As the ball left Stephen Curry’s hands: The descriptions of Game 7 in this prologue come directly from my being inside Oracle Arena on that day.
eighth-best in NBA history: A PER around 25 indicates an excellent, All-NBA-caliber season. Above 30 and you’re talking about a historically good season. Curry’s PER was 31.46. By comparison, when Russell Westbrook averaged a 30-point triple-double for the 2016–17 season, his PER was 30.6. The only other modern NBA player who appears among the top-10 all-time single-season PER totals is LeBron James (Basketball-Reference.com).
three-point attempt from the side tunnel: Ron Kroichick, “Stephen Curry’s long tunnel shot has become Warriors fan favorite,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 21, 2017.
eight of 15 teams: The Western Conference didn’t grow to 15 teams until the 2004–05 season, so this stretch of playoff absences is more pronounced than one might think.
millions in pure profit: In valuing the Warriors at $2.6 billion in February 2017, Forbes estimated that their operating income jumped from $44.9 million (2015) to $58 million (2016) and then $74.2 million (2017).
named for a long-gone team: The Philadelphia Warriors originally played in the American Basketball League in 1925.
38 percent more: Fulks averaged 23.1 points while Bob Feerick could only muster 16.8 points as the league’s second-best scorer.
“the Babe Ruth of basketball”: Russ Davis, “Basketball’s Hottest Shot,” Saturday Evening Post, January 3, 1948. Fulks so infuriated opponents that one player was quoted in the piece with this advice: “The only way to stop Fulks is to break his legs.”
unleashed the infinite possibilities of a one-handed jump shot: William McDonald, “Kenny Sailors, a Pioneer of the Jump Shot, Dies at 95,” New York Times, January 30, 2016.
“the greatest assortment of shots I’ve ever seen in basketball”: Phil Jasner, “Joe Fulks: NBA’s 1st Superstar,” Philadelphia Daily News, March 22, 1976.
a meeting held high in the Empire State Building: “Pro Court Loops Merge,” Plainfield (N.J.) Courier-News, August 4, 1949.
the NBA was born: The NBA has officially absorbed BAA records and results into its own historical archives, which can result in some apparent contradictions. For example, a banner hanging in the Warriors’ practice facility commemorates their place as “1946–47 NBA Champions” despite the NBA being two years away from existence at the time.
winning the 1974–75 Finals: Weirdly enough, none of the Warriors’ Finals games were actually played at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Due to a scheduling mishap, the Warriors had to play all their games at their old home, the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
1966–67: This was a truly memorable six-game matchup against Wilt Chamberlain, the former Warrior who finally won his first title in eight seasons. He averaged 18 points and 29 rebounds in the series, even as Nate Thurmond (14 points and 27 boards a night) nearly proved his equal.
Larry Bird: The Warriors could’ve picked Bird with the fifth pick in the 1978 draft, opting instead to select Purvis Short, who played 12 seasons and stands as the club’s eighth-best scorer of all time.
“Nellie Ball”: Don Nelson, “Nellie Ball,” Players’ Tribune, July 19, 2016.
a Bay Area icon: Mieuli was also known for his vehement opposition to the NBA’s adoption of the three-point line. In remarks reported by the Associated Press (“Warrior Owner Makes Drafts, Rips New Rule,” Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 26, 1979), Mieuli said, “Whatever good it’s going to do, the price was too high. We’ve separated ourselves from the main body of basketball.” A month later, Mieuli still hadn’t calmed down. “I simply do not want my name in the annals of the 22 small men who in the summer of 1979 had the audacity to change the game of basketball,” he said, according to UPI, which described the owner’s comments as “another one of this world-meanderings” (“Mieuli Still Fuming,” Petaluma Argus-Courier, July 31, 1979).
After his parents divorced: Mark Fainaru-Wada, “The man who owns the Warriors,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 10, 2002.
Cohan paid $21 million: Ibid.
immediately began asking anyone in sight for some shred of intel: Ric Bucher, “Warriors’ Minority Partner Buys Team,” San Jose Mercury News, October 9, 1994.
his name didn’t even appear in the team’s media guide: Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, “Why Warriors’ Silent Partner Began to Talk Back,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 23, 1994.
“I want to assure our many fans”: Bucher, “Warriors Minority Partner,” 1994.
“I guess I’ve been in business”: Associated Press, October 11, 1994.
Cohan undermined Nelson publicly: Mark Heisler, “Golden State Sends Webber to Washington,” Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1994.
Nelson privately told his coaching staff: Tom Friend, “Nelson Leaves The Warriors As Result of Webber Rift,” New York Times, February 14, 1995.
floated the possibility: Associated Press, “Warriors consider move to San Jose,” Santa Cruz Sentinel, December 10, 1994.
Cohan deftly evaded: Mal Florence, “Obviously, He Didn’t Want to Talk About It,” Los Angeles Times, February 14, 1995. (Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Bruce Jenkins concluded that Nelson’s departure wouldn’t make much difference anyway: “They could bring in a corpse to coach this team and it couldn’t get any worse.”)
“didn’t appear to be responding”: Friend, “Nelson Leaves the Warriors,” 1995.
“Policimo”: Dirk Facer, “24 second clock,” Deseret News, October 12, 1997.
“I just got to the point”: David Steele, “Warriors Fire Sprewell for Attack on Coach,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 1997.
Cohan sued Nelson: Associated Press, January 7, 1999.
“a horrible reaction”: Matt Steinmetz, “Warriors Owner Opens Up,” Contra Costa Times, December 5, 2001.
in breach of contract with the OACC: Fainaru-Wada, “The Man who owns,” 2002. Much of the information in the preceding paragraph and this one—including the controversy around Cohan’s dealings with the city and the later quote from Scott Haggerty—comes from this lengthy investigative report.
Midway through the fourth quarter, a ceremony took place: Mike Wise, “Twin Towers Star as the West Comes Up Big,” New York Times, February 14, 2000.
Cohan stood at center court: David Steele, “Warriors Almost Left Unscathed,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 14, 2000.
“As soon as the roar for Jordan subsided”: Ray Ratto, “Warriors’ Cohan hits the bottom,” San Francisco Examiner, February 14, 2000.
As Cohan felt the humiliation: Steinmetz, “Warriors Owner Opens Up,” 2001.
five-year-old son: Dax and younger brother Chad would both go on to play four years of lacrosse at Duke. Their sister, Christina, also graduated a Blue Devil.
“didn’t catch my eye”: Ralph Wiley, “Why West went south,” ESPN.com Page 2, May 2, 2002.
Robert Rowell was just 27: Most of the biographical details were gleaned from a copy of the Warriors’ 2003–04 Media Guide, which contains an extensive biography of Rowell.
a rising star in sports business: John Lombardo, “Forty Under 40: Robert Rowell,” SportsBusiness Journal, November 5, 2001.
rumblings that summer revolved around Kevin Garnett: Tim Kawakami, “KEVIN GARNETT to the Warriors, folks (it could be),” Bay Area News Group, June 28, 2007.
cuts and scrapes on his legs: Marc Stein, “Cuts, abrasions lead some to question cause of Ellis’ injury,” ESPN.com, September 3, 2008.
publicly chastise Mullin: Associated Press, October 11, 2008.
the most lucrative in Bay Area sports history: Tony Cooper, “Jamison stays for big bucks,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 29, 2001.
“We view this as a win-win for everyone”: NBA.com, November 17, 2008.
“I wanted to be out pretty bad”: Associated Press, November 16, 2009.
Rowell promised season-ticket holders: Brad Weinstein, “Team would bust tax level in effort to keep Arenas,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 23, 2003.
Cohan might be getting serious about selling the team: Tim Kawakami, “Warriors big picture: Is Cohan getting ready to sell?” Bay Area News Group, July 3, 2009.
sold 20 percent of the team: Associated Press, July 13, 2004.
the Internal Revenue Service came after him: Mark Fainaru-Wada, “Warriors owner accused of tax evasion, fights IRS,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 17, 2007.
most logical suitor was Larry Ellison: Tim Kawakami, “Warriors sale: The Ellison/20% minority investors Super-Group could all but seal this deal,” Bay Area News Group, June 5, 2010.
third-richest man in America: Ellison trailed only Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, according to a Forbes ranking (March 10, 2010).
tried to buy the Seattle SuperSonics for $425 million: Berry Tramel, “OKC group agrees to buy Sonics,” The Oklahoman, July 18, 2006.
Peter Guber, the famed Hollywood producer: Some of Guber’s most well-known credits are Rain Man (which won Best Picture), The Color Purple, Midnight Express, Gorillas in the Mist, The Witches of Eastwick, and Flashdance, but his greatest contribution to the cinema might be helping to convince Jack Nicholson to take the role of the Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman. As Guber recounted in his 2011 book Tell To Win (pp. 113–14), he and Burton took the studio jet to Nicholson’s home in Aspen to seal the deal. Once there, the Oscar-winning actor told them to prepare for horseback-riding the following day. When Burton said in confidence that he didn’t know how to ride horses, Guber corrected him, “You do now!”
“Chris and I both felt”: Marcus Thompson II, “Warriors’ $450 million surprise,” Bay Area News Group, July 16, 2010.
not even eclipsing $500 million: This was confirmed by a league source.
about to board a helicopter for Delphi: Marcus Thompson II, “The long journey of Warriors’ owner Joe Lacob,” Bay Area News Group, October 28, 2015.
Lacob lived his earliest years in New Bedford: Tim Weisberg, “New Bedford native Joe Lacob not resting on his laurels as NBA owner,” New Bedford Standard-Times, April 14, 2013. Most of the biographical details in this paragraph (as well as the quotation) come from this extended interview with Lacob.
knew he would one day own an NBA team: From an interview Lacob and Guber did for the Warriors’ YouTube account (“Warriors Weekly: Behind The Scenes With Joe Lacob And Peter Guber—11/22/10”).
“One of the great breaks in my life”: Marcus Thompson II, “Warriors owner Joe Lacob has a plan—and patience,” Bay Area News Group, March 10, 2011. Lacob, perhaps unsurprisingly, has returned to New Bedford only twice since leaving nearly fifty years ago.
started out with Cokes and then ice-cream sandwiches: Marcia C. Smith, “From Angels peanut vendor to NBA owner,” Orange County Register, November 22, 2010.
the bags could be double- and triple-stacked: From an interview and Q&A session Lacob did (along with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert) at Zynga headquarters in San Francisco on June 5, 2015.
took a mathematics class taught by Edward O. Thorp: Bruce Schoenfeld, “What Happened When Venture Capitalists Took Over the Golden State Warriors,” New York Times Magazine, April 3, 2016.
“The big thrill”: Paul O’Neil, “The Professor Who Breaks the Bank,” Life, March 27, 1964.
published in the journals: “Acquisition deficits induced by sodium nitrite in rats and mice,” Psychopharmacology, February 28, 1979; “Modulation of memory processes induced by stimulation of the entorhinal cortex,” Physiology & Behavior, July 1977.
47, by his own count: Lowell Cohn, “Joe Lacob’s grand ambition for Warriors,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, January 22, 2011.
“Hell of a good piece of advice”: Lacob said this during an interview and Q&A session with LinkedIn employees on September 22, 2016.
“I liked the science”: From an interview Lacob gave to “Alan Olsen’s American Dreams,” presented by Groco CPAs and Advisors, November 29, 2012.
the largest-ever IPO: Thomas Lueck, “Cetus in Record Offering; Market Response Is Cool,” New York Times, March 7, 1981.
earned Mullis the Nobel Prize: Kary B. Mullis, “Nobel Lecture,” December 8, 1993 (Nobelprize.org).
“I was in the right place”: Lacob interview with Olsen (2012).
“We’re extremely committed to that investment thesis”: Matt Richtel, “Green Energy Enthusiasts Are Also Betting on Fossil Fuels,” New York Times, March 16, 2007.
“a drunken sailor”: Dan Primack, “Kleiner-Backed Terralliance Begins To Implode,” peHUB.com, April 2, 2009.
the company was in free fall: Adam Lashinsky, “How a big bet on oil went bust,” Fortune, March 26, 2010.
changed its name in early 2010 and again the following year: Terralliance became TTI Exploration before morphing into NEOS GeoSolutions in January 2011.
less than subtle: Zoran Basich, “Let’s Hope Joe Lacob’s Golden State Warriors Is No Terralliance,” Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2010.
“We compete with Bill Gates every day at Kleiner Perkins”: Earl Gustkey, “Investor Keeps the Faith in ABL,” Los Angeles Times, November 4, 1997.
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy: Associated Press, December 23, 1998.
slated for San Jose in January 1999: Associated Press, January 1, 1999.
purchased a minority stake: Celtics statement issued on January 18, 2006 (NBA.com).
sat in the front row at Staples Center: Marcia C. Smith, “Orange County boy returns to area as part owner of Celtics,” Orange County Register, June 12, 2008.
Cohan released his final statement: “Galatioto Sports Partners Secure Purchase Agreement,” July 15, 2010 (NBA.com).
Lacob returned their calls that same day: Marcus Thompson II, “Joe Lacob: ‘We’re all about winning,’ ” Bay Area News Group, July 15, 2010.
Curry’s two late free throws: Terry Armour, “Streak-busters,” Chicago Tribune, April 9, 1996.
the Charlotte Hornets’ all-time leader in points scored: Entering the 2017–18 season, Curry remained the franchise’s leader not only in points but also games (701), field goals (3,951), and three-pointers (929).
the same Akron, Ohio, hospital where LeBron James had been delivered: Mark Purdy, “Tracing the LeBron James, Stephen Curry roots in Akron, Ohio,” Bay Area News Group, June 8, 2015.
“I saw drugs, guns, killings; it was crazy”: Grant Wahl, “Ahead of His Class,” Sports Illustrated, February 18, 2002.
Dell Curry made nearly $20 million: Per Curry’s player page on Basketball-Reference.com.
frequent one-on-one showdowns with Vince Carter: From Carter’s interview with ESPN, aired on April 9, 2016.
idolized guards like Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, and Reggie Miller: Jessica Camerato, “Curry Remembers How HOF Finalist Iverson Inspired His Career,” CSN Philly, April 3, 2016; Robby Kalland, “Steph Curry on His Basketball Heroes, The Warriors’ ‘Different’ Season, and Getting Rest,” Dime Magazine, March 22, 2017.
“I found myself subconsciously picking up things”: Todd Shanesy, “Looks can be deceiving,” Spartanburg Herald-Journal, January 13, 2007.
5-foot-5 in sneakers by eighth grade: Alex Ballingall, “Stephen Curry’s Grade 8 season at tiny Toronto school remembered,” Toronto Star, February 26, 2015.
only 5-foot-8 (and maybe 150 pounds) by his sophomore year: David Fleming, “Stephen Curry: The Full Circle,” ESPN the Magazine, April 23, 2015. Much of the description of this time in Curry’s life in this paragraph and the next (including the “summer of tears” quote) comes from this story.
“The gifts that he has”: From interviews given to the Warriors’ YouTube channel, featured in a video titled “Stephen Curry’s High School Years,” uploaded on December 3, 2015. The quotes in this paragraph from Shonn Brown and Chad Fair, as well as confirmation of his yearbook quote and school records for steals and three-pointers, come from this video.
senior-year page in the yearbook: His yearbook page postscript, in asking for three things he’ll be remembered as, also read: “Swoosh . . . baller . . . sweet to everyone . . .”
stopped regularly attending Hokies games: Grant Wahl, “The Next Step for Steph,” Sports Illustrated, September 22, 2008.
“kids don’t pass the eye test”: Pat Forde, “How Stephen Curry went from ignored college recruit to possible NBA MVP,” Yahoo! Sports, April 23, 2015.
“A lot of Division I schools”: Ibid.
His son Brendan played with Steph: Ben Cohen, “The Stephen Curry Approach to Youth Sports,” Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2016.
“I saw brilliance”: From an interview McKillop gave to ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap for an E:60 segment that aired on April 24, 2014.
The coaches practically danced around the room: Pat Forde, “Spurned by ACC, Curry dances with Davidson,” ESPN.com, March 3, 2007.
“He’s for real”: John Wawrow, Associated Press, March 15, 2007.
“the star of the tournament whose legend continues to grow”: Schaap, 2014.
four future NBA players in their starting lineup: Those were Darnell Jackson, Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush, and Darrell Arthur. (Coming off the bench were future NBA players Cole Aldrich, Sasha Kaun, and Sherron Collins.)
the entire history-making season almost never happened: Scott Fowler, “Steph Curry not tough? The injury that almost derailed Davidson’s NCAA run,” Charlotte Observer, May 20, 2016. Much of the ensuing anecdote about Curry’s injury in the next two paragraphs comes from this story.
“Curry is less athlete than folk hero”: Tommy Craggs, “The Year of Magical Shooting,” Slate, March 12, 2009.
the 25th-best scorer in NCAA men’s basketball history: Curry would’ve had an outside shot at breaking the all-time scoring mark—set by LSU’s Pete Maravich nearly 40 years earlier—if he had stayed for his senior year. Curry scored 974 points in his junior year and ended up just 1,032 shy of Pistol Pete.
Several Charlotte TV stations: Associated Press, April 23, 2009.
“His first step is average at best”: Jonathan Givony, Kyle Nelson, and Joseph Treutlein, “NCAA Weekly Performers, 2/28/09,” DraftExpress.com, February 28, 2009.
“an interesting case”: Matt Kamalsky, “Situational Statistics: This Year’s Point Guard Crop,” DraftExpress.com, May 8, 2009.
“Far below NBA standard”: Stevan Petrovic, “Strengths/Weaknesses,” NBADraft.net, December 15, 2008.
“Was Curry capable of blowing by defenders in college?”: Doug Gottlieb, “Curry’s skills may get lost in translation,” ESPN.com, May 11, 2009.
wanted to beef up the frontcourt: From an interview Riley gave to the Warriors’ YouTube channel, conducted on June 22, 2009.
fifth-youngest roster in the NBA: Per Basketball-Reference.com, the only teams younger than Golden State (25.0 years) in the 2008–09 season were Chicago (24.9), Oklahoma City (24.5), Portland (24.0), and Memphis (23.3).
“A draft pick is an asset”: The quotes in this paragraph from Riley come from an interview he gave (as well as audio captured) to NBA.com as part of its predraft coverage that aired on NBA TV (“NBA Draft ’09: Opening Chapter”), accessed via Internet Archive in July 2016.
grew up the sons of farmers: Con Marshall, “The Riley twins: From Indiana farm to Chadron State to NBA,” Chadron Record, October 22, 2013. Most of the biographical details in this paragraph come from this story.
30-mph winds and freezing snow showers: Donald W. Nauss, “Commuter Plane Crashes Near Detroit, Killing 29,” Los Angeles Times, January 10, 1997.
he heard a voice inside his head: Perry A. Farrell, “Grizzlies’ executive skipped Flight 3272,” Detroit Free Press, January 16, 1997.
“It reinforced my faith”: Rusty Simmons, “Profile: New Warriors GM Larry Riley,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 1, 2009.
“The worst decisions”: “NBA Draft ’09: Opening Chapter” video footage.
“Curry looked smooth, smart, and extremely talented”: Jonathan Givony, “NBA teams take to Chicago for combine,” NBA.com, May 28, 2009.
Riley had also scouted Curry in person: Harvey Araton, “Coveting Sharpshooter, Knicks Just Missed,” New York Times, December 14, 2014.
“I didn’t feel like there was anybody at the five spot who could fit into our rotation”: Michael Lee, “For Grunfeld and Wizards, Trade Was a ‘No-Brainer,’ ” Washington Post, June 25, 2009.
compiled mock drafts from around the internet: Accessed via Internet Archive (www.nba.com/warriors/news/2009_mock_drafts.html).
feel the butterflies puttering around his stomach: “NBA Draft ’09: Opening Chapter” video footage.
there was immediate befuddlement: “NBA Draft ’09: Inside the War Room” video that aired on NBA TV, accessed via Internet Archive in July 2016. The scene details in this paragraph and the following one come from this video footage.
prevent his client from ever becoming a member of the Warriors: Marc J. Spears, “The story of how Stephen Curry’s agent and dad didn’t want the Warriors to draft him,” Yahoo! Sports, May 4, 2015.
liking what he saw in Mike D’Antoni’s high-scoring offense: Tim Kawakami, “Stephen Curry and the night that transformed the Warriors,” Bay Area News Group, February 13, 2014.
“We had a lot of discussions”: Tim Kawakami, “Former Suns GM Steve Kerr on the Stoudemire for Curry almost-trade in 2009: ‘We were very far down the road,’ ” Bay Area News Group, February 11, 2014.
they heard cheering from the team’s war room: Dan Bickley, “Forever Linked,” Arizona Republic, March 2, 2016.
a hopeful headline: A NEW LOOK IN THE WORKS: SUNS DRAFT CLARK, EYE TRADE FOR CURRY, Arizona Republic, June 26, 2009.
Austin got a call from someone in the Suns front office: Spears, “The story of how Stephen Curry’s agent,” 2015.
“not going to win that way”: Tim Kawakami, “Monta Ellis on pairing with Stephen Curry: ‘We can’t . . . (We’re) not going to win that way,’ ” San Jose Mercury News, September 28, 2009.
“Everybody knows it’s a business”: From an interview Ellis gave to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Live with Monta Ellis at Warriors Training Camp—09/29/09”), conducted on September 29, 2009.
took it as a veteran player making it known: Gerald Narciso, “Stephen Curry Talks About the Alleged Beef With Monta Ellis,” Dime Magazine, November 16, 2009.
taken his demand for a trade public: Marcus Thompson II, “Warriors’ Jackson wants to be traded,” San Jose Mercury News, August 29, 2009.
suspended by Nelson for two preseason games: Associated Press, October 10, 2009.
“I can’t be a role model”: Rusty Simmons, “Jackson abandons captaincy,” SFGate.com, October 13, 2009.
“I’m kind of jealous”: Karen Crouse, “And to Think, He Was Almost a Knick,” New York Times, November 11, 2009.
Curry even led a spirited rendition: From YouTube footage (“Steph Curry sings Happy Birthday to Monta Ellis 10/26/2009”) uploaded on October 26, 2009.
took a three-hour nap that afternoon that helped calm his nerves: Stephen Curry, “My Rookie Season: Stephen Curry’s NBA Debut,” GQ.com, November 5, 2009. Most of Curry’s insights from that day and what he was doing and feeling before and after the game come from this diary entry.
gave an interview to ESPN to rip Don Nelson: Chris Broussard, “Jackson’s agent goes after Nelson,” ESPN.com, November 9, 2009.
“it’s harder than hell to trade that guy”: Henry Abbott, “Don Nelson: ‘It’s harder than hell to trade that guy,’ ” ESPN.com, November 13, 2009.
“Everybody knows the situation here”: Rusty Simmons, “Game 7: Warriors at Indiana (final),” SFGate.com, November 11, 2009.
Curry tweeted: twitter.com/StephenCurry30/status/5639862962.
with 25 family and friends who’d requested tickets: Stephen Curry, “My Rookie Season: How Stephen Curry Spent His Time in New York City,” GQ.com, November 19, 2009.
caused the All-Star power forward to jaw in his face: Video footage uploaded to YouTube (“Stephen Curry blocks David Lee and David Lee cries about it”) on November 15, 2009.
watching old footage of his Davidson days: Stephen Curry, “My Rookie Season: Stephen Curry’s Thanksgiving Plans,” GQ.com, November 26, 2009.
James came to see Curry play in the Sweet 16 in Detroit: Stephen Curry, “My Rookie Season: Stephen Curry Hangs at LeBron’s Pad,” GQ.com, November 24, 2009. Most of the details in this paragraph and the next regarding Curry and James’s visit, as well as their history, come from this story.
it was Curry, playing for the opposing team, who sank a contested three-pointer for the win: Ryan Jones, “LeBron Camp Report,” Slam Magazine, July 9, 2008.
“There is something bright at the end of the tunnel”: Rusty Simmons, “Stephen Curry keeps undermanned Warriors in it,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 2010.
use what’s known as a hardship waiver: Rusty Simmons, “Warriors use hardship waiver,” SFGate.com, November 20, 2009.
“We’ve got a little hiccup here”: Ric Bucher, “Rowell talks futures of Nelson, Jackson,” ESPN.com, November 16, 2009.
the same injury he had suffered 13 months earlier: “Curry sprains his left ankle,” Charlotte Observer (syndicated in Chicago Tribune), February 15, 2009.
“That kind of summed up our season”: Rusty Simmons, “Limp to victory is fitting finish,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 15, 2010.
Lacob himself personally signed off on the deal: Rusty Simmons, “Lacob/Guber dawn a new day,” SFGate.com, November 15, 2010.
Lacob bought out the final year of Don Nelson’s contract: Marc Stein, “Sources: Keith Smart to coach Warriors,” ESPN.com, September 24, 2010.
Smart was familiar to the team: He was also plenty familiar to Peter Guber, a Syracuse grad who’ll never forget the sight of Smart’s title-winning shot against his alma mater all those years before. “I don’t forget, but I forgive,” Guber would say.
Nelson retired for good to Hawaii: Scott Ostler, “For Don Nelson, life is good at his Maui home,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 18, 2011.
stripped of his decision-making power: Marcus Thompson II, “New Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber preach patience,” San Jose Mercury News, November 15, 2010.
in six months’ time: Al Saracevic, “Owner Joe Lacob rebuilt Warriors with Silicon Valley values,” SFGate.com, June 7, 2015.
grew up cheering general manager Billy Beane’s Oakland A’s: From an interview Kirk Lacob did with GoldenStateofMind.com (“Interview with Kirk Lacob (Pt. 2): The Warriors, Sports VU & solving the ‘communication problem’ ”), published on September 28, 2012.
Lacob cited Mullin’s hiring: Tim Kawakami, “Joe Lacob on the New Era Warriors: ‘Something very special is happening already,’ ” Bay Area News Group, November 15, 2010.
“He is just so impressive”: Ibid.
the international experience: Curry had previously played for Team USA at the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in Serbia in 2007. His teammates then included future NBA players Jonny Flynn, Patrick Beverley, Michael Beasley, and DeAndre Jordan.
bonded with Iguodala and Durant: From remarks Iguodala made in his introductory press conference with the Warriors on July 11, 2013.
Lee needed an intense regimen of antibiotics: “Wilson Chandler’s Tooth Almost Ended David Lee’s Career,” Deadspin via Sports Radio Interviews, December 10, 2010.
in the very next game, against the Clippers: This game is perhaps even better known as the night of Jeremy Lin’s NBA debut. The Palo Alto High School and Harvard grad came in to play the final 2:32 of garbage time, although to a raucous ovation from the home crowd.
looked as if Curry had been fitted for an ankle cast: Marcus Thompson II, “Stephen Curry reinjures ankle in Golden State Warriors’ victory,” San Jose Mercury News, October 29, 2010.
“I don’t think I could write a script”: From video footage of Lacob’s remarks (“Warriors New Ownership Introductory Luncheon”) uploaded to the Warriors’ YouTube channel on November 16, 2010. The other scene details and quotes in the following paragraphs are also from this video.
“This is not the cure for cancer”: Tim Kawakami, “Joe Lacob on the New Era Warriors: ‘Something very special is happening already,’ ” Bay Area News Group, November 15, 2010.
“Be careful . . . all glory is fleeting”: From an interview Lacob and Guber gave to the Warriors’ YouTube Channel (“Owners’ Box: Looking Back At Year One - 11/12/11”), uploaded on November 14, 2011.
“They are terrible”: From an interview Lacob gave to IDG Ventures’ Phil Sanderson and a room full of venture capitalists in the fall of 2015, uploaded to YouTube (“Interview With Warriors Owner Joe Lacob”) on April 10, 2016.
“Well, you’re going to have to look down if you want to see the camera”: This entire interaction with Schlenk, as well his background and biography, is detailed in my feature story for Wired.com (“Hoops 2.0: Inside the NBA’s Data-Driven Revolution”), published on April 18, 2011.
“one of those guys who flies under the radar”: Paul Suellentrop, “Homegrown Travis Schlenk finds his way around the NBA,” Wichita Eagle, April 27, 2013.
a news story: Rusty Simmons, “Al Thornton makes quick debut with Warriors,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 5, 2011. The section that initially caught my eye was titled “High-tech basketball.”
a movement that would revolutionize how basketball is analyzed: Rob Mahoney, “Optical Tracking Offers Glimpse of the Future,” New York Times, March 7, 2011.
SportVU didn’t originally develop from anything sports-related: “Hoops 2.0,” 2011.
partnered with a graphics firm named Vizrt to provide CNN with its Jedi-like holograms: Jason Chen, “How the CNN Holographic Interview System Works,” Gizmodo, November 4, 2008.
an $8.5 billion business: Daniel Kaplan, “Goodell sets revenue goal of $25B by 2027 for NFL,” SportsBusiness Journal, April 5, 2010.
“You don’t want to come in and say”: “Hoops 2.0,” 2011.
started out as a $250-a-month intern: Jayda Evans, “Sonics’ GM Presti sets new beat,” Seattle Times, October 28, 2007.
second-youngest GM in league history: Jerry Colangelo was 28 when he was named general manager of the expansion Phoenix Suns in 1968.
SportVU first came on their radar: The details in this paragraph and the next regarding how the Warriors both discovered and implemented SportVU were initially reported for my Wired.com story (“Hoops 2.0”) in April 2011.
Lacob did an hour-long Q&A: The Lacob quotes in this paragraph and the next come from audio of his KNBR interview conducted in studio on January 27, 2011 (Warriors.com).
getting left behind: For whatever reason, the Lakers were the last remaining holdout, not sending any representatives to Sloan until the 2014 conference.
a few writers in attendance started tweeting about comments Lacob had made: The controversy resurfaced a few weeks later when the official panel video was uploaded online. The relevant portion of Lacob’s comments was then transcribed and posted online by BayAreaSportsGuy.com (“Joe Lacob on bloggers and real fans, in his own words”) on March 28, 2011, but over the years the video disappeared from the Sloan website. I asked Jessica Gelman (the Sloan conference cofounder and moderator of this specific panel) if a copy of the video still survived. She told me several MIT servers—including the one storing that panel—were accidentally wiped in 2015 and could not be fully restored.
Lacob emailed beat writers the next day: Rusty Simmons, “Lacob explains ‘real fan’ comment,” SFGate.com, March 6, 2011.
Lacob mingled in the halls: Marc Tracy, “The Joy of Stats,” Tablet, April 27, 2011.
a $1.6 million renovation: Jon Xavier, “Golden State Warriors HQ gets $1.6M in renovations,” Silicon Valley Business Journal, July 8, 2011.
Goofing around during one February practice: Lori Preuitt, “He Shoots, He Scores,” NBC Bay Area, February 3, 2011.
the Warriors had hired a new assistant general manager: Tim Kawakami, “Reported move to hire player agent Bob Myers may be game-changer for Golden State Warriors,” Bay Area News Group, April 13, 2011.
a rabid Warriors fan: Myers even keeps the ticket stub from his first-ever Warriors game—a 104–102 win over the New York Knicks on January 15, 1982, thanks to 32 points from Bernard King—in his wallet (Mark Medina, “How Bob Myers went from UCLA walk-on to architect of Warriors NBA championship,” Los Angeles Daily News, November 23, 2015).
played ball at Monte Vista High School: Myers remains the school’s most high-profile graduate, if only because supermodel Christy Turlington (1987) didn’t technically graduate, at least if Wikipedia is to be believed.
Harrick facilitated a meeting: Chris Ballard, “The Architect: Meet the man who built the Warriors with a golden touch,” Sports Illustrated, June 8, 2016.
could intern at financial giant Bear Stearns: From an interview Myers gave to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Bob Myers Interview—Part 1”), uploaded on June 3, 2011.
Kobe Bryant stopping by during Myers’s first day: From an interview Myers gave to KNBR’s Damon Bruce on May 19, 2011.
seen wearing his Warriors sweatshirt around campus: From comments Myers made during a discussion (with Rick Welts) at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on September 15, 2015.
acquired the firm in 2006 for a reported $12 million: Brooks Barnes, “A Sports Agent with Hollywood in His Blood,” New York Times, July 7, 2013.
some $575 million in contracts: Per the Warriors. In the NBA, agents’ fees are capped at 4 percent max, easily making Myers a multimillionaire on these commissions.
a call out of the blue from Danny Ainge: Tim Kawakami, “Why Golden State Warriors owe Danny Ainge big time,” San Jose Mercury News, March 15, 2016.
Myers himself asked Ainge to put in a good word with Lacob: Ibid.
Myers had sensed that reluctance: Tim Kawakami, “Bob Myers interview: How the Warriors GM was hired five years ago, what he was thinking during his interview with Lacob, and much more,” Bay Area News Group, March 11, 2016.
something like an apprenticeship: Tim Kawakami, “Joe Lacob on Bob Myers: ‘Bob would be expected to ascend to the GM role,’ ” Bay Area News Group, April 15, 2011.
invited Tellem to dinner: Tim Kawakami, “Myers on landing with the Warriors: One of the top five or six jobs in the NBA,” Bay Area News Group, April 15, 2011.
The super-agent knew right away: Tellem, it just so happens, followed Myers’s lead in 2015 when he joined the front office of the Detroit Pistons.
exhibited a very public frustration: Darren Heitner, “Bob Myers To Become Golden State Warriors Assistant General Manager,” SportsAgentBlog.com, April 14, 2011.
BYU sensation Jimmer Fredette and the frenzy to secure his representation: Three weeks after Myers accepted the Warriors job, Fredette announced he had signed with agent Jeff Austin, who also represents Stephen Curry.
his likeness graces the NBA’s own logo: Jerry Crowe, “That iconic NBA silhouette can be traced back to him,” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2010.
in need of fresh income: Steve Galluzzo, “All Things Lakers: Jerry West,” Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2011.
Raymond Ridder put his old boss in touch with his newest one: Sam Amick, “How the Warriors got Kevin Durant,” USA Today, July 4, 2016.
“I never want to get back to where I go to bed at night, never go to sleep”: From an interview West gave to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Jerry West Interview—5/24/11”), uploaded on May 24, 2011.
his interest in potentially joining the Warriors: Skip Bayless, “How to Rescue Warriors: Go West,” San Jose Mercury News, February 24, 2002.
“I’ve seen teams trade players that score tons of points”: Tim Kawakami, “Trade Monta Ellis? Jerry West just might be the guy to do it,” San Jose Mercury News, June 1, 2011.
Lacob settled on his man in early June: Years later, Lacob did admit that one of the first people he talked to in 2010 about coaching the Warriors was Steve Kerr, who had just resigned as general manager of the Phoenix Suns. According to comments Lacob made to 95.7 The Game’s Greg Papa on February 7, 2017, Kerr turned him down but told him to check back in about three years or so. (Jackson was fired after three seasons.)
Jackson was almost hired by his hometown New York Knicks in 2008: Harvey Araton, “Walsh Had Mark Jackson Pegged as a Future Coach,” New York Times, June 7, 2011.
“One week ago, for my first time as a Warriors fan, the air smelled fresh”: Kevin Draper, “The Spiritual Rebirth and Salvation of the Golden State Warriors,” TheDissNBA.com, June 28, 2011.
the brains behind the creation of the annual Dunk Contest: Roy S. Johnson, “Show Biz N.B.A. Style,” New York Times, February 7, 1987.
he came out as gay: Dan Barry, “Going Public, N.B.A. Figure Sheds Shadow Life,” New York Times, May 16, 2011.
Gage’s two children from an earlier marriage: Rusty Simmons, “Rick Welts: Honesty best defense for Warriors exec,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 27, 2011.
“some real gems”: From comments Welts made during a discussion (with Bob Myers) at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on September 15, 2015.
“the easiest recruiting job in the history of sports”: Ibid.
Irving and Lacob were making benign small talk: This scene, as well as Lacob’s later quotes about being happy for Cleveland and being one ball shy of getting the No. 1 pick, comes from an interview Lacob gave to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“The 2011 NBA Draft Lottery With Joe Lacob”), uploaded on May 20, 2011.
His father, Mychal, had been drafted No. 1 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1978: Because of when he was drafted and by whom, Thompson became one of the many characters in David Halberstam’s The Breaks of the Game, still regarded by many as the best basketball book ever written. Because Thompson had to sit out the entire 1979–80 season (the central time frame of Halberstam’s narrative) with a broken leg suffered in an offseason pickup game, he was little more than a tertiary character, though we did learn that he drove a car with the license plate “MYCHAL” and had a natural talent for sneaking women back to his hotel room via the team bus, a fact that, as Halberstam wrote, evinced his “great courage and confidence not only on the court but off it.”
“That’s our guy”: Chris Ballard, “Pursuit of perfection: Jerry West’s fire burns as deep as ever with Warriors,” Sports Illustrated, June 11, 2015.
other players high on their board who were available: From comments Larry Riley made on the night of the draft, uploaded to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Larry Riley on The Selection of Klay Thompson”) on June 23, 2011.
Jimmer Fredette went at No. 10 to the Milwaukee Bucks: Thompson was asked during training camp in 2015 if he ever thinks about what might’ve happened if the Bucks, and not the Warriors, had picked him in the draft: “I thank God every day.”
“out to get mine”: From a press conference Thompson made to assembled media in New York just after he was drafted, uploaded to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Behind the Scenes of the 2011 NBA Draft with Klay Thompson”) on June 26, 2011.
average NBA player lost $220,000 of income: “For NBA players, check’s not in the mail,” ESPN.com, November 15, 2011.
“nuclear winter”: Howard Beck, “N.B.A. Season in Peril as Players Reject Offer and Disband Union,” New York Times, November 15, 2011.
Klay Thompson, bored out of his mind: Sam Amick, “Lockout unsettling for rookies,” Sports Illustrated, July 13, 2011.
Curry met a local sports trainer named Brandon Payne: Diamond Leung, “This man helps Warriors’ Stephen Curry take game to new heights,” San Jose Mercury News, December 4, 2015.
became interested in the training side of the game: Daniel Bartholomew, “Check Out the Hottest Basketball Training Facility in Charlotte,” Dime Magazine, September 7, 2011.
“His desire to learn more”: Interview with Payne on March 1, 2017.
effectively doubled as Accelerate’s first major client endorsement: YouTube, “Stephen Curry training with Accelerate Basketball,” uploaded on October 18, 2011.
he could bounce ideas off Payne: Leung, “This man helps Warriors’ Stephen Curry,” 2015.
As announced at 3:40 a.m.: Howard Beck, “N.B.A. Reaches Tentative Deal To Save Season,” New York Times, November 27, 2011.
“I’m disappointed. We need him back quick”: Associated Press, December 20, 2011.
“He ran his basketball team”: Associated Press, December 26, 2011.
“slumped in his courtside chair, arms folded in frustration”: Associated Press, December 31, 2011.
“It’s been one of those things that’s been chronic with me”: Associated Press, January 4, 2012.
“I just felt it wasn’t right to throw him out there”: Associated Press, March 11, 2012.
“The most challenging aspect of owning the Warriors has been the patience”: Warriors.com (“Joe Lacob Answers Fan Questions”), posted on July 27, 2011.
online report that disclosed Lacob’s plans: Marcus Thompson II, “Joe Lacob to Interview Spurs’ Mike Budenholzer,” Bay Area News Group, May 31, 2011.
Lacob fired two staffers over the leak: From an interview Lacob did with venture capitalist Ted Schlein for the KPCB CEO Workshop series (“Taking the Golden State Warriors to Greatness: Making Tough Decisions”), uploaded to Kleiner Perkins’ YouTube channel on October 4, 2016.
“I think you can very, very much clearly presume that we value him very highly”: From an interview Lacob did with KNBR’s Tom Tolbert and Ralph Barbieri on June 21, 2011. Lacob’s quotes in the next two paragraphs also come from this interview.
“Monta Ellis is a great player”: From an interview Lacob did with the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Warriors Owners’ Box—1/25/12”), uploaded on January 25, 2012. Lacob’s quote in the following paragraph also comes from this interview.
started conversations with Bucks general manager John Hammond the year before: From the recording of a conference call Riley and Bogut held with Warriors season-ticket holders on March 27, 2012.
contends to this day that it was always about Ellis: Tim Kawakami, “Debunking a Warriors urban myth: No, they were not ready to trade either Curry or Ellis for Bogut . . . it was always only Ellis,” Bay Area News Group, March 22, 2016.
a former Warriors employee had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ellis and the team: Associated Press, December 21, 2011.
actually follow through on those opportunities: What also likely helped them land Bogut was that Larry Harris—the Milwaukee general manager who had drafted Bogut back in 2005 and with whom the center had a good relationship—had since decamped for Golden State’s front office.
“They were all scared to tell me that they had come to consensus”: KPCB CEO Workshop, “Making Tough Decisions,” 2016.
“This kind of trade just doesn’t happen every day”: Rusty Simmons, “Warriors see Andrew Bogut as big piece to puzzle,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 16, 2012.
a tribute to Ellis, scored to Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”: Rusty Simmons, “Bucks top Warriors in Monta Ellis’ return,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 2012.
Talks between the Warriors and Smith’s legal counsel began just a few days after Ellis was traded: Associated Press, June 8, 2012.
Lacob himself announced to season-ticket holders: Associated Press, September 17, 2011.
a terrible trade Mullin had approved back in 2008: Scott Howard-Cooper, “Biggest sting from bad ’08 trade yet to come for Warriors,” NBA.com, March 6, 2012.
not one but two separate issues featuring cover photos of Jeremy Lin: Issues of Sports Illustrated dated February 20 and February 27, 2012.
thought to himself, somewhat jokingly, Maybe I’ll do better than him: Tim Kawakami, “Kirk Lacob and Andrew Bogut on the night Joe Lacob got booed at Oracle, and everything that came next,” Bay Area News Group, May 30, 2015.
Bogut was stunned: Bogut later told the Bay Area News Group (ibid.) what he was thinking during the fans’ treatment of Lacob: “I guess, at that point, they were happy with losing games and having a guy score 30 a night that was a fan favorite.”
Kevin Love stood off to the corner with his Timberwolves teammates and could only giggle: From video shot by a fan in attendance at Oracle Arena that night and uploaded to YouTube (“Kevin Love laughing at Joe Lacob getting booed”) on March 20, 2012.
“The less you say, the better off you are”: Joe Marshall, “Pouncing on a Championship,” Sports Illustrated, January 15, 1979.
“I’m not going to let a few boos get me down”: Tim Kawakami, “Joe Lacob after the booing: ‘I’m not going to let a few boos get me down,’ ” Bay Area News Group, March 19, 2012.
hated the word itself: Al Saracevic, “Owner Joe Lacob rebuilt Warriors with Silicon Valley values,” SFGate.com, June 7, 2015.
replying to some 400 emails: From an interview Lacob did with Rosalyn Gold-Onwude of NBC Sports Bay Area, uploaded on March 22, 2017.
“The day is going to come”: From video footage of Jackson’s postgame press conference shot by Steve Berman of BayAreaSportsGuy.com and uploaded to YouTube (“Mark Jackson on Joe Lacob getting booed by Warriors fans”) on March 19, 2012.
gathered on a makeshift dais along San Francisco’s Embarcadero: All of the scene details and quotes from this day come from a video uploaded to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Warriors Announce Plans For San Francisco Arena”) on May 22, 2012.
Despite a $500 million price tag, the team would pay every penny: Richard Sandomir, “Golden State Warriors Return to San Francisco,” New York Times, May 22, 2012.
Bob Myers sat on one of the thousands of green benches dotting New York’s Central Park with a pocket full of good-luck charms: From an interview Myers gave to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“GM Bob Myers in NYC’s Central Park”), uploaded on May 30, 2012.
the pairing was a disaster: Kelly Dwyer, “Marcus Williams is still haunting the Golden State Warriors,” Yahoo! Sports, February 9, 2011.
crushing a hapless Nets team by 31: As the game ended, Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo could see Nets head coach Avery Johnson smirking with delight, even though his team had just been crushed. That’s because the loss dropped the Nets to 22-44 and bumped them a slot above both Toronto and Golden State—except their draft pick was already headed to Portland thanks to the trade for Gerald Wallace that March. The Blazers happily drafted Damian Lillard with the sixth pick. Colangelo later admitted during a 2014 Sloan panel that that game was the only time in his career he could recall hoping a team of his would lose.
“Widely touted as college basketball’s most cerebral star since Bill Bradley”: Jason Zengerle, “Moneyballer,” The Atlantic, April 2012.
surprised everyone by opting for Dion Waiters: Mary Schmitt Boyer, “Cleveland Cavaliers pull a draft surprise, taking Syracuse’s Dion Waiters with fourth pick of 2012 NBA Draft,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 28, 2012.
possessed a physical maturity: Ezeli was one of only four seniors drafted in the first round in 2012, as opposed to eight freshmen, eleven sophomores, and six juniors.
averaged more than 16 points and 10 rebounds in his senior season: In early February 2012, in a game against rival Michigan, Green actually outrebounded a decent Wolverines team (which featured future NBA players Tim Hardaway Jr., and Trey Burke) all by himself, 16–15.
235 pounds: Green actually weighed closer to 300 pounds when he was a freshman in East Lansing, but slimmed down considerably under the eye of head coach Tom Izzo (Jonathan Abrams, “The Fastest Mouth in the West,” Grantland, April 8, 2015).
modeled his game after “old-school Charles Barkley”: From an interview Green gave to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Pre-Draft Workout Interview: Draymond Green”), uploaded on June 4, 2012.
wearing 23 in college as an homage: Associated Press, December 4, 2015.
barely slept the night before: Hugh Bernreuter, “Draymond Green calls NBA Draft wait for Golden State Warriors ‘rugged,’ ” MLive.com, June 29, 2012.
Adam Silver read his name at No. 35: Detroit, at No. 39, would’ve taken Green had he fallen that far (Abrams, “The Fastest Mouth,” 2015). Instead, they took Texas A&M’s Khris Middleton, who was traded a year later as part of a package of players, to Milwaukee for Brandon Jennings.
performed an exploratory arthroscopic surgery on Stephen Curry’s right ankle: Pablo S. Torre, “How Stephen Curry got the best worst ankles in sports,” ESPN the Magazine, February 29, 2016.
Ferkel operated on Andrew Bogut’s left ankle: Rusty Simmons, “Ankle surgery for Curry, Andrew Bogut,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 22, 2012.
partnered with a company called Sports Aptitude: The details here about the Warriors using BBIQ, as well as subsequent descriptions of Synergy Sports and MOCAP Analytics, come from a presentation given by Kirk Lacob at the Sports Analytics Innovation Summit in San Francisco in September 2012.
answers given to 185 questions: Travis Langley, “Player-Aptitude Reports Are Critical for NBA Prospects,” Wired.com, June 22, 2011.
“We need to be able to make this information useful to us”: Kirk Lacob, September 2012.
Golden State put down almost $2 million: Lou Babiarz, “WIZARDS: Taking hands-on approach,” Bismarck Tribune, June 30, 2011.
the fourth NBA team to actually own and operate its own D-League affiliate: In four years, the number of NBA teams that owned and operated D-League teams had grown to 16, with an all-time high of 23 teams overall.
you were earning a greater commission on your shot investment: Ben Cohen, “The Golden State Warriors Have Revolutionized Basketball,” Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2016.
Bob Myers and Jeff Austin completed an agreement: Marc Stein, “Stephen Curry gets 4-year extension,” ESPN.com, November 1, 2012.
“If you look at other people in my draft class”: Rusty Simmons, “Warriors sign Curry to $44 million deal,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 1, 2012.
Curry kept coming back to a phrase his father had instilled in him: Tim Kawakami, “Stephen Curry says he sees no reason to leave the Warriors this summer,” San Jose Mercury News, January 14, 2017.
“There’s really no timetable for a return right now”: From an interview Bogut conducted with KNBR’s Tom Tolbert on November 27, 2012.
“I wanted to play the first game of the season”: From Bogut’s media scrum on November 27, 2012, transcribed from a video uploaded to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Practice Interviews - 11/27/12”) later that day.
he’d actually had a version of microfracture surgery: Marcus Thompson II, “Andrew Bogut and the Microfracture Mystery,” Bay Area News Group, November 27, 2012.
“We don’t want to fool anybody, anymore”: Rusty Simmons, “Warriors’ Bogut on ‘indefinite leave,’ ” San Francisco Chronicle, November 28, 2012.
they held a conference call for season-ticket holders: From an audio recording of the conference call, which was held on March 27, 2012.
“I know it’s being perceived that it was mishandled and not handled appropriately”: Marcus Thompson II, “Warriors GM Bob Myers Apologizes for Warriors’ Handling of Andrew Bogut Situation,” Bay Area News Group, November 29, 2012.
“you would’ve thought they’d won a playoff game”: Marcus Thompson II, “Golden State Warriors edge Denver Nuggets 106–105,” Bay Area News Group, November 29, 2012.
so palpable that it birthed a meme: Marc J. Spears, “Origin of Stephen Curry’s and Klay Thompson’s ‘Splash Brothers’ nickname,” Yahoo! Sports, February 12, 2015.
the most anyone had scored at MSG since Kobe Bryant dropped 61 on the hapless Knicks: Marcus Thompson II, “Warriors’ Stephen Curry hits career-high 54 points in Madison Square Garden loss,” San Jose Mercury News, February 27, 2013.
“We’re not going to lay down”: Rusty Simmons, “Rockets rout Warriors by 31,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 6, 2013.
“I used to sit where you sit!”: From audio that was picked up by ESPN’s lapel mic on Jackson and aired on the broadcast.
Bogut quit drinking during the season: Scott Ostler, “Bogut gives Warriors newfound attitude,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 2, 2013.
skipped down the hallway to the locker room in postgame jubilation: From video footage uploaded to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Warriors Clinch Playoff Berth”) on April 9, 2013.
“This was an important first step for this franchise”: Ibid.
“one slithery move”: Arnie Stapleton, Associated Press, April 20, 2013.
Jackson went to his coaches with a crazy proposition he was prepared to be talked out of: Rusty Simmons, “Warriors on target, win 131–117 at Denver,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 24, 2013.
“In my opinion”: From interview audio uploaded to the Warriors’ SoundCloud page (“Mark Jackson Postgame—Warriors at Nuggets [4/23/13]”).
wouldn’t be able to play without the extra day of rest afforded by the travel schedule: Tim Kawakami, “Steph Curry’s sore left ankle and Game 3 outlook: ‘I wouldn’t be able to play right now if there was a game,’ ” Bay Area News Group, April 25, 2013.
Curry succumbed and received the shot prior to Game 4: Antonio Gonzalez, Associated Press, April 28, 2013.
“they tried to send hit-men on Steph”: From audio uploaded to the Warriors’ SoundCloud page (“Mark Jackson Postgame—Warriors at Nuggets [4/30/13]”).
“did he play football or basketball at Michigan State?”: Associated Press, April 30, 2013.
the first pain-blocking injection of his career: Sam Amick, “Warriors hang on to beat Nuggets, move on to Spurs,” USA Today, May 3, 2013.
“It seems like every time you get on a roll”: Associated Press, May 12, 2013.
“God has His hands on this team”: ASAP Sports transcript, May 12, 2013.
Kirk Lacob could see that the Warriors were gassed: From remarks Lacob made at the Sports Analytics Innovation Summit in San Francisco on September 10, 2015.
“With the way I played this season”: ASAP Sports transcript, May 16, 2013.
Joe Lacob huddled in the back of the Warriors’ locker room with reporters: From video footage of Lacob’s remarks uploaded to YouTube (“Warriors owner Joe Lacob following the team’s Game 6 loss”) on May 17, 2013.
Iguodala felt the calculus worked in his favor: Zach Harper, “Nuggets’ Andre Iguodala says he’ll opt out, become a free agent,” CBS Sports, March 31, 2013.
met down in Los Angeles at Pelinka’s office: From remarks Myers made during Iguodala’s introductory press conference on July 11, 2013.
prepared some DVDs as part of the presentation: Anthony Slater, “Kevin Durant, Joe Lacob shed more light on Durant’s free agency decision,” San Jose Mercury News, October 11, 2016.
“You guys are building something that I want to be a part of”: From Myers at Iguodala’s press conference on July 11, 2013.
a standing contract offer reported to be five years and $60 million: Rusty Simmons, “Iguodala hopes to give Warriors flexibility,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 11, 2013.
More than a few nights, he came home in a panic: From Myers at Iguodala’s press conference on July 11, 2013.
an hour after Iguodala almost put pen to paper with Dallas: Simmons, “Iguodala hopes,” 2013.
Tim Connelly . . . wanted in: Christopher Dempsey, “Nuggets to get Randy Foye in sign-trade deal with Andre Iguodala,” Denver Post, July 8, 2013.
ownership group led by Vivek Ranadivé: While it’s unknown precisely what Lacob and Guber each paid to become Warriors co-owners, it turns out that Ranadivé didn’t have to pay all that much to acquire the Kings, just around $54.5 million himself to acquire a 15.08 percent stake, which was enough to be named controlling owner (Sam Amick, “Vivek Ranadive’s early years with Kings forgettable,” USA Today, October 9, 2016).
Malcolm Gladwell wrote at length about the unorthodox strategies he implemented: Malcolm Gladwell, “How David Beats Goliath,” New Yorker, May 11, 2009.
“the premier basketball team of the 21st century”: Rusty Simmons, “Owner Ranadivé pushes technology for Warriors,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 30, 2012.
Stevens had bought in at a team valuation of $800 million: Darren Rovell, “Source: Warriors worth $800 million,” ESPN.com, August 16, 2013.
an all-time high that fall of 14,500: Eric Young, “Warriors sell 14,500 season tickets, set franchise record,” San Francisco Business Times, November 5, 2013.
“I do have a lot of faith in advanced statistics”: From comments Jackson made at his introductory press conference on June 10, 2011.
“we think we were able to help the coaches identify the root of problem”: Rusty Simmons, “Golden State Warriors at the forefront of NBA data analysis,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 14, 2014.
“That’s analytics. That he does listen to”: GoldenStateofMind.com, “Interview with Kirk Lacob (Pt. 2),” 2012.
a trained lawyer: Warriors.com, “Darren Erman Interview,” September 23, 2011.
tension between Jackson and Malone: Tim Kawakami, “Mark Jackson and Michael Malone: Year 2 on the Warriors’ staff could be interesting,” Bay Area News Group, July 26, 2012.
prohibited his assistants from speaking to the media during the season: Rusty Simmons, “Assistant Scalabrine reassigned after clash with Jackson,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 27, 2014.
dribbling a ball in his right hand while making behind-the-back passes with his left: These exercise descriptions largely come from a series of videos recorded at Accelerate by Sporting News’ DeAntae Prince and uploaded to YouTube on August 13, 2013.
the team had Curry work with new performance trainer Keke Lyles: Torre, “How Stephen Curry got the best worst ankles in sports,” 2016.
extorted for hundreds of thousands of dollars by two people, one of them an ex-stripper: Beau Yarbrough, “Warriors coach Mark Jackson admits to affair with ex-stripper,” San Jose Mercury News, June 28, 2012.
NBA player Jason Collins announced in the pages of Sports Illustrated that he was an out gay man: Jason Collins, “Why NBA center Jason Collins is coming out now,” Sports Illustrated, April 29, 2013.
“As a Christian man”: Jackson’s comments were reported by many news outlets when they were made on April 29, 2013.
“It did disappoint me”: From an interview Welts gave to KQED’s Scott Shafer, uploaded to YouTube (“KQED NEWSROO14M: An Interview with Golden State Warriors President and COO Rick Welts”) on February 20, 2014.
“We’re in the same chapter”: Associated Press, December 12, 2013.
“As far as I know, it was not on the court”: Diamond Leung, “Warriors’ Bogut says Jackson comment ‘ridiculous,’ ” Bay Area News Group, February 10, 2014.
“net-net”: An arcane bit of Wall Street jargon, the kind you’d only hear at a bar full of finance bros or at lunch with venture capitalists.
“we have not played as well as we need to play”: Tim Kawakami, “Joe Lacob on Mark Jackson and the Warriors’ season so far: ‘Our coach has done a good job . . . but some things are a little disturbing,’ ” Bay Area News Group, February 11, 2014.
Scalabrine . . . was personally demoted by Jackson: Adrian Wojnarowski, “Warriors coach Mark Jackson forces reassignment of assistant Brian Scalabrine,” Yahoo! Sports, March 25, 2014.
“difference in philosophies”: Diamond Leung, “Warriors’ Mark Jackson reassigns assistant Scalabrine,” Bay Area News Group, March 25, 2014.
spent months working with Draymond Green: Connor Letourneau, “Warriors’ Draymond Green vies for Defensive Player of Year,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 11, 2017.
“violation of company policy”: “Assistant Erman fired for violating Warriors’ team policy,” SFGate.com, April 5, 2014.
secretly taped at least one conversation: Chris Broussard, “Darren Erman secretly taped talks,” ESPN.com, April 29, 2014. On the day this was reported, three weeks after the firing, Erman was rehired by the Celtics as their director of NBA scouting. General manager Danny Ainge said he was “not concerned at all” about bringing Erman back on staff (Baxter Holmes, “Celtics hire Darren Erman as scouting director,” Boston Globe, April 29, 2014).
“I’m going to dedicate the summer to learning how to play while avoiding contact at all costs”: Associated Press, April 14, 2014.
Clippers owner Donald Sterling uttering a litany of racist statements: Timothy Burke, “NBA Owner Sterling To Girlfriend: Why Bring Black People To My Games?” Deadspin, April 26, 2014. The tapes lead directly to the NBA’s forcing Sterling to sell the team that summer to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.
blasted the court with a wave of ear-melting cheers: I covered this game and was in attendance at Oracle Arena. (The sound was quite painful.)
most of the team attended services at Jackson’s church: Diamond Leung, “Warriors players rallying around Jackson,” Bay Area News Group, April 20, 2014.
Jerry West wasn’t a welcome figure at team practices: Zach Lowe, “The End of Mark Jackson and a New Beginning for the Warriors,” Grantland, May 7, 2014.
almost no functioning relationship with Kirk Lacob: Reported by Tim Kawakami on Twitter on May 6, 2014, and confirmed to me by a team source.
prohibited analytics head Sammy Gelfand from corraling rebounds for players at practice: Zach Lowe (“The Champs Are Here: A Guide to the Elite and Unlikely Cast of Characters Who Defined the 2014–15 Golden State Warriors,” Grantland, June 17, 2015) reported that it was a “young front office official”; a team source confirmed it was Gelfand.
Scalabrine . . . hadn’t spoken to Jackson for weeks: Broussard, “Darren Erman secretly taped talks,” 2014.
Jackson had lost virtually all interest in reviewing game film or diagraming plays in the huddle: Chris Ballard, “Warriors Come Out to Play,” Sports Illustrated, February 23, 2015.
“I’ll always compliment him in many respects”: Diamond Leung, “Golden State Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob details reasons for firing coach Mark Jackson,” Bay Area News Group, December 5, 2014.
“We all make the decision to change the CEO too late, right?”: Ibid.
“the right man at the right time”: Ballard, “Warriors Come Out to Play,” 2015.
Jackson implied he was canned for not acquiescing to Lacob’s demand: This audio from Jackson’s interview comes from The Dan Patrick Show’s YouTube channel (“Mark Jackson on the Dan Patrick Show (Full Interview) 05/07/2014”), uploaded on May 7, 2014.
“Carte blanche. Take my wallet”: Leung, “Golden State Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob details reasons,” 2014.
One particularly damning rebuke: Bruce Jenkins, “Meddling Joe Lacob to blame for firing of Mark Jackson,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 7, 2014.
the original arena plan . . . had to be scrapped: John Coté, “Warriors shift arena plans to Mission Bay,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 22, 2014.
one of the smartest basketball-related discussions ever conducted: Seriously, anyone even remotely interested in basketball or analytics should watch this discussion on YouTube (“SSAC14: Basketball Analytics”).
Colangelo came away impressed: From my email interview with Bryan Colangelo in March 2017.
For more than a year: Ballard, “Warriors Come Out to Play,” 2015.
“It made me more compassionate”: From an interview Kerr did for David Axelrod’s “The Axe Files” podcast, posted on November 23, 2016.
older brother, John, available to grab rebounds and play catch: From my interview with Ann Kerr-Adams in March 2017.
Arabic readings in his lap to watch during the commercial breaks of college football games: Maureen Dowd, “Educator Slain in Beirut Is Mourned in Princeton,” New York Times, January 30, 1984.
“In the good old days”: Malcolm H. Kerr, The Arab Cold War: Gamal ’Abd al-Nasir and His Rivals, 1958–1970 (Third Edition), p. v.
“The only thing I’d rather do than watch Steve play basketball”: From Kerr-Adams’s 1996 book, Come with Me from Lebanon: An American Family Odyssey, p. 10.
His earliest memory of sports: From my interview with Steve Kerr in March 2017.
a certain UC-Irvine alum was across campus: Joe Lacob was earning his master’s degree at this very same time.
Kerr was working out at a basketball showcase: From my interview with Lute Olson in March 2017.
“Jerks draw jerks”: Bob Logan, “Olson, Arizona 1 big happy family,” Chicago Tribune, January 3, 1988.
Malcolm Kerr . . . called Olson: Olson interview, March 2017.
“You can never know what death sounds like”: Rich Dymond, “Beirut bombings leave scars, Wildcat says,” Arizona Daily Star, October 15, 1983.
Malcolm Kerr had been planning on coming stateside (along with Ann) to see Steve play against UCLA: Mary Curtius and Jack Jones, “Kerr Aware of Risks Facing Him in Beirut,” Los Angeles Times, January 19, 1984.
members of Hezbollah: John Branch, “Why Steve Kerr Sees Life Beyond the Court,” New York Times, December 25, 2016.
Reagan praised Kerr: Ronald Reagan: “Statement on the Assassination of Malcolm Kerr, President of the American University of Beirut,” January 18, 1984. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
Olson (at the urging of his wife, Bobbi) had him picked up: Olson interview, March 2017.
“[Lute] had lost his father so he told me his story”: Kerr interview, March 2017.
“To see someone perform in that situation”: From my interview with Bob Weinhauer in March 2017.
the public address announcer, Roger Sedlmayr, let out a bellowing “Steeeeeeeeeeve Kerrrrrrrrrr!”: Greg Hansen, “Beloved Wildcat Kerr leads UA past ASU just after father’s assassination,” Arizona Daily Star, August 24, 2016.
“Adrenaline . . . will add ten feet”: Rich Dymond, “Kerr’s scoring rising,” Arizona Daily Star, January 28, 1984.
“Every day I was pretty much amazed at what he could do”: From my interview with David Robinson in March 2017.
he might never play ball again: From my interview with Tim Taft in March 2017.
“I’m thinking, Thanks a lot, doc”: Kerr interview, March 2017.
“With a big injury like that for a point guard”: Taft interview, March 2017.
“We thought we were going to be really good”: From my interview with Bruce Fraser in March 2017.
one of these cheesy, anodyne raps: This particular rap was written by Harvey Mason Jr., a junior guard for the Wildcats who would later go on to win several Grammys as a successful record producer.
the “Gumby Squad”: Associated Press, April 1, 1988.
Kerr, tempestuous as a child, had developed a thick skin and learned to channel his anger through basketball: Ann Kerr-Adams interview, March 2017.
a dozen or so students started taunting him in warm-ups: Bob Young, “Hecklers no worry for Kerr,” Arizona Republic, February 28, 1988.
sent Kerr a personal letter of apology: Bob Cohn, “ASU sends apology for remarks,” Arizona Republic, March 1, 1988.
“Everything in my life would be downhill after that”: Logan, “Olson, Arizona,” 1988.
“I got completely off track”: Kerr interview, March 2017.
Olson thinks the pressure of having Ann Kerr there in attendance affected her son: Olson interview, March 2017.
“Usually, if a guy is nervous, he’s going to be missing in warm-ups, too”: Fraser interview, March 2017.
“I will always blame myself for us losing that game”: From John Feinstein’s 1988 book, A Season Inside: One Year in College Basketball, p. 460.
criticized for selecting the Arizona fan favorite: Lee Shappell, “Suns join in chorus of praise for Kerr,” Arizona Republic, October 23, 1988.
“He showed enough that he deserved a shot”: From my interview with Jerry Colangelo in March 2017.
played half a season with a rookie center named Shaquille O’Neal: Kerr also got to play with a more familiar face while with the Magic: Tom Tolbert, his old power forward in college, and one of his closest friends to this day.
thought about calling Lute Olson: Kerr interview, March 2017. I later asked Olson if he would have hired Kerr on staff with the Wildcats. “Obviously I would’ve,” he told me. “All the fans were hoping, once I retired, that Steve would come here.”
a single-season record that stood for 15 years: Kerr set the mark by converting on 89 of 170 threes over 82 games. During the 2009–10 season, Utah’s Kyle Korver broke the record by making 59 of 110 shots (53.6 percent) over 52 games off the bench.
“If he comes off . . . I’ll be ready”: From archived audio aired on NBA TV and uploaded to YouTube (“Steve Kerr—NBA Finals 1997, Game 6’s Final Shot”) on June 17, 2008.
Brent Musberger yelled on the ESPN Radio telecast: This audio can be heard on a YouTube video titled “Amazing Playoff Moments: Michael Jordan pass to Steve Kerr,” uploaded on June 2, 2009.
“Did Steve have physical gifts that jump out at you”: From my interview with B. J. Armstrong in March 2017.
“I could feel my body breaking down”: Kerr interview, March 2017.
“I didn’t anticipate anybody would be dumb enough to offer me another”: Ibid.
started calling himself “Ted”: Mike Wise, “ ‘Frozen’ Kerr Catches Fire and Lifts Spurs,” New York Times, May 30, 2003.
some bad room-service crème brûlée: Mike Wilbon, “Spurs’ Kerr Is a Long-Shot Made Good,” Washington Post, June 4, 2003.
“Somebody closed out on me really hard”: Kerr interview, March 2017.
“It was an incredible moment”: Robinson interview, March 2017.
“The guy is there before and after practice”: Sam Smith, “Ever-so-modest Kerr can’t hide his value,” Baltimore Sun, May 31, 2003.
moved from San Antonio to set down roots in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe: Larry Stewart, “Kerr’s Joy Tinged by Sadness,” Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2004.
“Once he was a GM, he realized that wasn’t his lane in this business”: Fraser interview, March 2017.
“I still get to enjoy the game itself”: Paul Coro, “Former Suns GM Steve Kerr returning to TNT,” Arizona Republic, June 29, 2010.
Joe Lacob—an old golfing buddy of Kerr’s: Tim Kawakami, “Steve Kerr on taking the Warriors job, his offensive style, Steph Curry, saying no to Phil Jackson and much, much more,” Bay Area News Group, May 14, 2014.
“It just isn’t right to host a show to announce you’re abandoning your hometown”: Scott Cacciola, “LeBron James to Sign With Miami Heat,” Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2010.
smart money had Kerr moving east: Kerr’s deal with the Knicks was all but done—short of signing paperwork—until Lacob swooped in and persuaded his old golfing buddy to give the Warriors closer consideration. “Knowing he’s a real California guy,” Lacob told 95.7 The Game’s Greg Papa on February 7, 2017, “I couldn’t imagine him in New York, to be honest. I just couldn’t. I just couldn’t see it, but I think it took him a few days longer to figure it out.”
Kerr in a conference room in Oklahoma City: Ballard, “Warriors Come Out to Play,” 2015.
“There were a lot of little things that first-time head coaches don’t even think about”: Rusty Simmons, “How Warriors got their man,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 12, 2015.
divest the small percentage of the Suns that he still owned: Diamond Leung, “Warriors’ Steve Kerr on still owning small part of Phoenix Suns: ‘I’m not Steve Ballmer,’ ” Bay Area News Group, July 12, 2014.
spurned his friend and mentor in New York: Andrew Keh, “This Teacher Spends Life Being Taught,” New York Times, November 13, 2014. As Kerr told the Times, “If Phil hadn’t been involved, it would have been an easy decision. But my loyalty to him, my interest in building something with him, was pretty deep.”
spoke with Stephen Curry by phone before news broke: Marcus Thompson II, “Stephen Curry Speaks About Losing Mark Jackson, Getting Steve Kerr, and the New Direction of the Warriors,” Bay Area News Group, May 15, 2014.
jumped at the chance to coach a rebuilding Cleveland Cavaliers squad: Chris Haynes, “David Blatt grateful Steve Kerr allowed him to take Cavaliers’ job: ‘We both got what we wanted,’ ” Cleveland.com, May 29, 2015.
often went by “Q,” a nickname acquired in his college days: Rusty Simmons, “The Curry Whisperer: Shot guru Fraser has MVP’s ear,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 10, 2015.
remembering that basketball, above all else, was supposed to be fun: Jonah Keri, “With coaches like Kerr, Carroll and Maddon, pro sports teams remember to have fun,” CBS Sports, August 30, 2016.
“The raw material of a contender is here”: Zach Lowe, “Why Not the Warriors?” Grantland, January 14, 2014.
dangling Kevin Love like a carrot: Marc Stein, “Warriors weigh deal for Kevin Love,” ESPN.com, June 20, 2014.
Love was a year older than Thompson: Despite the age gap, the two men once played on the same Little League team (Connor Letourneau, “Klay Thompson, Kevin Love go from Little League to NBA Finals,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 5, 2016). With Love pitching and Thompson hitting leadoff, the Lake Oswego Lakers (based outside Portland, Oregon) won a state title in 2001.
West, in particular, was adamant that Thompson remain a Warrior: Ballard, “Pursuit of perfection,” 2015.
Ronnie Lott, who posted a YouTube video: From Lott’s official YouTube channel (“A message for Joe Lacob—Let’s go Warriors!”), uploaded on October 14, 2014.
“We encourage very strong debate”: From Lacob’s comments in a video produced by Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (“Inside Sports Management”), uploaded to their YouTube channel on November 14, 2016.
the Splash Brothers would remain side by side for at least another three seasons: What’s rarely discussed is how Curry almost bolted before Thompson even played a game in Oakland. In the days following the resolution of the 2011 lockout, the New Orleans Pelicans pushed hard to acquire Curry in a trade that would’ve sent point guard Chris Paul northwestward (Marc Stein and Chris Broussard, “Sources: Hornets line up trade targets,” ESPN.com, December 7, 2011). The Warriors didn’t pursue the deal very hard, especially since Paul, who had one year left on his contract, wouldn’t invoke his player option for a second year. Of course, Curry wasn’t the superstar then that he would become, and the team could’ve decided to trade him and keep Monta Ellis instead, but the Warriors stuck to their plan, and trading Curry away wasn’t part of that.
Iguodala was initially hesitant: Ballard, “Warriors Come Out to Play,” 2015.
people of color comprised 76.7 percent of players but just a third of the 30 head coaches: Richard Lapchick with Angelica Guiao, “The 2015 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Basketball Association,” The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, July 1, 2015.
recite from memory all 34 players picked ahead of him: Jon Wilner, “How a ticked-off Draymond Green fell into the Warriors’ lap,” San Jose Mercury News, May 20, 2016.
surfaced as unbridled rage: In the waning moments of Game 5 of the 1992 Eastern Conference Finals, Kerr (then with Cleveland) threw down with none other than the Chicago Bulls’ Stacey King, who’d been a star on the Oklahoma squad that dropped Kerr’s Arizona powerhouse in the 1988 Final Four. In a March 2017 interview, King told me that he still hasn’t forgotten how crazed Kerr’s actions were on that day they met in the NBA playoffs. “He’s got a hidden temper,” King says. “All of us have tempers, but you don’t expect it from a guy like him, a guy who’s articulate, a guy who’s so even-keeled. When you watch him and talk to him, he’s got a great sense of humor, he has a great understanding of society, things that are going on in the world. He’s very intelligent, but beneath all that, man, I tell you, there’s a competitive nature. There’s a rage there, and he can control it, but he wants to win at everything he does. It’s like a Chihuahua thinking that he’s a Rottweiler. You can’t tell him that he’s not a Rottweiler.”
confessed to one Warriors staffer: From a story recounted by radio broadcaster Tim Roye during an interview with Green for the Warriors’ SoundCloud page (“Podcast [11/28/12]—Roundtable ft. Andrew Bogut, Bob Myers, Draymond Green & More”).
Green rarely backed down: Marcus Thompson II, “Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green impressing with toughness, smarts,” San Jose Mercury News, December 4, 2012.
jawed at Green, “You too little!”: Marcus Thompson II, “LeBron James ‘you too little’ comment motivates Warriors’ Draymond Green,” San Jose Mercury News, May 28, 2015.
Kerr once received a black eye from Jordan in a Bulls practice: James Herbert, “Landing a punch on Michael Jordan,” ESPN.com, September 27, 2013.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m an asshole”: Abrams, “The Fastest Mouth,” 2015.
Johnson served as a part-time team psychologist: Baxter Holmes, “Special force at work for Warriors,” ESPN.com, June 5, 2015.
travel the most of any team during the 2014–15 regular season: Per the miles-tracking page on Daren Willman’s NBASavant.com.
Kerr was prodded by Keke Lyles: Janie McCauley, “Warriors seek sleep advice to keep an edge,” Associated Press, March 12, 2015.
Cheri Mah published research showing the benefits: Mah, Cheri D., et al., “The Effects of Sleep Extension on the Athletic Performance of Collegiate Basketball Players.” Sleep 34.7 (2011): 943–50. PMC. Web. 30 April 2017.
“You’re trying to link what happens at nighttime with performance during the daytime”: From my interview with Mah in February 2017.
lower his thermostat to 57 degrees: Pablo S. Torre and Tom Haberstroh, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” ESPN the Magazine, October 27, 2014.
“I’m not necessarily trying to overhaul everything that they’ve ever known”: Mah interview, February 2017.
partnered with a Finnish startup, Omegawave, to assess heart-rate variability using facial electrodes: Diamond Leung, “Besides a Stephen Curry advantage, Golden State Warriors flaunt a tech advantage,” San Jose Mercury News, November 13, 2015.
in real time during practice: The Santa Cruz Warriors also partnered with Athos—a Bay Area startup that counted Joe Lacob and former Golden State center Jermaine O’Neal among its investors—to outfit its D-League players with compression clothing that can gather electromyography readings to measure muscle activity and physical stress. After all, the D-League’s own website does refer to its role as “the league’s research and development laboratory.”
a simple test administered daily: Ken Berger, “Warriors ‘wearable’ weapon? Devices to monitor players while on the court,” CBS Sports, June 3, 2015.
Curry and Thompson . . . were close to “red-lining”: Kirk Lacob, Sports Analytics Innovation Summit, 2015.
“I know there are people here in Denver”: Christopher Dempsey, “Warriors to rest stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson vs. Nuggets,” Denver Post, March 13, 2015.
37 points in the third quarter: Rusty Simmons, “Thompson’s NBA-record 37-point quarter lifts Warriors over Kings,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 24, 2015.
Bob Myers email asking for any ideas: Ethan Sherwood Strauss, “Q&A: Myers on how Warriors execs work,” ESPN.com, March 24, 2015.
“The most important thing . . . is that your players respond to your coach”: From my interview with Bob Myers in December 2016.
first team in 37 years to finish tops in both defensive efficiency and pace of play: John Schuhmann, “Warriors trying to buck trend when it comes to pace of play,” NBA.com, March 6, 2015.
Mark Jackson . . . said he’d pick Houston’s James Harden: From audio archived on The Dan Patrick Show’s official YouTube channel (“Mark Jackson on the Dan Patrick Show [Full Interview] 4/2/15”).
“Well, it was April Fool’s Day”: Per a tweet from Ethan Sherwood Strauss, April 2, 2015.
“strength in numbers” . . . guiding principle: The Warriors also wanted it for their intellectual property. The team filed an application in June 2015 (two weeks before winning the title) to register “strength in numbers” as a trademark (serial number 86652408) belonging to Golden State Warriors, LLC.
preach the gospel of “appropriate fear”: Steve Kerr, “Fearing the best,” Yahoo! Sports, May 28, 2007.
Kerr dropped that phrasing periodically: Diamond Leung, “Warriors’ win streak on the line with tough road stretch,” San Jose Mercury News, December 12, 2014.
“Our appropriate fear, as we talk about, will be there”: From audio of Kerr’s postgame press conference posted on the Warriors’ SoundCloud page (“Steve Kerr—postgame [4/11/15]”).
Assistant coach Ron Adams . . . had an idea: Jeff Faraudo, “Warriors’ strategy takes Tony Allen out of game,” San Jose Mercury News, May 12, 2015.
“a caricature of the coach-as-intellectual, a thinker whose academic pursuits inform his hoops”: Ethan Sherwood Strauss, “How Warriors built NBA’s top defense,” ESPN.com, February 4, 2015.
“You probably don’t see the opposing team’s center”: Ibid.
Joerger never mentioned any injury recurrence in his postgame comments: From Joerger’s postgame comments to the media, posted on the Warriors’ SoundCloud page (“Dave Joerger—postgame [5/11/15]”).
“You don’t mess around,” he told them: From Kerr’s postgame comments to the media on May 13, 2015.
“You just want to gather yourself”: From Curry’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, May 25, 2015.
As he carried his granddaughter, Dell gave Riley a kiss on the cheek and smiled: I witnessed this whole scene as I walked from the Oracle Arena media room to the postgame press conference area.
“When we go out there, we’re gonna be loose”: From locker room video posted on the NBA’s YouTube channel (“Finals All-Access: Rookie Head Coaches Kerr and Blatt Mic’d Up”) on June 4, 2015.
“I’ve never seen someone that can shoot the ball off the dribble like himself, ever”: From James’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, June 9, 2015.
“The pressure is like a 5.13”: From Kerr’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, June 9, 2015.
Nick U’Ren was in his hotel room in downtown Cleveland: Lee Jenkins, “Meet Nick U’Ren: The Warriors staffer with the idea to start Andre Iguodala,” Sports Illustrated, June 12, 2015.
the video tagging process was painstaking and meticulous: Stefan Swiat, “Life of an NBA Video Coordinator,” Suns.com, August 19, 2010.
Kerr half-jokingly dubbed U’Ren his “chief of staff”: Tim Kawakami, “Steve Kerr on his coaching staff: How he put it together, how the braintrust of the Warriors works,” Bay Area News Group, May 12, 2015.
“medium ball”: Marc Stein, “Boris Diaw’s unlikely arc of triumph,” ESPN.com, June 14, 2014.
“four point guards basically on the floor at once”: Jeff Zillgitt, “Boris Diaw: From waiver wire to Spurs’ NBA Finals star,” USA Today, June 13, 2014.
what U’Ren proposed in his late-night phone call to assistant coach Luke Walton: Jenkins, “Meet Nick U’Ren,” 2015. The idea had popped into U’Ren’s head for the first time after the Game 3 loss, but his lineup proposal was not taken seriously at that night’s team dinner (Marc J. Spears, “The mystery man behind the plan that helped the Warriors win Game 4 of the NBA Finals,” Yahoo! Sports, June 12, 2015). That’s when U’Ren dove into the video, convinced it would work for the Warriors as it had for the Spurs.
“If this doesn’t work, it’s your fault”: From Kerr’s practice day comments to the media on June 13, 2015.
Chris DeMarco leaned over and told him not to worry: Tim Kawakami, “Nick U’Ren on the ‘Death Lineup’ and what it does for the Warriors: ‘It works because there are no other players like those guys,’ ” Bay Area News Group, June 3, 2016.
“It’s just a street fight”: From Green’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, June 11, 2015.
“I don’t think they hand you the trophy based on morality”: From Kerr’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, June 11, 2015.
that shot his personal favorite of his career: Robby Kalland, “Steph Curry on His Basketball Heroes, the Warriors’ ‘Different’ Season, And Getting Rest,” Dime Magazine, March 22, 2017.
“I’m not even thinking about anything”: From Iguodala’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, June 16, 2015.
“It just feels good to say we’re the best team in the world”: From Thompson’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, June 16, 2015.
“A lot of people said I could never play in this league”: From Green’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, June 16, 2015.
the Warriors had lost the fewest minutes to injury of any team in the league: Tom Haberstroh, “Biggest winner of the Finals? Rest!,” ESPN.com, June 17, 2015.
the first champion to ever lead the NBA in pace: John Schuhmann, “These Warriors among NBA’s greatest title teams ever,” NBA.com, June 17, 2015.
“I almost forgot just how grueling the stretch is”: From Kerr’s postgame comments to the media, June 16, 2015.
getting to celebrate this moment with not just his wife but his three kids . . . meant the world to him: From my interview with Kerr, March 2017.
“I think we can actually appreciate what we were able to do this year from start to finish”: From Curry’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, June 16, 2015.
They started arriving at 3:00 a.m.: Associated Press, June 19, 2015.
put her hands over her face and immediately started crying: Via Draymond Green’s Instagram account, video posted July 1, 2015.
pumped him for info about playing like an NBA-level point guard: Wahl, “The Next Step for Steph,” 2008.
navigate the Santa Clara campus by dribbling a basketball in between classes: Tim Crothers, “Little Magic,” Sports Illustrated, December 11, 1995.
moved to Emeryville for the summer (on Curry’s dime): Leung, “This man helps Warriors’ Stephen Curry,” 2015.
“Stroboscopic sensory training”: Tom Haberstroh, “How do Kawhi Leonard—and Steph Curry—train their brains? Strobe lights (yes, really),” ESPN.com, November 9, 2016.
sessions in saltwater-infused sensory deprivation pods: Sam Alipour, “The NBA—and Its Future—Belongs to Stephen Curry,” ESPN the Magazine, December 11, 2015.
There was little the Warriors wouldn’t consider trying: As excited as the Warriors were then, the partnership fizzled out quickly. As team head trainer Chelsea Lane said in May 2017, “The Halo gizmos were a very quick flash in the pan that a couple of the guys wore once or twice” (Benny Evangelista, “SF Giants turn to brain-training headsets to help players improve,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 30, 2017).
Kerr’s health was deteriorating fast: Ramona Shelburne, “Steve Kerr has suffered more than you will ever know,” ESPN the Magazine, April 11, 2016.
enjoyed trash-talking Draymond Green: From comments Walton made to media at the practice facility on October 2, 2015.
occasional bout of anxiety: Kevin Ding, “NBA’s Youngest Coach, Luke Walton, Is on the Level with Millennial-Laden Lakers,” Bleacher Report, September 23, 2016.
lead the players’ wives and girlfriends in postgame tequila shots: Kelly E. Carter, “Haute Secrets: Nicole Curran’s Guide to the SF Bay Area,” Haute Living, December 18, 2015.
already made 140 three-pointers: Only Milwaukee’s Ray Allen, some 14 years earlier, had ever made 100 or more threes over a team’s first 30 games. Back then, Allen made 103 threes in 30 games. Curry sank that many in 2015–16 in just 20 games.
healthy and full of confidence: There was a perception by some that Curry’s propensity for shooting threes was damaging the very fabric of the sport. As the Warriors and Cavs played at Oracle on Christmas Day, Mark Jackson used his position as an analyst on the ABC telecast to endorse this thought. “To a degree, he’s hurt the game,” Jackson said on the air, citing only anecdotal evidence that high schoolers were (in his opinion, and due to Curry’s influence) enamored only with shooting threes rather than working on other aspects of their game. Golden State won the game, 89–83, to bump its record to 28-1.
the Death Lineup, coined in late November by the local media: I could find two early references to the Death Lineup before most others. One was a blog post written on November 20, 2015, by Michael Erler of Today’s Fastbreak, which included the following description: “‘Micro-ball’ or ‘small-ball’ doesn’t do the lineup enough justice. It’s more like ‘death-ball.’” Three days later, Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux devoted an entire episode (titled “The Death Lineup”) of their Dunc’d On podcast to the topic.
tried everything to alleviate his pain—including medicinal marijuana: From Kerr’s remarks to Monte Poole on the Warriors Insiders podcast, posted on December 2, 2016.
Kerr had joined them on the recent road trip: Shelburne, “Steve Kerr has suffered,” 2016.
“I am not a robot!”: Ethan Sherwood Strauss, “Golden State’s Draymond Green problem,” ESPN the Magazine, October 31, 2016.
“As soon as he let it go”: Payne interview, March 2017.
“I can’t even fathom KD and Curry existing as a joined force”: Ethan really did tweet this: twitter.com/SherwoodStrauss/status/703782023094075392.
“Every team I’ve ever been on has had stuff like this”: From Kerr’s media availability at the practice facility on February 29, 2016.
Kerr let it slide: From comments Kerr made to Tim Kawakami on his TK Show podcast, posted on June 24, 2016: “We were blowing through the schedule and winning games at a huge rate. It’s really hard to point out to players—we can’t have these mistakes—when you’re setting an NBA record for wins. I think all those mistakes kind of reared their ugly heads both against Oklahoma City and against Cleveland. If anything, it’s going to be easier next year during training camp to really pound home the points we need to make in terms of just being more solid and taking care of all the little things.”
the second team of the past 20 years: The other team? The 2014–15 Golden State Warriors (2,248).
43 games of 30 or more assists, the most in 31 years: Since the 1984–85 Los Angeles Lakers (52 games) were at the peak of their “Showtime” powers.
13 games of 35 or more assists, more than any team in 28 years: Both the Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs posted 13 such games in the 1987–88 season.
18 of those outbursts, more than anyone since 1990–91: The Portland Trail Blazers did so that year. The 1966–67 Philadelphia 76ers (thanks to Wilt Chamberlain) hold this record with 46 such games and likely always will.
led the league for the first time ever in defensive rebounding: While factually accurate, this is a misleading distinction. The league only started breaking out rebounds as “defensive” or “offensive” starting with the 1973–74 season. Before that, the Warriors once led the NBA in rebounding for four straight years, thanks to bigs such as Clyde Lee and Nate Thurmond. It’s a near certainty they would’ve led the league in defensive boards in one of those seasons.
The YouTube video featuring all of them has a runtime of nine and a half minutes: It’s truly remarkable: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQl2qdHl_vw.
highest-ever True Shooting Percentage of anyone averaging 25 or more points: Curry’s TS% finished at 66.9 percent. Second-highest was Charles Barkley, who hit 66.5 percent in 1987–88. (TS% factors in three-point and free-throw shooting.)
highest Effective Field Goal Percentage of any 30-point scorer in history: Curry’s eFG% topped out at 63 percent, easily besting Adrian Dantley’s 58 percent in 1982–83. (eFG% factors in that threes are worth a point more than two-point field goals, which explains why Curry’s mark was so much higher.)
finish a season shooting at least 50 percent from the field, 45 percent on threes, and 90 percent on free throws: As long as you stick to players who meet the minimum field-goal percentage requirement—which is 300 made shots in a season—Curry (50.4 FG%, 45.4 3P%, 90.8 FT%) and Nash (50.4, 47, 90.6) in 2007–08 are the only players who qualify. But if you switch that to players who qualify based on minutes per game—by playing in 70 percent of team games—one more name joins the club: Steve Kerr (50.6/51.5/92.9 in 1995–96), who was also Phoenix Suns general manager when Nash pulled it off. (Kerr, incidentally, would’ve officially preceded both Curry and Nash if he’d made just 56 more shots during his season.)
“light-years ahead of probably every other team”: Schoenfeld, “What Happened When Venture Capitalists,” 2016.
held in his hands a printout of the next day’s San Francisco Chronicle: From video footage uploaded to the Warriors’ YouTube channel (“Warriors Ground: Season Recap”) on September 12, 2016.
“DON’T MEAN A THING WITHOUT THE RING”: Fred Mitchell, “Bulls’ chapel popular place, but not Sunday,” Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1996.
“That might not seem like a big deal right now”: James Herbert, “Warriors’ Draymond Green assessed flagrant foul for late-game tackle,” CBS Sports, April 22, 2016.
“We got this. We will win this for you”: Marcus Thompson II, “Stephen Curry’s injury, emotions fuel Warriors to a Game 4 blowout of Houston . . . and now DubNation waits,” Bay Area News Group, April 24, 2016.
most three-pointers (21) made in a playoff game: The record stood for 10 days, which is when Cleveland knocked down 25 threes against the Atlanta Hawks. Ten of the 13 Cavaliers who played registered at least one three. It was the most threes any NBA team had ever made in a game, regular season or playoffs.
the first MVP in league history to earn such a distinction: When LeBron James (who fell a single vote shy of unanimity in 2013) was asked for his opinion on Curry’s MVP bona fides, he launched into an explanation about the differences between a player who is “most valuable” and who is the “best player of the year.” When the Finals came around, James apologized for his comments while also accusing the media of sensationalizing his response at the time.
Durant had the second-best Effective Field Goal Percentage: The only player better on pull-ups during the season? Stephen Curry (59.8 percent).
eight turnovers, with four coming on bad passes: Durant’s frustrations were tied to Kerr having Green act as a roving zone defender, allowing his assignment (Roberson) to shoot from wherever he wanted so that he could freelance defensively (usually swarming to double-team Westbrook or Durant as needed). The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel called it a “gimmick defense” (“Thunder must make Warriors pay for gimmick defense,” May 19, 2016) but it worked in Game 4 in Memphis a year earlier, and it sure worked this time.
Westbrook glared at the ESPN reporter as he and Durant walked off: I was in the media room and looking right at Westbrook as he stepped off the dais, stared down ESPN’s Michele Steele, and walked right by her as he left.
Curry gave him one last charge of encouragement: From Curry’s postgame comments to the media, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, May 28, 2016.
“That will be the best game of any of our lives”: Lee Jenkins, “ ‘The best game of any of our lives’: The night that saved the Warriors’ season,” Sports Illustrated, June 15, 2016.
a propensity for constantly reminding staffers and media of his bona fides and extensive experience: I remember hearing this firsthand during his media availabilities and press conferences during the 2015 Finals.
“shut the fuck up, I got this”: Ken Berger, “In taking control of LeBron, Tyronn Lue has created a monster in Cleveland,” CBS Sports, May 18, 2016.
Internally, the Warriors were furious: I spoke with several team sources at the time who were quite displeased.
in a luxury suite with Bob Myers: This was reported by multiple outlets at the time. Oakland native (and future Raiders running back) Marshawn Lynch was also with them.
“I thought [the Cavaliers] were dead in the water”: From an interview Adams gave to KNBR’s Ray Woodson and Ray Ratto on July 7, 2016.
“Go Cavaliers! We need a miracle tonight”: I was on this train and heard it myself. (I can only imagine how much that conductor enjoyed Game 6.)
all the video screens inside the arena turned red: This happened around 2:00 a.m. as I was making my way out of Quicken Loans Arena.
a production crew had taken up residence at midcourt and was practicing for the postgame trophy presentation and MVP announcement: I watched this whole scene as it happened.
his usual hour of game-day morning yoga with assistant coach Luke Walton: From Kerr’s pregame comments to the media, June 19, 2016.
The coach wanted Irving to drive for a layup: Ben Cohen, “The Biggest Shot in NBA History,” Wall Street Journal, December 25, 2016.
In terms of championship probability added: Ibid.
“Not a whole lot you can say other than how proud you are”: Kerr interview, March 2017.
“It sucked to watch them celebrate”: From Curry’s postgame comments to the media, June 19, 2016.
“I blame myself for everything”: From Green’s postgame comments to the media, June 19, 2016.
what Steve Kerr had once said: Feinstein, A Season Inside, p. 460.
Kerr thought about what he could’ve done differently: Kerr on TK Show podcast, June 24, 2016.
haunted by what he saw: Ibid.
smoothing came off the table: Associated Press, March 11, 2015.
“Failure is really important”: Lacob, “Inside Sports Management,” 2016.
crushed him . . . for an hour: From Lacob’s appearance on Tim Kawakami’s TK Show podcast, posted on July 7, 2016.
discussed internally for the better part of two years: Confirmed to me by team sources who would know.
Durant-to-Golden-State narrative bubbled up with fervor: Adrian Wojnarowski, “Sources: Warriors serious threat to sign Kevin Durant,” Yahoo! Sports, February 2, 2016.
“It’s hard not to enter your mind”: From Durant’s pregame media availability (for which I was present) in the locker room on February 6, 2016.
“a historic fluke”: NBA Insiders, “5-on-5: How many titles coming for Warriors? What’s next for OKC?,” ESPN.com, July 4, 2016.
knew he was gone from the way his exit interview went: Tim MacMahon, “Mavs’ Harrison Barnes: ‘Can’t say I was surprised’ by Warriors exit,’ ” ESPN.com, November 9, 2016.
an ESPN projection concluded that the Warriors (with Durant) would win 76 games: Kevin Pelton, “Six teams that can make best pitch to Kevin Durant to win the title,” ESPN.com, June 28, 2016.
partnered with NextVR—a Southern California virtual reality company that boasts Peter Guber as a board member: Diamond Leung, “How NextVR Created Virtual Reality Experience To Help Golden State Warriors Sign Kevin Durant,” SportTechie.com, December 8, 2016.
Drake lyrics in the background: Sam Amick, “Kevin Durant: Chemistry, culture were huge factors in choosing Warriors,” USA Today, July 7, 2016.
and Durant’s father, Wayne Pratt: Marc J. Spears, “KD’s Dad: It Was Time to ‘Be Selfish,’ ” ESPN’s The Undefeated, July 8, 2016.
Bob Myers thought the Warriors blew their chance: Scott Howard-Cooper, “Durant signing still sinking in for Golden State’s Myers,” NBA.com, July 13, 2016. Much of the scene that follows, with Myers in Lake Tahoe, comes from this Q&A.
Malfunctioned from the start: From Steve Kerr’s appearance on Zach Lowe’s “Lowe Post” podcast, posted on September 28, 2016.
“Why the hell would you guys want Kevin?”: Amick, “Kevin Durant: Chemistry, culture,” 2016.
As Joe Lacob sat next to Durant’s father: Lacob especially liked Green’s pitch above the others. From an interview with venture capitalist Ted Schlein for the KPCB CEO Workshop series (“Taking the Golden State Warriors to Greatness: Free Agency Model and Talent Wars in the Valley,” uploaded to Kleiner Perkins’s YouTube channel on October 4, 2016): “He gave the heavy pitch, which no one else there would have done, except for me because I’m basically the Draymond Green of the business side.” To which Schlein replied: “Who’d you hit in the bar at 2:30 in the morning?”
“Just know you not in it by yourself”: From Green’s appearance on Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast, posted on November 21, 2016.
everyone had a good laugh: From Lacob’s talk at Kleiner Perkins (“Taking the Golden State Warriors to Greatness: Free Agency Model and Talent Wars in the Valley”).
“They didn’t show any of their cards”: From my interview with Myers on July 7, 2016.
Oklahoma City had met with Durant for five hours on June 30: Royce Young, “The changes that led to Kevin Durant’s OKC departure,” ESPN.com, July 5, 2016.
Myers made sure the Warriors were following up: Lee Jenkins, “The unlikely assist that helped deliver Kevin Durant to the Warriors,” Sports Illustrated, July 8, 2016.
“one of the best text messages I’ve ever seen”: From Myers’s media availability on July 7, 2016.
got calls from Steve Nash: Jenkins, “The unlikely assist,” 2016.
West . . . was convinced his presence would solve one of the Warriors’ most glaring issues: From West’s appearance on Tim Kawakami’s TK Show podcast, posted on September 16, 2016.
Curry averaged just 4.6 free throws per game during the season, the second-fewest in NBA history for a 30-points-per-game scorer: The player who averaged the most free throws in a season of any 30-point scorer? That would be Jerry West, who made 10.6 per game in 1965–66.
“Kevin, just follow your heart”: From West’s appearance on Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast, posted on October 19, 2016.
“You’re recruiting somebody, whether it be in a Silicon Valley tech company or whether it be in basketball”: From Lacob’s appearance on Tim Kawakami’s TK Show podcast, posted on July 7, 2016.
Lacob also enlisted a small, select group of former Warriors to call Durant: From Lacob’s media availability on July 7, 2016.
first clue Myers received that the Warriors might get lucky: Slater, “Kevin Durant, Joe Lacob shed more light,” 2016.
Myers was wandering around outside his in-laws’ house . . . when his cell phone rang: Howard-Cooper, “Durant signing still sinking in,” 2016.
Lacob, who was sitting out on his lakeside patio in Montana when his general manager called: From Lacob’s media availability on July 7, 2016.
“I just couldn’t fathom a player of his caliber choosing us”: From Myers’s media availability on July 7, 2016.
“Let’s get it”: Alex Kennedy, “Draymond Green opens up on Durant: How he recruited KD and more,” Sports Illustrated, July 4, 2016.
Klay Thompson was sleeping: Shams Charania, “What Kevin Durant’s arrival means for Klay Thompson,” Yahoo! Sports, August 1, 2016.
MY NEXT CHAPTER: Kevin Durant, Players’ Tribune, July 4, 2016.
Margot Kerr kicked her husband awake when she saw the news: Jenkins, “The unlikely assist,” 2016.
“This one’s kind of important”: From Myers’s appearance on Tim Kawakami’s TK Show podcast, posted on October 8, 2016.
Myers asked Durant if he was messing with him: From my interview with Myers on July 7, 2016.
Ron Adams . . . sat in the front row and beamed: I was there and saw this firsthand. (Yes, he actually smiled!)
Adams pulled Durant aside and told him how proud he was: From an interview Adams gave to KNBR’s Ray Woodson and Ray Ratto on July 7, 2016.
“That’s not really true. He was a part of the process”: From Lacob’s media availability on July 7, 2016.
Reggie Miller: Reggie Miller, “Kevin Durant Traded a Sacred Legacy for Cheap Jewelry,” Bleacher Report, July 5, 2016.
Charles Barkley: From Barkley’s interview with ESPN Radio, July 6, 2016.
Paul Pierce: From Pierce’s interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio, October 12, 2016.
far from kind to Durant: Young, “The changes that led,” 2016.
Adam Silver addressed the kerfuffle: From Silver’s remarks at the Las Vegas Summer League on July 12, 2016, as transcribed by ASAP Sports.
“Let them talk”: Ethan Sherwood Strauss, “Warriors owner Lacob dismisses Silver’s competition concern,” ESPN.com, July 13, 2016.
five of the seven richest contracts in NBA history: By the close of business, Mike Conley ($153 million), Damian Lillard ($139.9 million), DeMar DeRozan ($139 million), Bradley Beal ($127.2 million), and Andre Drummond ($127.2 million) all signed max deals with their respective clubs. The other two in the top seven are Anthony Davis ($127.2 million in 2015) and Kobe Bryant ($136.4 million in 2004).
“Durant’s move to California feels like some sort of reckoning”: Sam Dolnick, “Kevin Durant Reboots, Goes Digital,” New York Times, July 8, 2016.
“With Golden State now established as the Ultimate Evil of the sport”: Bethlehem Shoals, “Kevin Durant turned LeBron James into a populist hero,” SB Nation, July 6, 2016.
“He is as pure a scorer as we’ve seen”: Tommy Craggs, “Non-LeBron,” Slate, September 1, 2010.
“Nobody complain when somebody leave Apple and go to Google”: From Green’s remarks to the media on October 13, 2016.
“I’ve been second my whole life”: Lee Jenkins, “How ’Bout Them Apples?” Sports Illustrated, April 29, 2013.
“We all want to see each other do well, but I’m not sacrificing shit”: Charania, “What Kevin Durant’s arrival,” 2016.
“the greatest consolation prize in the history of the NBA”: From an interview Welts gave to KNBR on July 19, 2016.
At 5:24 p.m.: I was present for this and recorded the time.
“The truth is, we’re not really a basketball team”: Connor Letourneau, “Warriors’ ENCORE Award shows franchise’s success transcends sports,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 11, 2016.
named Best Analytics Organization at the Sloan conference: Bob Myers had the best line of the conference that weekend when, during his “Future of the Front Office” panel, he quoted Davidson head coach Bob McKillop: “Analytics are like a bikini: They show a lot but they don’t show you everything.”
“The team seemed to be mentioned in every panel and presentation”: Matt Dollinger, “Sloan 2016: 50 NBA notes, quotes and anecdotes from analytics conference,” Sports Illustrated, March 14, 2016.
Curry’s jersey was the top seller in 48 states: “Stephen Curry Tops NBA Player Sales in 48 of 50 U.S. States Entering NBA Finals,” WeAreFanatics.com, June 2, 2016.
$1.6 billion: Daniel Kaplan, “Warriors valued at $1.6B,” SportsBusiness Journal, May 9, 2016. In February 2017, Forbes valued the Warriors at $2.6 billion, third overall behind the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.
Sports Team of the Year: Warriors.com, “Warriors Named Sports Team of the Year and Joe Lacob Receives Sports Executive of the Year Honors,” May 18, 2016.
“We live in a constant state of ‘beta’ ”: Per Guber’s remarks at Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Sports Innovation Conference on March 2, 2016.
“I think we’re going in the right direction”: From Myers’s appearance on Tim Kawakami’s TK Show podcast, posted on October 8, 2016.
It’s 11:00 a.m. on a drizzly morning in Oakland: I was present at the practice facility and Oracle Arena for all of the scene that follows.
Noahlytics uses a sensor positioned 13 feet above the rim: Per a press release (in which Kirk Lacob is quoted) posted on NoahBasketball.com on June 9, 2016.
map the angle of any shot and the exact plane of where the ball crosses down: Ira Boudway, “This Machine Knows Shooting Better Than Steph Curry,” BloombergBusinessweek, June 8, 2016.
first NBA team to install the SmartCourt system: Diamond Leung, “PlaySight’s SmartCourt Expansion Into Basketball Starts With Golden State Warriors,” SportTechie.com, December 9, 2016.
“Seventy-three don’t mean shit”: From Lacob’s interview with 95.7 The Game’s Greg Papa and Bonta Hill on February 7, 2017. The milestone still means a lot to Lacob, who wears a hat that says “73” when he plays golf.
as Dave East’s remix of Fat Joe and Remy Ma’s “All the Way Up” blared: I was there and heard this myself.
champagne is making my eyes tear up: Everything that is described as happening during and after Game 5 are scenes I witnessed and experienced myself.
Kerr would find himself cornered by well-wishers: This was something I witnessed when the Warriors were on the road in Minnesota on March 10, 2017.
“I don’t think happy is the right word for Steve”: This interview occurred in late March; Kerr announced on April 23 that he would step aside.
“Man, you don’t even know what poor is”: I was standing a few feet away from Durant and the sportswriter in question when this interaction occurred.