He was arrogant, self-indulgent, bold, and revealing. It was exactly the kind of thing that would come out of a billionaire living in Silicon Valley, a region drenched in competition, exorbitant wealth, and the unshakable belief that those who succeed here are the pinnacle of human civilization.
“We are light years ahead of probably any other team in structure, in planning, in how we are going to do things,” Warriors owner Joe Lacob told the New York Times in 2016, when the Warriors were heading toward an NBA. it records 73 victories. “We are going to be a handful for the rest of the NBA to deal with for a long time.”
Lacob took some heat from the comments. He even said he regretted the comments and at the same time held onto his weapons. Lacob should not have been punished for his comments, no more than a peacock should be embarrassed for strutting his glorious feathers.
After all, he was right.
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Ten years ago, on Wednesday, Lacob and Peter Guber agreed to buy Chris Cohan’s Warriors. They were buying a team that had made the playoffs only once in the past 16 seasons. A $ 450 million franchise run by a talented ankle rookie point guard that many were unsure would not hold.
But where many saw a perennial loser, a franchise that played on the interstate side in Oakland, Lacob, and those he surrounded himself with, they saw the possibility. They didn’t see a 26-56 team with no way out of the NBA basement. Instead, they saw a sleeping giant that could become a global phenomenon in Silicon Valley with the right people and practices shaping its future.
Steph Curry was already in place. He hadn’t yet become the generational star who would alter the way basketball is played, but his special talent was a Lacob, GM Bob Myers and the Warriors believed a franchise could be built. Tying up his franchise hopes a 6-foot-3-inch ankle-troubled guard who followed his initial career as the specter of death is a bold choice.
And yet, the Warriors signed Curry to $ 44 million in 2012, and laid the foundation for one of the NBA’s most important dynasties.
By signing Curry for a team-friendly extension, the Warriors had locked themselves at the heart of the franchise, but were also given the financial flexibility to build around them. For several teams, especially those with a long history of failure, betting on Curry wouldn’t have been easy, and in fact, several of the teams the Warriors were comparing to would have let Curry walk, hoping to become the hit when his star It reached the heights it was intended for.
“I believe in the culture of our players that is based on Steph Curry: He is a unique individual person, no matter what the basketball player is,” Lacob said last June as he backtracked on light-year comments.
Now, this does not mean that Lacob had a crystal ball and knew that Curry would become one of the five most essential players in basketball history. A player who would fundamentally change the way the game is played, which would compare the 3-point shots of all players and the most entertaining act in the NBA. Lacob could not have foreseen that. But he knew Curry, his work ethic, and his talent. He also knew about risks in all areas. Forty-four million dollars is a bargain compared to the success the Warriors’ new brand would receive if Curry went elsewhere and became a star.
Betting on Curry was a risk that paid off and launched a dynasty.
Curry’s extension and nearly a decade’s plan to build the Chase Center and move the team to San Francisco embody how precise Lacob was in flaunting the greatness of his organization in front of everyone’s face.
Lacob and the Warriors’ vision for the future, one focused on Curry, a move across the Bay, and a plan to transform one of the NBA’s stools into the ball bell, crystallized when Lacob and the Warriors cut the hook with coach Mark Jackson, a popular coach fresh out of consecutive playoff appearances, and signed with Steve Kerr. Lacob and the Warriors were able to draw Kerr away from Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks and prove that the once incompetent Warriors had joined the upper class of the NBA.
Dismissing a coach who was popular with a large sect from the Warriors fan base after two consecutive playoff appearances is not a decision that many used to live in the basement. They’d be happy with a moderate upgrade, seeing additional playoff earnings as a bonus. But Lacob and the Warriors weighed the risk and saw a team whose potential wasn’t being updated, a good defensive team with a mediocre offensive game plan, and a coach who didn’t want to do the prep work and often collided with the property.
Kerr came, Curry left, and the titles came. The Warriors transformed the way basketball was played. The NBA had been shifting to smaller lineups and focused on the 3-point shot for a few years (see how the 2014 San Antonio Spurs dismantled the Miami Heat), but the Warriors took it to 11 and injected steroids. His death lineup became the envy of the NBA. They made traditional centers follow the path of dinosaurs.
The keys were handed over to Curry and Kerr and the former homeless of the NBA shot past everyone.
That was before Kevin Durant came and went. Before construction of the Chase Center was completed.
Lacob had planned everything. They invested around $ 1.5 billion in the construction of the Chase Center, believing that the revenue it would generate would offset the luxury tax bill he was willing to pay to keep the best show on hardwood.
When Lacob delivered his now infamous light-years comment, he knew that the Warriors, who were about to wrap up the best regular season in history, were financially set to add Durant, in case the star wanted to come. And if Durant went elsewhere or stayed in Oklahoma City, no one could stand in the way of the Warriors’ league domination. LeBron James would need a Herculean effort to steal the 2016 title from the Warriors, and all he did was put Durant in blue and gold.
Once again, Lacob could not foresee that. He is not Nostradamus. But from the moment he took over, he led the Warriors like they were an elite franchise before becoming that. He surrounded himself with smart, forward-thinking people who had a clear vision of greatness and how a team known as laughing stock could change the league.
It took risks, guts, vision and a little luck. That, no doubt, was included in the recipe to create the NBA gem.
[[[[RELATED: How Kerr, Warriors are using a long offseason to restart the dynasty]Empires arise, decay, and collapse. Then they are rebuilt.
The Warriors entered the Chase Center this season without Durant, who went to the Brooklyn Nets, and without Thompson, who spent the season rehabilitating a torn LCA. They didn’t look light years ahead at 15-50 without Durant, Thompson and Curry, who only played five games.
But the Warriors surely won’t go into the offseason without a plan to return to hyperspace early next season.
Lacob ruffled the feathers of those struggling to take off as the Warriors took their place in the pantheon of NBA greats. But the truth hurts. He paid $ 450 million for a franchise that is now valued at $ 4.3 billion.
The plan went smoothly, with Curry and Kerr taking the Warriors out of the depths of NBA hell to model the state of the franchise. The rest of the NBA still has a lot to do.
