Fresh off back-to-back championship runs and adding yet another all-world talent in DeMarcus Cousins, the concern about the Golden State Warriors’ competitive fire moving forward are legitimate.
The Warriors have been dominant for years now, and it was evident towards the end of this past regular season that they were sort of on cruise control. They won many of their games handily but many of them didn’t require hard-fought effort thanks to their overwhelming talent. However, owner Joe Lacob sees it differently, especially ahead of this upcoming season. Lacob discussed the Warriors’ undying competitiveness recently with The Athletic’s Ethan Strauss:
“There’s a lot of market inefficiencies in the NBA. Other teams could have gotten Cousins, but they didn’t. There’s always going to be some sort of opportunity, some inefficiency, I believe…”
“We’re still really hungry. That’s what people should be worried about if they’re going to be worried about anything.”
Having won three of the past four championships, complacency could be a real concern but it doesn’t seem to be for Joe Lacob. With a new star aboard in DeMarcus Cousins, the motivation is apparently still there for the Warriors to come out and be great just as they have been in the past.
Last season, one of the edges some gave the top-seeded Houston Rockets was the hunger they possessed which had seemed to be absent in Golden State all year long.
With James Harden and Chris Paul known for their postseason shortcomings and the Warriors solidified as the premier NBA powerhouse already, the Rockets’ desire and Warriors’ passiveness was seen as the deciding factor. The Warriors proved this wrong last year when they overcame Houston in an exciting, tough 7-game series, though Chris Paul’s hamstring injury surely played a role in the final outcome.
The Warriors will be hoping to do the same again this year, though staying laser-focused during an extensive 82-game season is difficult enough when you know the postseason is the only thing that really matters for a team of this caliber.
