This isn’t to say that it’s all pet canines and rainbows within the metropolis by the Bay. Inexperienced is among the many most polarizing NBA figures of the final decade, a defensive maestro who can energy his workforce to the championship one yr, then sabotage its title protection by getting suspended mid-Finals the following. His outsize ferocity has been one of many Warriors’ best property, and infrequently their best weak point. His punch of Poole final fall almost broke the Warriors — and by their very own telling, put a crimp of their whole season, which ended with a second-round loss to the Lakers.
Nonetheless, the workforce has discovered methods to navigate the NBA minefield for a whole decade with out falling prey to egos, energy struggles or persona clashes. As Andre Iguodala recently said to The Ringer’s Logan Murdock, “We’ve been in fantasyland for therefore lengthy,” however this season was “extra like the actual NBA.”
On the danger of sounding Pollyannish, it’s in moments of disaster once I’ve generally admired the Warriors most. Myers didn’t have to carry that press convention after the punch. Inexperienced spoke to the media the day after the video surfaced—for 36 minutes! Most groups would have issued a perfunctory assertion, circled the wagons and insisted on “basketball questions solely” on the subsequent media availability. However at their most weak moments, the Warriors lead with accountability and (inside limits) transparency. They by no means cover. And the place one other franchise may need jettisoned Inexperienced for any of those infractions, the Warriors stood by him, displaying a loyalty uncommon in professional sports activities.
Which brings us again to Myers, and to maybe probably the most profound trait of this Warriors dynasty: their humanity. When Inexperienced was suspended for Sport 5 of the 2016 Finals, Myers watched the sport with him, from a collection on the neighboring Oakland Coliseum. And that evening in 2019, after Durant ruptured his Achilles? It was as emotional as I’ve ever seen a workforce govt. (Price noting: Durant was among the many first to achieve out to Myers this week, when information of his resignation hit social media.)
And each time issues have felt “extra like the actual NBA,” Myers all the time infuses a dose of humanity again into the second. Two months in the past, Myers was on the podium once more, this time sitting subsequent to Warriors ahead Andrew Wiggins, who had simply returned from a two-month absence to take care of a household matter. There was no actual cause for Myers to be there, apart from as ethical assist.
Within the weeks forward, the Warriors should resolve on all these potential contract extensions and roster points. These are all important, delicate discussions, and for the primary time in a decade it gained’t be Myers dealing with them.
There’s no telling what impression his absence could have, or which strand will come unfastened subsequent, or how for much longer the Warriors are we all know them will endure. But when that is the start—even the very starting—of the tip of those Warriors, I’m already beginning to miss them.
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