A lot of basketball fans have now regarded the Golden State Warriors as the so-called villains of the NBA.
From Draymond Green‘s apparent low blow to LeBron James in Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals to Zaza Pachulia‘s “inadvertent” takedown of Kawhi Leonard‘s ankle in Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals and everything else in between, every misstep that Golden State took has further emphasized the team's new role as “the bad guy”.
But above all else, one calculated move by the Warriors remains as the main proponent of all the heat that they're getting: the signing of Kevin Durant.
When Durant published a letter on The Players' Tribune stating his intention to join the Warriors on Independence Day of 2016, fans and pundits alike were quick to pounce on the decision. Cries of “totally unfair” and “the Warriors are now overpowered” echoed through the basketball world outside of the Bay Area. And thus, the Warriors' label as the ultimate heels of the NBA was made official.
But what exactly does one require to be deemed a villain? The Oxford Dictionary primarily defines the term ‘villain' as “a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.” The key word from this definition is ‘evil', and it's really hard to point out what's exactly evil about what the Warriors have done to warrant such derision from the masses.
The Durant signing was a mutual agreement between Golden State and Durant himself; the Warriors made enough cap room to land a knockout free agent in the 2016 offseason, and it just so happened that they did have enough cap space to sign Durant, whose main goal was to secure his best chance at winning an NBA title.
The way that Durant announced his decision was even done with very little fanfare, opting to release a well-thought-out letter instead of having a monumental press release. Compare that to one of his biggest critics in none other than James himself, who put on quite a show with “The Decision” to join the Miami Heat back in 2010, and it's clear that Durant didn't really want to one-up LeBron with a grandiose spectacle of his own.
A few days after the 2017 Finals' conclusion, The Ringer's Bill Simmons recalled an anecdote involving James and Durant in one of his podcasts. There, Simmons saw the difference in personalities between the two superstars from a youth camp some years back. James had a more untouchable aura around him, as kids were more hesitant to approach LeBron for autographs. Meanwhile, Durant was more gung-ho in reaching out to the same kids, taking his time to accommodate them as much as he could. This is by no means a shot at LeBron's character, but rather as an insight to what Durant's demeanor towards the public is and has always been.
As for the rest of the Warriors, there's little else about them outside of Durant, Green, and Pachulia that really screams of apparent villainy. Stephen Curry is perceived as antagonist 1B to Durant's 1A simply because Curry counts as one of Golden State's two MVPs on the roster. Other than that, the two-time MVP is about as mild-mannered as they come, and that also applies to his fellow Splash Brother, Klay Thompson.
Most of the NBA's talking heads have also considered the Warriors' superteam as a boon rather than a bane to the league. ABC's analyst and color commentator during the Finals, Jeff Van Gundy, was quoted in Benjamin Hoffman's article for the New York Times about his thoughts on the Dubs:
“I don’t think they’re villains… I think they’re nice guys. I think they think people are criticizing them, but all I see is 99 percent overwhelming praise.”
It's fascinating how the media can put a spin on a certain issue for better and for worse, with Golden State certainly on the latter end of that spectrum leading to the endless debates on how the team is going to succeed or fail in the foreseeable future. People love to cheer for underdogs and the Warriors have been far from that distinction for about three years now. In turn, they've naturally become the team to beat in the league that everybody loves to hate, much like the New England Patriots‘ Brady–Belichick dynasty over in the NFL.
People like Van Gundy, meanwhile, look beyond all the backlash and see nothing but positive vibes coming from the Warriors. There's sheer talent brimming in the Dubs' roster made all the more impressive with their players' chemistry on the floor, and that has pretty much translated to the most explosive jump-shooting force that the league has ever seen. However, that chemistry wouldn't have bonded well if there was an unstable element in Golden State's core. Considering how well the Warriors move the ball before hitting their shots, it's pretty obvious that their style of play also personifies how each player on the team has forsaken selfish play and stats for higher chances of winning championships.
If anything, the Warriors have definitely revolutionized how basketball is played not just with a barrage of three-pointers, but with precise ball movement to get everybody on the floor involved and not just one or two of a certain team's go-to stars. This dead horse of a sentiment towards them has been beaten one too many times already, but at least they never had to resort to deflating game balls or spying on their opponents' strategies to get to where they are now.
There's a good number of people out there who despise the Warriors because of certain players, their style of play, their impact on the league's approach to roster building, or any combination of those three trains of thought. But the Warriors did themselves right by shrugging off all the negative criticism and emerge triumphant from their main goal of winning the NBA title. They've played their cards fair and with a nice amount of flair, and there's no sound reason to believe that they had heinous means in fulfilling said goal at that.
Golden State is no villain. Rather, a better definition of the team would be ‘anti-hero‘: “A central character in a story, film, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.” The Dubs are dominating the NBA with unconventional means, but they need not bend the rules or rub others the wrong way to achieve glory.
Like another well-known anti-hero in Marvel's Deadpool, the Warriors are portrayed as bad guys looking to turn things around by doing something good. But unlike Wade Wilson, the Dubs have no past transgressions to make amends for, and that they simply aim to break more NBA records instead of the fourth wall.
Follow Us
Subscribe