Why Does Everyone Keep Hating On The Revolutionary Golden State Warriors?
The Golden State Warriors are an all-time great team, but why do so many former NBA legends keep hating on them?
Coming off a 67-win season and NBA championship campaign that pundits are still trying to discredit as a fluke, the Golden State Warriors have wasted no time in 2015-16 letting the world know that luck had nothing to do with it. At 47-5 through the first 52 games of the season, the Dubs are having the most prolific regular season since the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls went 72-10.
The Warriors are currently on pace to shatter that record with 74 wins, they have a mammoth point differential of plus-11.5 that would rank fourth all-time if it held, they’re undefeated at home, they likely have a back-to-back MVP in Stephen Curry and they’ve beaten every possible contender thrown their way so far.
You’d think that’d be enough to convert even the harshest of critics, haters and outright trolls from last season, right?
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Wrong. Despite Golden State’s obvious dominance, the last few months have featured several prominent (and not so prominent) former NBA players coming out of the woodworks to offer their opinions on the Warriors’ style of play, how they stack up to the league’s all-time great teams and why Steph Curry is overrated.
Earlier this season, Ron Harper, a member of the Bulls team that won 72 games, initially tweeted that Chicago team would sweep these Warriors in a seven-game series. Michael Jordan may have told Klay Thompson to go for the record at All-Star Weekend, but Stephen Jackson (of all people) opened the floodgates back up earlier this week on ESPN’s new NBA show, The Jump.
On the show, Jackson nearly made Zach Lowe and Rachel Nichols’ heads explode when he declared the 2007 “We Believe” Warriors team that upset the No. 1-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round would have beaten these Warriors in a seven-game series … before later admitting on Instagram he speaks from experience, not from actually watching.
Also on #TheJump today - Stephen Jackson thinks his '07 #Warriors team could beat this '16 Warriors team. Really. https://t.co/cZQGZTS45c
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) February 25, 2016
The next day, Oscar Robertson said during a radio interview that poor defense and bad coaching are the reasons behind Curry’s dominance this season, criticizing opponents for not getting up in Curry’s grill and pressuring him out of shots. Former Phoenix Suns small forward Cedric Ceballos also declared that the 1993-94 Suns would have beaten the Warriors.
Not long after that, Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas made his own headlines while talking about Curry, praising the league’s reigning MVP for his shooting ability on ESPN’s Mike & Mike Show and then backhandedly criticizing Golden State’s perimeter defense in the process.
"We've never seen anybody shoot the basketball like Steph, but it's also the worst perimeter defense I've ever seen."
— UNSPORTSMANLIKE Radio (@unsportslike) February 26, 2016
- Isiah Thomas
With so many NBA greats chiming in to let the world know that the Warriors aren’t so great (not to mention the constant bemoaning of Inside The NBA‘s Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal about how they lack a low-post presence and can be demolished inside), is there something to this growing sentiment?
It’s time to address all of these recent claims, take a look at what makes the Warriors historically exceptional, and examine why their style of basketball seems to be upsetting so many former greats.
Next: Addressing The Criticism