what happened when venture capitalists took over the golden state warriors - how much is a smart board

One morning earlier this year, it was still very dark, and Joe lacobu, a major shareholder of the Golden State Warriors, drove his Mercedes wagon across the Stanford campus.
He parked his car near the business school and walked down the sidewalk in the drizzle to meet a group of Silicon Valley executives. The ex-C. E. O.
OpenTable, who is now a partner of Anderson Horowitz, is coming soon.
The same is true of the founder of online websiteslearning start-
Curious and managing director of pioneer venture capital.
Another morning, they may have met at a charity event or a TED talk.
But it's a Tuesday. it means basketball.
Lacob, who has worked in venture capital for 30 years, has open, expressive faces and broad shoulders.
He is 6 feet tall but seems to be taller.
He watched the Warriors home game in Auckland the night before, and now he looks tired.
"We had the hardest Tuesday morning after the game on Monday night," he said . ".
Basketball courts are usually used by students and faculty and staff and look neat and United: sparkling hardwood floors surrounded by organic glass walls.
In his warrior T-
In his shirt and shorts, Lacco put his hand over the glass and stretched his legs.
"To be honest, this is my favorite time of the week," he told me . ".
One by one, the other players came.
From the early days of his career at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, most people have known Lacob for many years, which is when he helped start the pickup game.
There is no reason for anyone to respect him.
But it is prestigious to have a basketball team, especially when the team is already among the best teams in New York. B. A. history.
No one mentioned his own thing, but everyone was eager to talk about Lacob.
"Joe, it's nice to see Barnes come back," someone said, referring to the Warriors player Harrison Barnes who missed the game due to injury.
The group ran for an hour on the court and played for 13 in two or three hours.
Lacob, 60, is one of the older players there, thinking clearly about his strengths and limitations.
He's going to a special place.
Usually one on the right, about the third around three. point arc —and wait.
When he saw a chance, he called the ball or cut in the arc of the ball.
He usually shoots if he receives the pass.
His shot was strange, floating like a fool ball, only spinning a few times before it reached the basket, but it often entered the basket.
He sank three in the first game.
The pointer, then triumph with his arms raised.
A few minutes later, his team won again.
Lacob stands at the top of the key with the ball.
"The game is coming --
He said nothing specifically to anyone.
After playing, Lacob wiped the sweat off his hand with a towel.
Then he took out his champion ring and passed the exam.
"They have been asking to see it for two months," he explained . ".
The design of this ring is luxurious and revealing.
Each of the 200 diamonds is inlaid with one
The Warriors won several odd games from 2010, when Lacob and his investors passed last year's N. B. A. finals.
"How much is this thing?
Tom McConnell, managing director of pioneer venture capital, asked, raising his hand up and down as if he was trying to estimate its value. Silicon Valley-
The place itself is also a smart, tech-savvy person surrounding its society --
Basketball fans are everywhere.
Many of them made a lot of money in their 30 s and 40 s.
Now in their 50 s, they are looking for something satisfactory.
In 2002, Wyc Grousbeck, the principal of Highland Capital Partners who spent two years at Stanford Business School, and a group of investors including Lacob bought the Boston Celtics.
In recent years, venture capitalists, private-
Stock investors and hedge funds
Funders have been buying N. B. A. teams.
The Detroit Pistons, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks are among the new investors.
The Kings and Memphis Grizzlies are engineers in Silicon Valley.
If you include the warriors of lacobu, it's more than a quarter of the league.
Lacob is not the first venture capitalist to buy a franchise, but he is the first to operate a franchise according to the precepts of Silicon Valley: flexible management, open communication, the wisdom of integrating external consultants, constantly re-
Evaluate what the company does and how it does it.
This usually does not happen in professional sports.
Most of the franchise owners of previous generations have become rich, and they have mastered the businesses that do one particular thing, just because in the US people used to be rich in this way.
For good or bad, they manage their team in the same authoritarian, arrogant way they run these companies.
As a manager, Lacob prefers to surround itself with expertise and use it.
This season, as the sixth in the main force, the Warriors are stepping up to break the league record of 72 wins in a season (
This is only 82 games long).
He and his partner bought a team that already has Stephen Curry, the best player in Golden State and one of the most dominant seasons in league history.
He can hit his tongue.
No matter who owns it, flick jumps 30 feet away from the basket.
But Lacob will not accept that the achievements of the Warriors are only a product of an overall plan.
"It's no accident that those great venture capitalists who have built one company after another," he said . ".
"It's not an accident either.
"After the catch match, Lacob put on his jersey and had breakfast at the cafeteria on the ground floor.
He often goes there, and a smoothie on the menu, including orange juice, vanilla yogurt, bananas and strawberries, is named after him.
He pointed this out and then ordered one.
When I asked him about the game the night before, he could barely control himself.
He boasted that the way the Warriors played was much more complicated than the rest of the league.
"We beat them on the basketball court and we will continue for years because of the way we built this team," he said . ".
But what really sets the franchise apart, he says, is the way it operates as a business. “We’re light-
"In terms of structure, planning, how we will handle things, it may be several years ahead of other teams," he said . ".
"We will be a minority for the remaining N people. B. A.
It takes a long time to process.
When Lacob and his investors bought the Warriors in 2010, the $0. 45 billion they paid was considered very excessive by almost everyone.
One of the world's top 10 richest people, Larry Ellison, is the loser.
This is more money than anyone spends on N. B. A.
The franchise at that time.
It's not the Lakers, it's not the Celtics, it's not even the Knicks.
This is the Warriors, a team that played in Auckland. The last time I won the championship was in 1975.
On 2010, Lacob promised to sign it again within five years.
In last June, the Warriors won the finals by beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games.
In the past few months, they have gained the status of a cultural phenomenon.
Since Magic Johnson and Jabbar Abdul's "Show Time", the Lakers have more teams than any.
Jabbar, they are famous not only for winning, but also for how they win.
You don't need to know the nuances of the sport to appreciate Curry's incredible accuracy, and you don't need to know that he often shoots farther from anyone.
All you need is Internet access and a willingness to suspend doubt.
Curry has surpassed the "Sports Center" to become a mainstream pop culture. even his 3-year-
Old Riley developed a follower.
Curry is live on "Jimmy Kimmel!
In an interview, the audience's reaction to her caused the biggest cheers of the night.
What happened to the Warriors as a business was not something Kimmel might have mentioned, but it was equally impressive.
The $0. 45 billion that Lacob's team paid to former boss Chris Cohan seemed too expensive because of the bad state of the Warriors.
It's not just a bad team, it's a team that seems to be in an unrelated state forever.
The "small engine that can't" is how investor Nick swinmoon (Nick Swinmurn) describes it, who is the founder of Zappos and a lifelong fan of the Warriors.
In Cohan 16-
A year of ownership, the Warriors have reached N. B. A.
Only once in the playoffs
16 of the league's 30 teams have improved every season.
Lacob pointed out, "so on the basis of odds, you should have half the time to do it.
A big problem.
This incompetence has eroded interest.
Only 7,000 seasons. ticket holders.
The team's arena for a huge parking lot next to the highway is out of date.
Narrow corridor, simple dining facilities.
It does not have a room to rent to a company meeting.
While the league's latest facilities were built with a palatial family club the size of a health club, the life of the Warriors was simple and crowded.
It is said that in a road trip, a look will prevent players from all over the league from considering the team when they become free players.
Other potential buyers believe the decline of institutions is a disadvantage.
Lacco and his partner, Hollywood entrepreneur Cooper, see this as an opportunity.
"That's what Joe did," said Chip Perry, founder of Autotrader.
As a member of the board, Lacob has helped Kleiner Perkins to invest in the company for 14 years.
"Even if others are dismissive, he sees the potential of what we do with the automatic exchange.
He is one of those rare people who can see interesting things around the corner.
"In the Warriors, lacab saw a beginning --
Disguised as a poorly performing enterprise, a sports franchise run by an authoritarian government --
Therefore, inappropriate
With the development of this industry.
The $0. 45 billion investment is now worth about $2 billion.
At 2019, the Warriors will move towards a new self.
The financing arena complex on the San Francisco waterfront includes office buildings and commercial space.
The move is estimated to add $1 billion to the club's value.
Although there is only one curry, the way Lacob and Guber run this franchise is replicable --
At least in theory.
This has not been overlooked in this generation of emerging investment tycoons.
"I know what Joe did," said Mark Rusley of the Moroccan Avenue Capital Group.
Born billionaire and private partner
Stock investor Wesley Edens bought the Milwaukee Bucks in 2014.
"We are doing the same thing.
Rusley insisted that he loved basketball, but the way he described his intentions didn't sound like "Hoosiers", but "big short": "We looked at it and said: the Bucks have great potential.
We believe that we can make a huge difference in the way we do business.
Venture capitalists invest heavily in companies they don't necessarily control.
Lacob brought the same idea.
If it weren't for the actual structure, his basketball team would be fired.
He told me: "I started 70 companies in the field of venture capital . "
"I also looked at the deal from my partner, probably 200.
This is what many companies do.
I thought about the way we designed the board, the way we designed the financing.
It has an architecture.
I started thinking about the architecture I would use when I had a day to own and build my own team.
Lacob has given Guber, with a smaller share, almost equal status because Guber has brought about 40 years of connection in the fields of film, music, sports and media.
Together they hired a general manager who had never worked for the team before, not to mention managing one, and two coaches who had never coached at any level.
At that time, these actions were considered a rookie mistake in the league.
But Lacob is not a rookie, nor a rookie of a construction company.
They proved not wrong.
Under the stands of Oracle Arena, the corridor connecting the Warriors club and the stadium is a modest-
Cohan is a big room for family and friends when the owner is in.
After gaining control, Lacob renamed it Bridge Club and opened it to minority shareholders of the team and their guests.
Before each game, they gather there to fill the plates with carved roast beef and delicate snacks.
There is an open bar for those who like wine to enter the bar without the hindrance of automatic climate
Control dispenser.
One night this season, lacobu was late after a traffic conflict with Menlo Park.
He politely asked for a turkey burger and then found a seat in a restaurant. top table.
Between the two, he welcomed a steady stream of friends and colleagues, most of whom are well-known in Silicon Valley.
John Walecka of Redpoint Ventures-
Current investments include Moogsoft, Quantifind, Datameer and Qihoo 360 Technology. walked past.
The same is true of Mark Stevens, who is a partner in Sequoia capital when the company helped finance Google, PayPal and LinkedIn.
Bridge Club has become one of the best places to start a business
Capital Network in the Gulf region.
This is an additional benefit for the owners of ethnic minorities, but it is an end for Lacob.
Before and after each game, any investor who wants to listen to him can reach him.
"Knowing that you have an atmosphere of sound --
"I know you are part of it," he explained . ".
"One thing I don't like when I have a part of Celtic --
Did I really hear that? I don’t know.
I want to make sure everyone is heard when I do. ”The N. B. A.
Each franchise is required to give an owner almost authoritarian power, regardless of the size of the shares.
Lacob gently waved his hand, just as he usually sat behind a meeting of the company's board of directors, not saying too much, absorbing information, and then guiding the discussion to make a decision.
"I am a professional listener," he told me . ".
"You know, there are a lot of smart people in the world.
I'm not the smartest.
I'm just an integrator. The N. B. A.
Not like the outside world.
I do whatever I want.
But you don't treat people like that.
"Today, even teams in small markets are spending hundreds of millions of dollars.
Unless you're former Microsoft president Steve Ballmer, who spent $2 billion on the Los Angeles Clippers without the help of outside investors, otherwise, most potential bosses don't have the funds to buy them themselves.
But money with no strings attached.
Investors who are hardly involved except writing cheques --
Lacob and Guber are purposefully looking for entrepreneurs and businessmen with complementary attributes and access.
"There is a strategic reason for everyone working with him," said Dennis manain. E. O.
He has held executive positions in the teams of the four major sports leagues in the United States.
"Your talent is amazing.
Thus, after Dennis Huang, general manager of SPI Holdings, advised Lacob on the purchase of real estate in the new arena, Walecka helped finance.
When I spoke to Swinmurn, he left very quickly.
Strong comments on the design of Warriors branded clothing, the type of food sold at the franchise booth and other different themes.
Occasionally, a small number of partners can even influence what happens in court.
John Burbank of Passport Capital, who uses deep mathematical knowledge in his own investments, provides detailed memos that apply complex metrics to potential acquisitions.
Bob Myers, the Warriors general manager, told me: "I don't know if any of these players have made us 80, but it does make us move in one direction, in one way or another
He has done enough things and now it's just the process of things.
This is part of the process. ”Small-
Percentage shareholders have been there in sports, but they are usually local doctors or car dealers who have invested hundreds of dollars.
They can go to spring training or the playoffs, shake hands at Christmas parties, get a good profit when selling stocks, and not much else.
"There is nothing more limited than being a limited partner in George Steinbrenner," the most common wimp spoken by former Yankee investor John McMullen.
But sports is no longer a small industry.
Now, playing games and charging people is only a small part of the business.
Today, the franchise operates gourmet restaurants and concert venues, as well as the entire street of retail stores.
They serve fans in distant cities through audio and video streaming and proprietary content.
As Stevens said, owners who want to decide "underwear color" everything in person will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
"It's very difficult when someone has a huge success in another business --the fish-
Express business, box-
"Cut business," Guber said.
"Then you get into this situation because 'I want to buy a sports team and I know how to run a business.
This is not the norm for great success in the world today.
"Lacob's experience in venture capital has established a diversified business portfolio and is ready for the particularity of his franchise, this may explain why spending some time at the front desk of the Warriors is like hanging out at the software company.
Shortly after the acquisition of the team, Lacob supervised the demolition of the walls inside the headquarters, which is located at the top of the parking lot in downtown Auckland.
All departments now share the same open-plan room;
I was always looking forward to seeing a bucket or some hovercraft when I visited.
"You walk there now, it's young and excited," said Gib Arnold, former head coach of the University of Hawaii, who spent a few days last year observing the franchise.
"This is Google in New York. B. A.
Unlike other businesses, companies in the sports industry have two bottom lines.
Of course, their boss wants to win, but they also want to make money, and the connection between the two is more loose than you think.
You can make a lot of money through a bad teamF. L.
They have done so since Daniel Snyder bought the Washington Redskins in 1999.
He is a terrible boss, he only won 43% of the game, burned 7 coaches, never entered the Super Bowl, stubbornly refused to change the name of the team's polarization.
However, if you judge him by the standards of any other industry, he will be a model.
The red man is the third. highest-
In N. F. L. ;
Snyder's $0. 8 billion investment has more than doubled.
If the team had a public shareholder, they would have given him a party.
The success of competition is more elusive.
Teams that win a series of titles, or even close to them, need good talent.
Especially in basketball, an extraordinary player.
Bill Russell, Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan
At any time, there are only 10 people in court.
Get Careme Abdul-
With Johnson or Jabbar of Jordan and Scotty Pippen, you can create an exaggerated dynasty in sports.
How much this has to do with the owners of the team is questionable.
The Chicago Bulls gathered six cows. B. A.
Jordan's champion
But Jerry Reinsdorf bought the franchise in 1985 and has not won since the last franchise in 1998. (
He has also owned the Chicago White Sox since 1981.
The White Sox won the World Series in 2005, but did not perform well in other areas. )
No matter what magic Reinsdorf created the Bull dynasty in the 1990 s, he could use it, but the team has collapsed.
500 had only seven of Jordan's 17 seasons after he left.
The determinants there seem to be easy to identify.
This is not to say that the owners have no impact.
How they choose to spend money-
And how much it costs.
They decide on the objectives of the franchise and how to achieve them.
However, they try to directly influence the movement, and the result is usually very bad.
"These people have achieved great success in all their efforts," said Jerry West, UN Secretary-General. B. A.
He has served as the general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers for 20 years.
"But participating in sports teams is very different from anything they do in their lives.
"In Los Angeles, West works for Jerry Bass, the most successful boss in modern sports history.
Buss hosted a franchise to the United Nations. B. A.
He entered the final 16 times in 33 seasons.
He has also invented or perfected club seats, luxury boxes, and dazzling acting skills that now seem to be an integral part of sporting events.
"Jerry Buss is an innovator who thinks basketball should have the prestige of Broadway performance," West told me . ". “The fun! The excitement!
But what makes this possible?
The way we win is to win.
Magic Johnson plays this game and everyone can see his joy.
He played with Kareem Abdul-maybe the greatest player ever. Jabbar.
He has James Worthy.
We have seven players. you can wear them. Star team.
Jerry Buss has nothing to do with it.
As West has described, Bath often needs to be persuaded not to take action by people who will destroy his team.
"You don't know something he wants to do," West said . ".
He described a potential deal that Bass agreed to do: Worth it, future Hall of Fame members, to go to Dallas for Mark aguiré and Roy Tapley, each of whom is known for being easily distracted
West thought the idea was very objectionable, so he vowed that he would resign if Bath did not break his word.
He said: "I went home and said to my wife, 'I may lose my job, but I can't let this happen. '. ".
He eventually convinced bath, West said.
When Lacco and Cooper bought the Warriors, they hired West as a senior consultant.
They want his reputation as a basketball genius to avoid criticism of any controversial personnel changes they might make --
Cooper called it the cover of darkness ".
"Peter said, 'We took over the team and it was a disaster and it would be ugly and all of this went wrong and we won't win for the time being, 'lacob recalls.
"If we make a mistake, Jerry West thinks it's a good idea.
But the West is also promised to play a deeper role, a role that has not been decided --
But there is enough input.
"Bringing Jerry West is more than just a V. C.
But this is a typical move by kreina . "
"They always have Nobel Prize winners on their advisory board.
Basketball. that's the West.
"West is known for his spirit and occasional profanity, defending his strong point of view.
But rakobu doesn't mind this kind of shouting.
His professional experience includes investing hundreds of millions of dollars in emerging companies, some of which are categories that are not yet there, and then relying on the judgment of the executives he employs to guide them to profitability.
He did not merely appreciate the conviction;
He relied on it.
Since joining the Warriors, West has had a strong disagreement with lacobu over several personnel changes.
Every time Lacob is delayed.
"As a boss, everything you do will not work," West said . ".
"Something you will or may want to do will not work.
So you have to have the right people to tell you, not the one who crashes once you express your opinion.
This is the first part.
Then you must listen to them.
"With all the innovations implemented by the ownership group, West seems to be saying that if Lacob's skin is a little thinner or he needs to maintain his authority a little more, the Warriors may still be struggling.
Lacob had dreamed of owning a team since he was 9, when he walked into a boy club in New Bedford.
In his hometown, he saw his first wood flooring.
He graduated from the University of California, Irvine, the first person to go to college at home, and received an additional degree in the United States. C. L. A. and Stanford.
By that time, his blueprint for life had been completed.
He will use the first half of his time to get rich and then spend the rest of his time building and managing a team.
"The first time I saw Joe was in 1998 and he told me he wanted to buy the Warriors," Warren seller said . " Former head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, served on the board of directors of Align Technology at Lacob.
Once he has investors, Lacob treats warriors like any other emerging company that needs skilled management.
In 2011, he hired Bob Myers as assistant to the general manager.
A year later, he was promoted to general manager.
Miles, 41, is playing basketball in the United States. C. L. A. as a walk-
Study law at marola Marymount in Los Angeles and then start a career as an agent for athletes.
"The reason I'm sitting here now is becauseC.
He told me.
"I have no record.
I have no past experience.
If you only believe in the past, you are talking to others.
I mean, I'm not going to hire me.
Miles was named N last season. B. A.
Best Executive President of the year.
At Kleiner Perkins, Lacob is often forced to change the entire management team and restructure the company before it makes a profit.
He was not intimidated by the challenge of reversing the Warriors.
"You always make very controversial decisions in venture capital," said Trae Vassallo, a Kleiner Perkins partner who worked with Lacob.
"But not everyone can see it.
"On March 2012, Lacob paid tribute to Chris Mullin with a microphone during the halftime break, who played for the Golden State team from 1985 to 1997.
From the moment he started speaking, Lacob was booed.
This has nothing to do with Mullin.
Last week, the Warriors sent Monta Ellis, the team's most popular player, to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Andrew Bogut.
Over time, this will be one of the most effective deals in basketball history.
Not only did the Warriors acquire Bogut, a seven-
Missing the footer for half a season due to a broken ankle.
Trading Ellis allows point guard Curry to look for his own shot, rather than facilitating Ellis's shot.
In fact, Lacob does not want to trade Ellis.
The basketball consultant, including West, convinced him.
"They made their case, especially Jerry, and I accepted it," Lacob said.
They're right.
Lacobu understands that the poor-record warriors need to be removed before rebuilding.
He often has to implement similar strategies with troubled companies.
But the fans have heard about it.
The shooting range plan for decades has little confidence in it.
They don't have Ellis now.
The booing lasted for a long time and former Warrior Rick Barry had to beg the audience to allow the ceremony to continue.
By that time, Lacob was shaking.
The humiliation was so public and so original that Lacob's friends were moved to send support messages.
Four years later, many people now mentioned that it was a ritual of passage.
The team had to decide whether to extend Curry's contract that fall.
The guard showed extraordinary talent, but his ankle was hurt all the time.
He missed 40 of 66 games last season due to labor disputes.
"We have to make a decision on the margin of the gray zone," Miles said . ".
"He was injured at the time --
He sprained his ankle again.
Lacob heard from both sides.
Then he asked if anyone could recall it. B. A.
The player who ended his career because of an ankle injury.
"No one can think of anything," Miles said . ".
"This is a decision for us.
What did they make for curry-
Lacob explained that a year, an extension of $44 million, depends not so much on the future stability of Curry's anatomy, but on the composition of his psychology: his determination to overcome nagging discomfort, make yourself great.
"Now, if we're wrong, we're just committing $44 million to a player who can't play basketball," Miles said . ".
"So the risk is there.
Curry has not only become the best player in the sport, but also his paltryin terms of N. B. A. superstardom —
The $11 million salary paid the Warriors a generous salary.
Surround his space with other talents.
Lacob and Guber chose former St. Jackson in 2011.
As head coach of the team, John and the Knicks point guard.
Jackson is an unusual person.
He played seven N. B. A.
But he has never coached a team or a commentator.
In his second and third seasons, he led the Warriors into the playoffs.
"We're at zero-
The line in the yard when Mark appears here, "said Miles.
"He took us to the playoffs and we won a round and we got decent.
So when Lacob fired him on 2014, at 51-
31 season, replaced by Steve Cole, the basketball world was shocked.
But Lacob has decided that the Warriors need a different type of leadership to jump from a playoff team to a championship team.
Such success, with a limited strategic vision to replace a leader, with another leader who feels comfortable with higher goals, rarely happens in sports.
But this has been happening in venture capital.
LACO has known Kerr since 90.
They are part of a team that goes to Scotland to play golf. Kerr won N. B. A.
As a player, first Jordan and the Bulls and then the Spurs.
He manages the front desk of The Sun newspaper as general manager.
He's right N. B. A. broadcasts.
As the person in charge, even as an assistant, what he did not do was to coach a basketball team.
But Lacob has an intuition that Kerr will do better in the organizational structure --
Which department heads are expected to weigh matters beyond their jurisdiction --
More strict than Jackson.
Cole is at least willing to consider suggestions from almost any source that may have saved the Warriors in last year's championship series.
They're behind Cleveland, 2-
1. when Nick U'Ren-
Kerr's assistant, whose duties include building music playlists used in practice and splicing highlight reels --
It happened to be watching the 2014 playoffs.
Noting how San Antonio defended LeBron James, he suggested that the Warriors replace Bogut with Andre Iguodala, who is half 1 feet shorter than him, but strong enough, at least James can be forced to shoot hard.
Cole accepted the suggestion that the Warriors did not lose another game.
Kerr publicly honored us.
Warriors defender Sean Livingston told me, "I 've played for nine different organizations and I 've never seen such a thing before.
It's not even an assistant coach.
A video coordinator.
Steve Cole listened to him and he did it.
All the bridges here are open.
There is an open forum for ideas.
A good idea can really come from anywhere.
This idea must start at the top.
But do you know what a real good idea is?
Let Curry shoot 16 times after three goals.
As the Warriors did in the February match against the Thunder.
Three more warriors-
Score more than any other team and they make more money --
20% more than the most recent
Houston Rockets rankings.
In a sense, they have changed the standard way basketball is attacking --
By looking for the end of the ball, not with the basket, but close the ball with an open jumper near the intermediate court.
It's a revolutionary strategy, but it can only work if you have a curry shot.
Like curry, it masks the impact of Lacob and Guber innovation.
Maybe they will change the team without Curry, but it is impossible to know.
Oakama city is the sixth stop of the Warriors within 9 days of the winter road trip, which makes mainland travel from Portland to Los Angeles to Miami tense, if lost to one of the league's best teams, it will not be a shame.
Curry won't let this happen.
He did 12 of those three.
Pointer, 47 points in total.
There are still 4 seconds left in overtime, and the game is 118 points. he took the ball to half.
Court Line, stop and let yourself surpass R in the Thunder sign across the court.
Then he jumped quickly.
The Warriors were 29 seconds ahead of the 53-minute race and they won again.
Even after winning the league titleV. P.
Last season, Curry improved on almost every traceable indicator.
He scored more than 30 points on average and shot 51%, including three points of 46%. pointers.
Nevertheless, when Curry appears to have entered the freeze framework, there is no way to make statistical justice for those extensions in the tribunal, sometimes for a minute or two, sometimes for a full quarter, run around while everyone else is still there.
I saw it this season in Auckland.
The Warriors were behind Phoenix in the second quarter.
Curry played a very spectacular fadeway from the foul line, and finally he sat on the court.
He then took the ball under the court at speed and suddenly turned the ball over to another player without defense, who did not look at his way and created a simple jumper.
Finally, with the roar of the crowd, Curry launched the ball from several steps outside the three-step walk --
Pointing to the point line of the basket, its parabola seems to last forever.
It's impossible to watch the ball and Curry at the same time, but at the corner of my eye I saw the curry turn around and start running down and his arms open, even before his shot reached the top of its trajectory.
For me, it seems to be the beginning of the entire Warriors season.
Lacob said that winning is the inevitable result of the way the team is built.
I can't argue with one of N's best records. B. A. history.
However, I cannot shake the idea that the story is likely to go in a different direction.
From 2013-
The Warriors won 76% of their games.
No Curry, they're 3-6.
If he gets knocked out in the playoffs tomorrow, it seems unlikely that the Warriors will win the championship.
Like Jordan and the Bulls, Curry, not the ownership group, provides a strong reason.
"They do what every really good organization should do to their stars," said Lasry of Buck.
"They trained him.
But they were lucky because Stephen was the best player in the league.
"Despite this, the presence of Curry does not provide a means of radical reform for the franchise.
It takes an extraordinary player to do this.
But that doesn't mean everything.
LeBron James has not won the championship for the Cavaliers yet;
Play together, all the year round-
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have not won in redawning.
The decision to keep Curry, coupled with his good luck in staying healthy and growing into an exceptional player, gives Lacob and Guber the opportunity to achieve the desired results with structural innovation.
But as Lacob has seen, Curry's dominance on the pitch, though essential, is inextricably linked to everything he has done in the franchise over the past few years, from tearing down the walls of the office to Ellis trade.
"It's not just Curry," he once told me . ".
"It's a team Architecture, a game style, the way they play together.
This is all well thought out.
"This fusion of good planning and luck reminds me of a conversation I had with Lacob over a glass of wine at bridge club one night.
He revealed that he considered himself one of the best 10 21-point players in the world.
"I shouldn't have said that," he added, "but I won more than $1 million after sitting nine times at a time.
"Like gambling, sports do not have a certain result, which is worth watching.
Whether you play basketball on Tuesday morning or want to turn a substandard basketball into an unqualified basketballB. A.
Franchise becomes a champion and all you can do is increase your chances of getting the results you want.
It's easy to see that Lacob has the knack for doing so.
Everything he did set up a system.
As an undergraduate at Irving University, Lacob took calculus lessons from Edward Thorpe, his 1962 book, Beat dealers, "proved that a 21 point player can get a slight advantage of the House by counting the cards.
Thorpe was banned from the casino, so he taught his students the system to support them on a trip to Las Vegas and share the rewards.
Lacob is one of the students.
When he goes to the casino now, his 21-point schedule is not certain, but Lacob is more likely to succeed than anyone at the table.
I realized that the way he bought the Warriors was the same.
He counted cards and odds. And he won.