just being able to paint a picture of how you're going to help this team, and it being real, you feel that care factor that he brings. Now, the last thing I want to talk about is that the Doves aren't only good at developing homegrown talents, but also, they excel at unleashing the true potential of star players who weren't able to shine in a previous system. Take the case of Andrew Wiggins for example. Before the trade, everyone was saying that Wiggins would be a bad fit for the Doves cause they already had great scorers in Klay and Steph, plus the image surrounding Wiggins was a ball hog who just cared about getting his own buckets, and who couldn't coexist with other stars around him. I mean, back in Minnesota, he was painted as a one-dimensional, athletic scorer who had a hard time finding wins along with Cat and Zach Levine. Right after the trade though, Wiggins slowly began to develop the defensive side of his game, and along with his scoring prowess, he became one of the elite two-way players in the league in just two seasons playing for the Doves, and just last season, he finally became a true all-star, which is something he wasn't able to accomplish with the T-Wolves during his five and a half seasons there. The winning culture and championship mentality of the Doves organization have definitely helped Wiggins become a more complete player, and made him realize that basketball becomes more fun when everyone plays for each other instead of playing individually while chasing personal glory. Of all the people that saw Wiggins' transformation, Steve Kerr was the one who guided him throughout his journey, and he was just happy that Wiggins finally had his long-awaited breakthrough last year when he became an all-star for the very first time. Wiggs was so good and played such an important role, and I think what you saw last year was a culmination of two and a half years being with this organization. It's just been a perfect marriage, and we're thrilled with him, and I know he's happy to be here. Now, as for Wiggins, the Doves acknowledged his effort in the last three seasons by giving him a four-year, $109 million extension just this last October, which Wiggins happily accepted. It seemed that Wiggins has found a home in Oakland, and according to him, he just wants to repay the kindness of the Doves by playing his heart out every single game, and hopefully, when it's all said and done, he wants to be a legend in the Bay Area. Just like the players that have come before him. Andre, Draymond, Klay, Steph, those are the Warriors legends and Bay legends. Hopefully, by the time I'm done, people will look at me like that. I just have to keep putting in the work and accomplish what they have accomplished. This is a lot of motivation. They've accomplished so much while they've been here, with all of their titles and dominating the league. I'm just trying to follow what they did.