If there is any head honcho qualified to talk about starting a dynasty, it would be Steve Kerr. He did it with the Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors have won four titles under him. The latter squad could have easily gone for six if not because of LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard. Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics are going to hope to replicate or maybe even surpass their accomplishments. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have already got one Larry O'Brien trophy. But, a second might not come so easily.
The Celtics, with the exception of their late 2000s run, have always won through dynastic efforts. This was the same franchise that Larry Bird and Bill Russell took to multiple titles in a span of a decade. However, this might not be the case for Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Joe Mazzulla. Warriors head honcho Steve Kerr outlined why this upcoming season will be the hardest year for them in terms of starting a dynasty, via Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.
“When you first win it I think you have a deeper level of confidence. To me, that first time that you try to repeat is actually a little easier. You do it a couple of times and you’re actually exhausted,” Kerr added.
Will the Celtics experience the same dynasty woes as the Warriors?
Notably, the Warriors only won back-to-back titles once. It happened during the first two seasons of Kevin Durant's tenure with them back in 2017 to 2018. Their first attempt at a repeat got derailed because LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving absolutely went feral in the last four games of their NBA Finals series in 2016. Their three-peat hopes were also busted by Kawhi Leonard's Toronto Raptors. The Warriors then got their fourth title in a decade after a valiant effort to come back against the Celtics during the 2022 postseason.
Kerr noted why winning in straight seasons was the hardest for the Warriors dynasty and why the Celtics will be experiencing the same fatigue.
“You try to do it a third time, a fourth time, and you go to the Finals three, four, five times in a row, it’s utterly exhausting. But if you win one, you’ve got a deeper level of confidence than you had before. I think that really matters to teams,” he added.
The Celtics can obviously blaze their own path. After all, they have already done so back in the 1960s and 1980s. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen could have also gone for a second title had Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers not stood in the way.
Follow Us
Subscribe