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Creation of a Championship Team

Introduction
Professional sports is an important part of our American culture. A team comes together

every season to not only compete against other teams but to pursue a championship title and to

be crowned the #1 team in that particular sport. No athlete can really predict exactly where he or

she is going to be at the end of the season but do what they can in order to put themselves in the

best position to win. Beyond that, it takes a much more complex dynamic to put that

championship team together. It sometimes takes seasons upon seasons to come up with the

perfect formula to reach the pinnacle. But where does a champion team start? Does it start with

the players? Is it the innovative methods of coaching? Or does it start with the folks in

administration who calls the shots as far as membership of the team? The intent of this paper is

to explore the different facets of a professional sports organization and how a team of

championship caliber comes together.

I have been around sports my entire life. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are

7 professional sports teams within a one hundred mile radius. Each of these teams has had their

share of triumph and hardship. Out of these 7 teams in the Bay Area, one team is currently

standing out in their respective leagues. The Golden State Warriors are currently number 1 in the

NBA with a record of 57-13. This stands out to me because out of all the years Ive been a fan of

the Warriors, this is the first time I have seen them in the upper echelon of the league standings.

The overlaying question that I want answered is What makes a team successful? What

makes this a controversial topic is because successful teams take time to put together. It takes

risk and youre not always sure if the decision a team makes is the right one. For example, in

2007, the point guard that set the pace for the Warriors playoff run was Monta Ellis. One season
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later, they traded that point guard and decided to build the team around a young guard named

Stephen Curry. As a fan, I wasnt sure if Stephen Curry would make it because he was injury

prone and I didnt feel if he was reliable enough to make it through the grind of the NBA season.

Now, Curry is a superstar and often called one of the most prolific guards to ever play the game

because of his creative modes of scoring and ability to give his teammates open lanes to the

basket.

Who ever knew that a player that started his career with several injuries ended up to be

one of the best in the sport? Can the ones that made the call to trade Monta Ellis and keep

Stephen Curry see his future success? I want to know what makes managers and administrators

take those kinds of risks. I honestly was skeptical when that decision was made but I think they

invested in the right person to lead a team to greatness. This paper will dive deeper into the

aspects of a professional sports team and how they eventually come together.

Administration
The mastermind that put together the current Golden State Warriors roster is general

manager, Bob Myers who won the executive of the year after assembling a roster that set the

clubs franchise record 67 wins and the leagues top playoff seed. He was a sports agent before

he came to the Warriors and was hired to be the assistant general manager in 2011. In 2012, he

was promoted to general manager to replace former GM Larry Riley. His goal was to surround

Stephen Curry with talented players and compete for championships for several years.

The Golden State Warriors got their start from drafting Stephen Curry in the 2009 NBA

Draft. They were looking to go into a different direction and with their 2007 playoff run in the

history books, they needed to rebuild in order to be a competitive force in the NBA. They looked
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at Stephen Curry as that driving force that is going to take the organization to where they need to

be. Their investment in Curry paid off because he averages a career high of 20 points, 4 rebounds

and 6 assists per game. He also broke the record for moth 3-pointers in the NBA season and is

on track to be the best long distance shooter in NBA history. Once administrators and scouts

established the person they wanted as their star, they began to draft, trade, and sign their way to

the team they are currently.

Drafting is a component that teams take advantage of so they can build a young player

fresh out of college into the best player they can be at the NBA level. The several key drafts have

made in the past 3 seasons are Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green. Klay

Thompson is currently averaging 21 points a game. Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green are

currently having career highs in points this current season which proves their value to the team.

Draymond Green is also in the running for best defensive player of the year with his lock down

presence when hes on the defensive side of the ball. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison

Barnes, and Draymond Green make up the young core of which the team is built upon.

Once they young players were set in place, the rest of the team needed to be rounded out

by players with seasons of experience to create a contrast. The players that they traded for are

David Lee, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala. David Lee currently averages 18 points and 10

rebounds a game and Andrew Bogut serves as the defensive anchor for the team. Then we

drafted Andre Iguodala who was coming off of his best season with the Denver Nuggets and has

one of the best perimeter defenses in the league.

Now with the foundation set by making key trades and drafts, the signings that the

Warriors made during the season rounded off the rest of the odds and ends that the team needed

taken care of. Even with a limited amount of cap space, the Warriors found a way to spend their
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money wisely by picking up Shaun Livingston, Marresse Speights, and Leandro Barbosa which

added extra depth to their bench. Shaun Livingston is a versatile guard coming off of a comeback

year with the Nets so hes primed to have another great season. Leandro Barbosa was former

Sixth Man of the Year which adds to the total depth of the roster. The final big move made was

acquiring Steve Kerr as head coach. After Mark Jackson was fired, Steve Kerr took over and

with winning 19 games in his first 21, he has had the best start of any coach in NBA history.

The Fans

The fans of the Golden State Warriors are known to be the loudest and most energetic

fans in the entire league. Having the fan support is often a double whammy because it energizes

the team on the court and it discourages the opposing team. When playoff games are shown on

television, a meter that measures the decibels in the arena often shows that the fans, as a

collective unit, are louder than a jet engine. This energy is what gives the players the extra boost

to grind through the final minutes of the game. After game 1 of the NBA playoffs, Monty

Williams, head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans complained about the amount of noise the

fans were making. He said I'm not so sure the decibel level is legal, and I'm serious. They've

done studies on that. For the competition committee, there's got to be something to that. It does

get a little out of hand. Their fans, I've talked about it for years, they have some of the best fans

in the league.

The Star Factor

Stephen Curry is the obvious star of the Golden State Warriors. What sets him apart from

the typical NBA player is his wide array of getting the ball into the basket. He also possesses the
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ball handling skills that can impress any spectator. A combination of his scoring and ways to

getting to the basket and setting up his teammates in the best positon to score turned heads which

eventually allowed him to earn two All-Star appearance in two years. He is now currently in the

running of the MVP race and his name is next to players like Kyrie Irving and LeBron James.

The Warriors havent really possessed the star factor until Stephen Curry broke out

during the 2011 season. Every season since then he has improved and is being recognized as a

unique player and has a skill set that is like no other in the league. His play style is unique

because he has the unique way to find his own way to the basket if his teammates are being well

defended. Its an asset that really pays off because a player cant always get the ball into other

players hands when they want to so he can make those openings for himself. At the same time,

he isnt selfish with the ball. He averages about seven assists per game and uses his

unpredictable ball handling skills to draw defenses in to get other players an open lane to the

basket. He is also valuable on the defensive side. With his quick hands, Curry averages about 3

steals a game which opens up more offensive opportunity.

His high level of play and competitiveness all goes back to his outstanding work ethic

which is praised by athletes, analysts and fans alike. Stephen Curry is 63 193 lbs.; pretty small

by NBA standards but he defied the odds with his work ethic. He was injury prone at the

beginning of his career and to undergo multiple surgeries but after intense rehabilitation he came

back even better than before. From the 2013-2014 season to today, he has improved his assists

from 5.3 assists per game to 8.5. That number is good enough to lead the league in that stat.

Every off season, Steph Curry and his trainer Brandon Payne set a goal that they can attain by

the start of the next season. One off season the focus was improving his ball handling and

another off season it was his jumper. Payne says what sets Curry apart from other athletes he has
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trained in the past is He processes information faster than any other player Ive ever seen, its

almost super-natural how quickly he can read and react to scenarios we put in front of him.

Currys success during the season can be directly attributed to the work ethic he has when the

season isnt in play.

A Fans Perspective

Its a unique spectacle to watch the Warriors play today. As a loyal Warrior fan for years

Ive seen the team go through seasons near the bottom of the conference and season where

theyre in the middle of the pack. What makes this season so different than previous seasons is

how the Warriors managed to steamroll almost every team that they faced. Teams like the

Grizzlies or Spurs who historically gave them problems were easily beaten this season. After

watching the team go through mediocre season after mediocre season, its almost weird as a fan

to see them have so much success and be the topic everyone is talking about.

Living away from home and not being able to see them play live, I get a lot of news about

the Warriors from social media and I often read ESPN to keep up on how theyre doing. Almost

every time I go onto Facebook or Instagram I see a new highlight reel of the Warriors as they go

through the season and into the playoffs. One thing I particularly notice about the team is the

lack of selfishness with the ball. Stephen Curry is the undisputed star of the Warriors and its

how he shares the ball that makes the team so successful. He can dish the ball out in different

ways whether it would be between the legs, behind the back, or a no look pass behind the head in

transition.

Conclusion
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There is more to a team than what is seen at the event or on television. To be more

specific, whats seen at the live event or on television is the end result of everything that goes on

behind the scenes. There have been many great teams that played the sport and they all came

together from the work that was put in from administrators and the ones who make the call as far

as who does and does not make the team. Many different moving parts are involved in a

professional sports organization and when everything is carefully coordinated and planned out to

its entirety; the team thats on that field or court is both having fun and being successful while

performing.

As time goes on, an organization gains enough experience to build cohesion among the

team and at the same time, add and drop players in order to move up as a competitor in the

league. That is the case with the Warriors because they have already established who the core of

the team is going to be, and as the core builds that trust among each other, the decisions made on

the administrative side all the players that can best complement the cores skill sets. After a lot of

patience and practice and a little help from a new coach, the Warriors have furnished a very

competitive team capable of winning the NBA title.

All in all, a professional sports organization including administration, coaching, and

players all must share the common value of teamwork. Each of the moving parts need to work in

sync in order to work efficiently. This Warriors team as found the right combination of players

and coaching in order to not only have success in the regular season but to see light in the post

season and be a true contender in the NBA.

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