A book like this doesn’t happen without a deep bench of superstar-level talent.
I had no clue my agent, David Fugate, was a lifelong Warriors fan when I emailed him in early 2016 with the idea for this book, but his passion guided my vision from the get-go and helped turn the nebulous thoughts bouncing around inside my head into something real.
Todd Hunter, my remarkable editor at Atria Books, championed this idea before words were put to page and then kept the whole operation afloat through to completion. I felt I was in confident, capable hands at every step, as his unending patience made this first-time author feel (to crib from Kevin Garnett) like anything was possible.
Three times over the past four years, the Warriors’ media relations department has received the Professional Basketball Writers Association’s Brian McIntyre Award, which goes to the team staff that “best exemplifies standards of professionalism and excellence.” It’s a well-deserved honor, let me tell you. Dan Martinez, Brett Winkler, Matt de Nesnera, Darryl Arata, Lisa Goodwin, and the rest of the crew are top-notch and always willing to lend a hand to a desperate reporter on deadline. Raymond Ridder, their esteemed leader, is without equal in this industry. I knew he might be skittish when I told him I’d be commencing such a wide-ranging and in-depth look at his employer, but Raymond’s response—“We are not going to make this difficult on you”—put me at ease during a critical moment in my reporting. He’s a true professional and (with countless assists from his staff) made my job easier than it had any right to be.
Thanks as well to the Warriors coaching staff and assistants, the players who have passed through in recent years, team executives, and myriad other people down the chain who routinely make covering the Warriors feel like a dream assignment for so many of us. I would especially like to thank head coach Steve Kerr, who is truly one of the kindest and most gracious people in sports one could ever hope to encounter.
The Bay Area reporters and columnists who have covered the Warriors over the years constitute a cadre of journalists that is exceptional. Without their prior efforts, this book simply would not exist. My enduring thanks to Tim Kawakami, Chris Ballard, Ethan Sherwood Strauss, Rusty Simmons, Marcus Thompson II, John Branch, Ray Ratto, Ann Killion, Monte Poole, Sam Amick, Diamond Leung, Anthony Slater, Connor Letourneau, Mark Purdy, Jon Wilner, Daniel Brown, Carl Steward, Janie McCauley, Phil Barber, Marc J. Spears, Eric Freeman, Jacob C. Palmer, Steve Berman, Danny Leroux, Nate Duncan, Courtney Cronin, Karl Buscheck, Carvell Wallace, Ezekiel Kweku, Kevin Jones, Andy Liu, and others. I also want to thank the national writers who have given the Warriors, at one time or another, the benefit of their own immense journalistic talents: Jack McCallum, Zach Lowe, Jonathan Abrams, Kevin Pelton, Pablo S. Torre, Kevin Arnovitz, Ramona Shelburne, Tim Bontemps, Scott Cacciola, Lee Jenkins, Ben Cohen, Adrian Wojnarowski, Harvey Araton, Jason Gay, Tom Haberstroh, Howard Beck, Kevin Ding, Nathaniel Friedman, Michael Lee, Ben Golliver, Paul Flannery, Baxter Holmes, Henry Abbott, Zach Harper, Matt Moore, James Herbert, Chris Herring, Bill Simmons, and Katie Baker.
Many of the statistical assessments found in this book could not have been reported in any other era. This new age of basketball journalism owes an immense debt to a growing number of sites that allow for unprecedented data-crunching. For me, that includes indispensable destinations such as Basketball Reference, Synergy Sports, nbawowy!, Nylon Calculus, StatMuse, PopcornMachine.net, NBA Miner, and Stats.NBA.com.
Like any shooter in a rhythm, this book was often sustained solely by encouragement and confidence, and there was no shortage of friends who supplied me with both when I was running low. To Lindsey Adler, Bill Barnwell, Grant Brisbee, Jason Fagone, Cat Ferguson, Pete Gaines, Alex Goot, Elon Green, Megan Greenwell, Patrick Kennedy, Jonah Keri, Molly Knight, Will Leitch, Alexis Madrigal, Sam Miller, Matt Miskelly, Matt Norlander, Brian Phillips, Martin Rickman, Eugene Ruocchio, Beejoli Shah, Dave Shaw, Alan Siegel, Robert Silverman, Jon Tayler, Wendy Thurm, Don Van Natta Jr., Charlie Warzel, and Katie Zezima, I can’t thank you enough. Next round is on me.
I’ve been enormously privileged to work with many attentive and exceptional editors who have transformed my rough copy into something exponentially better. My gratitude to Tommy Craggs, Tom Scocca, Jack Moore, Ben Mathis-Lilley, Steve Kandell, James Montgomery, Jeremy Stahl, Philip Michaels, Gabe Guarente, Chris Trenchard, and Matt Sullivan for all of your efforts.
I first stepped onto the campus at Boston University in 1998 knowing that I wanted to be a sportswriter but not quite sure how to make it happen. During the day, I had the encouragement and guidance of so many wonderful professors—especially Mark Leccese, whose humor and perspective I have carried with me ever since, and the late Jack Falla and David Brudnoy. And for countless nights over four years, I lived at The Daily Free Press, the independent student newspaper that allowed me to make mistakes, learn from them, and ultimately feel like I had started on the path toward my dream.
When I moved to the Bay Area, I was twenty-one, just a few months out of college, and without any job prospects. With two weeks to go until my first student loan payment, I answered a Craigslist posting from Wired magazine in San Francisco. I had no idea that when I applied to be a research intern—$10 an hour!—I had changed the course of my career in profound ways. During my eight-plus years at the magazine, including seven as a fact-checker, my Wired colleagues showed me how the highest-quality journalism comes together in ways that would seem magical to the uninitiated. They also became some of my dearest friends, and I thank them for their boundless wisdom and camaraderie, especially Joanna Pearlstein, Mark McClusky, Adam Rogers, Rebecca Smith de Ramírez, Rachel Swaby, Angela Watercutter, Jon J. Eilenberg, Sarah Fallon, Erica Jewell, Jason Tanz, Bill Wasik, Caitlin Roper, Mark Robinson, Bob Cohn, Peter Rubin, Robert Capps, Mike Isaac, Dylan Tweney, Nancy Miller, Betsy Mason, Jordan Crucchiola, Michael Calore, and Scott Dadich.
A dedicated working area at home is a nice perk for any writer, but sometimes you need to get away to a place that’s quiet, free of distractions, and boasts a constant supply of air-conditioning. My thanks to the San Mateo and Burlingame public libraries.
To my parents, Michael and Judy, and siblings, Kristin and James, thank you for making me who I am, for instilling in me a sense of curiosity about the world, and for helping me understand the impact that sports can have on any of us.
Most important, to my wife, Becca, and my son, Tomás, thank you for your unconditional love and devotion and for being there in the clutch as the seconds ticked down. When the pressure was on, there was nothing too tough for us. Thank you for always believing in me.