Speaker 1: Dubb Dynasty as a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
Speaker 2: And it's over.
Speaker 3: The championship is back in the Bay for the first.
Speaker 4: Time in forty years. There's the buzzer. There's a new
Speaker 4: dynasty in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors champions once again,
Speaker 4: back to back titles three and four years.
Speaker 3: The run is not done. The Golden State Warriors once
Speaker 3: again are NBA champions.
Speaker 1: Yep, those are the Golden State Warriors, celebrating championships like
Speaker 1: it's their birthright. You're probably wondering how they got in
Speaker 1: this situation, no belk fine, but if I told you
Speaker 1: it took forty years of frustration to reach those celebrations,
Speaker 1: that a basketball crazed region now drunk off success, was
Speaker 1: once a group of disillusioned diehards just hoping for any
Speaker 1: kind of consistency, and that it took some of the
Speaker 1: boldest decisions in the sports history to get you'd at
Speaker 1: least be somewhat intrigued. Tossing the fact that the person
Speaker 1: most responsible for this remarkable rewriting of a franchise's history
Speaker 1: is the ultimate underdog with the mesmerizing ability and this
Speaker 1: Warrior's run over the past decade is far more than
Speaker 1: a record scratch moment. It's one of the most entertaining,
Speaker 1: unexpected and extended runs we've ever seen. So maybe now
Speaker 1: you're wondering how they got here. To tell the story
Speaker 1: of these last ten transformative years, Let's go back much hurt,
Speaker 1: all the way to the last time Golden State was
Speaker 1: holding a Golden trophy. I'm Israel Gutierrez and this is
Speaker 1: Doug Dynasty.
Speaker 4: Oh, incredible story.
Speaker 5: It's the final damn ninety section five.
Speaker 6: Oh, it's a sport, the most highable lawyer series.
Speaker 3: I said, I don't believe what's happening when they came back.
Speaker 4: Well today, I believe that the Golden State Warriors better
Speaker 4: than any want to anticipate.
Speaker 1: That familiar voice is that of longtime sports broadcaster Brent
Speaker 1: Musburger calling an NBA finals. If that clip sounds like
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, it's because it was the heart of
Speaker 1: the decade May of nineteen seventy five to be exact.
Speaker 1: And if the story of the plucky underdog Golden State
Speaker 1: Warriors winning the NBA title behind finals MVP Rick Barry
Speaker 1: doesn't ring a bell even for avid basketball fans, it's understandable.
Speaker 1: The seventies were easily considered the worst decade for the NBA,
Speaker 1: nestled in between the Celtics carrying the league in the
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties and Magic Larry and Michael reviving the NBA
Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties, and this particular final series was
Speaker 1: a great example of just how unserious the league was
Speaker 1: back then. The Washington Bullets had home court advantage, but
Speaker 1: were given an option to either start the series on
Speaker 1: the road or play an odd one two two one
Speaker 1: one format, which they chose, starting at home in Landover, Maryland,
Speaker 1: then switching to the Bay Area for the next two games.
Speaker 1: Why it's simple, really, The Warriors couldn't secure their usual
Speaker 1: home Oakland Arena because of a scheduling conflict with Sesame
Speaker 1: Street on ice. The Warriors eventually deferred to the Feathered
Speaker 1: Bird and instead moved on over to the Cow Palace
Speaker 1: in Daily City, near San Francisco for their home games
Speaker 1: in the championship series. Despite playing a pair of games
Speaker 1: in a bovine residence, the Warriors won all four finals contests,
Speaker 1: and did so with Barry as the only player on
Speaker 1: his team averaging more than thirty minutes a game. He
Speaker 1: played four three a game, and the only player on
Speaker 1: his team averaging more than twelve points, he put up
Speaker 1: twenty nine and a half per game, giving the Warriors
Speaker 1: their first NBA championship and the franchise's first title since
Speaker 1: it won something called the Basketball Association of America Championship
Speaker 1: in nineteen forty seven, while they were the Philadelphia Warriors.
Speaker 5: Underdogs all the way like Warriors.
Speaker 1: Championship in the forty years following that nineteen seventy five title,
Speaker 1: Bay Area basketball was basically about having a good time,
Speaker 1: but not for a very long time, no sustained excellence,
Speaker 1: very few extended playoff runs, and a reputation is the
Speaker 1: place where NBA careers go to stall out. Despite an
Speaker 1: eager fan base that desperately wanted to make Oakland's Arena
Speaker 1: the place to be on end given night. Set against
Speaker 1: thatreary backdrop, any sort of sustained success would have been
Speaker 1: extremely satisfying for fans that saw so many starts and
Speaker 1: stops without any real hardware or banners to show for it.
Speaker 1: That's why the current Warriors run. A rare, true active
Speaker 1: dynasty that has lasted more than a decade has created
Speaker 1: a real basketball nirvana, a state of perfect round ball happiness,
Speaker 1: a golden state if you will, and.
Speaker 4: That'll do it. It's over. The Golden State. Warriors returned
Speaker 4: to a familiar place. They're on top of the NBA
Speaker 4: world the fourth title of eight years. The Dubbs dynasty
Speaker 4: is still very much alive.
Speaker 1: Since the twenty fourteen to fifteen NBA season, the Warriors,
Speaker 1: nicknamed the Doves for those who prefer less syllables, have
Speaker 1: been the best franchise in the league, winning four championships
Speaker 1: and reaching six finals altogether. They've set the record for
Speaker 1: most wins in a reg season. They featured the only
Speaker 1: unanimous MVP in league history in the transformative Stephan Curry.
Speaker 1: They completed arguably the greatest playoff run in NBA history
Speaker 1: after adding Kevin Durant and entirely reinvented what it meant
Speaker 1: to be a jump shooting team behind the leadership of
Speaker 1: head coach Steve Kerr. They did it as the out
Speaker 1: of nowhere lovable underdogs, as the big bully favorites, and
Speaker 1: as the wily veterans who just knew how to win.
Speaker 1: And they did it while transitioning out of Oakland and
Speaker 1: into San Francisco becoming one of the glamour franchises in
Speaker 1: the league, with the crown jewel of a home arena
Speaker 1: and a growing international fan base. A dynasty like this,
Speaker 1: the dubbed dynasty that is still active in looking to
Speaker 1: add to the trophy case this season and beyond. It'll
Speaker 1: do that for a franchise, and even though this magical
Speaker 1: run isn't over, it's well worth revisiting this decade full
Speaker 1: of unforgettable moments that redefined the Warrior's frand chests, starting
Speaker 1: with the centerpiece of his wholetale Steph Curry, and how
Speaker 1: his joining the Warriors in two thousand and nine would
Speaker 1: change the NBA forever.
Speaker 7: With the seventh pick in the two thousand and nine
Speaker 7: NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors select Stephen Curry from
Speaker 7: Davidson College.
Speaker 1: Before that, Warriors fans were a niche group. There were
Speaker 1: the hardcore hoops fans in the Bay and not that
Speaker 1: many else outside of it. My NBA origin story actually
Speaker 1: begins there as a pre dynasty Warriors fan. I've been
Speaker 1: based in South Florida my entire career, but as a
Speaker 1: thirteen year old I discovered the run TMC Warriors featuring
Speaker 1: the trio of Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullen
Speaker 1: during the nineteen ninety ninety one season, and I immediately
Speaker 1: fell in love. They were nicknamed after the rap group
Speaker 1: run Dms, and their fast paced style of play, coached
Speaker 1: by offensive minded Hall of Fame Donnie Nelson, had me
Speaker 1: eager to stay up past one am, often on the
Speaker 1: East Coast to catch their games on TNT, much to
Speaker 1: my mother's chagrin.
Speaker 8: Hard Way against Scott.
Speaker 9: They cleared the side it comes.
Speaker 3: The crossovery blows by Please twenty six were hard Away,
Speaker 3: It's tip, Golden State intercepts the pass and the Warners
Speaker 3: have won this game, the first Golden State playoff win
Speaker 3: at the Forum since nineteen sixty.
Speaker 1: That team was one of those handful of exciting but
Speaker 1: short lived teams dotting the Warriors history during that forty
Speaker 1: year gap between championships, and you'll hear a little more
Speaker 1: about all of them later in the pot. By the
Speaker 1: time the two thousand and eight two thousand and nine
Speaker 1: season ended nearly twenty nine years later, Golden State had
Speaker 1: produced a few more versions of exciting, often surprising teams,
Speaker 1: but was at the moment two years removed from any
Speaker 1: playoff appearances, although as a quick side note, it's absolutely
Speaker 1: wild the Warriors didn't make the two thousand and eight
Speaker 1: playoffs despite forty seven wins. Every single team in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference playoffs that season won at least fifty games,
Speaker 1: meanwhile only three in the East Wage. In the eight
Speaker 1: to nine season, the Warriors missed the playoffs more traditional,
Speaker 1: winning only twenty nine games and setting themselves up for
Speaker 1: an NBA draft that would unknowingly change so much about basketball.
Speaker 1: That may, the Warriors moved on from Chris Mullen as
Speaker 1: the executive vice president's basketball operations, Yes that's same Chris Mullen,
Speaker 1: and pivoted to a man named Larry Riley as their
Speaker 1: general manager. Despite the switch, Mullen had already done his
Speaker 1: homework on the two thousand and nine draft class, much
Speaker 1: like his successor would eventually share. Mullen and his staff
Speaker 1: had developed an affinity for a scrawny six foot two
Speaker 1: point guard with insane scoring ability from a small school
Speaker 1: called Davidson College in North Carolin. His official name Wardell
Speaker 1: Stephen Curry the second Yeah you'd go by step too.
Speaker 1: After the break the draft night drama that changed the
Speaker 1: NBA forever. Don Nelson was once again the Warriors head
Speaker 1: coach after leaving between nineteen ninety five and two thousand
Speaker 1: and five to coach the Nixon Mavericks, and he also
Speaker 1: liked the idea of a guard who could put it
Speaker 1: in the hole from anywhere on the floor. Regardless of
Speaker 1: what the NBA norms were at the time about the
Speaker 1: only certainty heading into this draft was that high flying
Speaker 1: power forward Blake Griffin out of Oklahoma would be the
Speaker 1: number one pick. After that, the only other certainty was
Speaker 1: that one future MVP, James Harden, would drafted pretty high.
Speaker 1: Even with Curry, a future two time MVP, there was
Speaker 1: no sure thing. And that's despite this fact his father
Speaker 1: was Dell Curry, a deadly shooter of his own who
Speaker 1: played for five teams over a sixteen year career and
Speaker 1: shot forty percent from three point range during it. But Mullen,
Speaker 1: an NBA Hall of Famer, had a strong feeling about
Speaker 1: the junior from Davidson, comparing him to another two time MVP.
Speaker 2: We had done all prep work before I left that position.
Speaker 2: One of the minority governors who's not hearing much, showed
Speaker 2: me the notes we had Blake number one. We had
Speaker 2: Steph two. So we had watched Steph extensively, and Nelly
Speaker 2: and I both felt and this was probably maybe a
Speaker 2: long shot. At that time, he would be Steve Nash.
Speaker 2: You know, that was you know for that was Steve Nash,
Speaker 2: two time MVP. That's not you know, underestimating a player.
Speaker 2: Obviously Steve has gone past that, but that's kind of
Speaker 2: what we saw Steph because he could play on the ball,
Speaker 2: he could play off the ball, he had a quick release.
Speaker 2: I remember going to watch him at the Garden. Davidson
Speaker 2: played West Virginia, which is a really physical defensive team.
Speaker 2: Usually when I go to those games, I try to
Speaker 2: watch the entire game and not focus on one player,
Speaker 2: but I found myself I couldn't take my eyes off
Speaker 2: because he was so active off the basketball, which is
Speaker 2: really for a young player different most of those players
Speaker 2: growing up. They do things with the ball right, dynamic
Speaker 2: ball handlers, and when they give it up, they stand.
Speaker 2: That's what caught my eye about him. I was like, Wow,
Speaker 2: this guy's got that field.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't up to Mullen to make this choice anymore.
Speaker 1: This would be a decision headed by former Warriors general
Speaker 1: manager Larry Riley, in Indiana native who'd spent his whole
Speaker 1: life in basketball, starting his career as an assistant coach
Speaker 1: at Southwest Missouri State in nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 8: Yeah, how many times I saw him play, It wasn't
Speaker 8: a whole lot. There were criticisms about him that come
Speaker 8: about with people who analyze players. Scouts, Okay, he's a
Speaker 8: two guard, he's too small, he's weak, he's not a
Speaker 8: point guard. The defining moment for me with Steph Kurky
Speaker 8: was it was in December, about mid December. Davidson had
Speaker 8: scheduled the game with Purdue in Indianapolis, and that was
Speaker 8: before the hand checking stuff. You know, Purdue thought they
Speaker 8: were playing football, and I knew it would be a
Speaker 8: tough thing, and I knew they'd beat him up, and
Speaker 8: I wanted to see how he handled the physical play
Speaker 8: because that was a question with scouts. Never mind was asking, well,
Speaker 8: he's pretty friendly. He looked like he was fourteen years old.
Speaker 8: And the second thing was I got a break at
Speaker 8: that game for one reason or another, and that may
Speaker 8: have been injured to the point guard. That he played
Speaker 8: the point in that game a good win, and that
Speaker 8: game defined to me that Steph Curry was a guy
Speaker 8: who could play in the NBA. And frankly, that was
Speaker 8: the last game that I saw him play live because
Speaker 8: we had all the video and so I was satisfied
Speaker 8: in middle or late December because in that game, he
Speaker 8: showed the point guard's feels. He made a long pass,
Speaker 8: he made the short pass, and he took the beating
Speaker 8: that went along with it. Now they lost the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say, can I give you
Speaker 1: his stat line too? Do you remember that I.
Speaker 8: Think he was I think he was only six for
Speaker 8: six for eighteen. It raised in my mind that he
Speaker 8: only made about a thirty of its shots.
Speaker 1: It was worse than that. He was five of twenty six.
Speaker 1: He was two for twelve from three and he had
Speaker 1: six turnovers. But he had six assists in three steals
Speaker 1: and eight rebounds.
Speaker 8: Well see, and that's what I'm talking about. He produced
Speaker 8: on the other levels. I wasn't worried about the shot.
Speaker 1: No one was. Curry's shot is what made him such
Speaker 1: an intriguing must watch talent, to the point that Lebron
Speaker 1: James famously stopped by to watch one of his NCAA
Speaker 1: tournament games in person. It was that drawing tower and
Speaker 1: his big game performances that made Steph a certain lottery
Speaker 1: pick in the draft, meaning he'd go in the top fourteen.
Speaker 1: How high did the rest of the lottery have Curry rated?
Speaker 1: Would he ever reach the Warriors at number seven, especially
Speaker 1: with the Minnesota Timberwolves team in need of a point
Speaker 1: guard choosing twice directly before the Warriors.
Speaker 8: I didn't think he'd be available when we were picking.
Speaker 8: In fact, I thought he was going to be gone,
Speaker 8: to the extent that we explored trade possibilities for that pick,
Speaker 8: and those explorations were based on the fact that Seth
Speaker 8: current may not be there. Now Steph was going to
Speaker 8: be there. Okay, we know we're going to draft you.
Speaker 8: My concern was he's gone, and I have to take
Speaker 8: the next guy, Frank White, who I didn't like.
Speaker 1: That next guy was Jordan Jordan Hill, that is who
Speaker 1: the Knicks drafted immediately after Curry at number eight and
Speaker 1: averaged double figures scoring once in his eight year career.
Speaker 1: Not sure what kind of podcast would have been birthed
Speaker 1: if Hill had been the Warriors pick, but thanks to
Speaker 1: the Minnesota draft evaluators at the time, we'll never find
Speaker 1: that out. That's because the Wolves drafted two point guards
Speaker 1: with the fifth and six picks, Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio
Speaker 1: and Syracuse sophomore Johnny Flint. Riley had received a hot
Speaker 1: tip that the Wolves would do just that after acquiring
Speaker 1: the fifth pick from Washington via trade, but it still
Speaker 1: left him nervous.
Speaker 8: I got a call the day before from a source
Speaker 8: that told me, Okay, Minnesota's going to do this. Well,
Speaker 8: I hardly slept that I could. I just I could
Speaker 8: not believe that it was really going to happen. But
Speaker 8: from time to time you get sources that you really
Speaker 8: believe it. This was one that I said, this guy's
Speaker 8: probably right, It's probably going to happen, and I just
Speaker 8: I was we couldn't wait until they started picking, and
Speaker 8: they actually did.
Speaker 7: With the fifth pick in the two thousand and nine
Speaker 7: NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select Ricky Rubio of El Masno,
Speaker 7: Spain and Juventu. With the sixth pick in the NBA Draft,
Speaker 7: the Minnesota Timberwolves select Johnny Flynn from Syracuse University.
Speaker 1: That left the door open for the Warrior years to
Speaker 1: choose Kerk, but as it turns out, it wasn't just
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves that Riley and the Warriors should have concerned
Speaker 1: themselves with. There was a certain general manager out in Phoenix,
Speaker 1: a shooter in his own right, who'd had his eye
Speaker 1: with Curry as well. Steve Kerr had been the general
Speaker 1: manager of the Suns for two seasons at that point.
Speaker 1: He traded for Shaquille O'Neil, acquiring him from Miami his
Speaker 1: first season on the job. But Kerr had such faith
Speaker 1: in Curry he was willing to trade Phoenix's leading scorer
Speaker 1: at the time for a chance to draft the Sun
Speaker 1: of Dell. He too saw step as a Steve nashclone
Speaker 1: and wanted him in the Valley of the Sun.
Speaker 10: I thought we had a deal, a draft, a deal
Speaker 10: to end up, you know, getting him to Phoenix. But
Speaker 10: it fell through, and it involved in Amars Stademar, because
Speaker 10: I think Amari was you know, still playing at a
Speaker 10: high level, and so the Warriors were very in him.
Speaker 10: And I don't remember the exact details of the deal,
Speaker 10: but we looked at Steph as the next Steve Dash
Speaker 10: and you know, we had been watching Steve for all
Speaker 10: those years and felt like Steph shared so many of
Speaker 10: the same qualities and could be so captivating for our fans,
Speaker 10: and just the skill level was just incredible. So I
Speaker 10: think the small stature didn't really bother us since we
Speaker 10: had watched Steve dominate the league, you know, from a
Speaker 10: similar place. So yeah, we were really interested and we
Speaker 10: tried hard.
Speaker 1: Hang tight, Steve, You'll eventually get your chance to have
Speaker 1: Steph on your roster. There was one last hurdle of
Speaker 1: sorts for the Warriors to clear before Larry Riley could
Speaker 1: officially pull the trigger on drafting Steph. Del Curry's entire
Speaker 1: existence playing in the NBA was within that Warrior's title draft,
Speaker 1: and he didn't want his son and all his potential
Speaker 1: to end up in that wasteland that was Base Area
Speaker 1: Professional Hoops. Dell and STEP's agent at the time, Jeff Austin,
Speaker 1: informed Riley he prefer the Warriors not to draft Steph.
Speaker 1: Steph didn't weigh much, maybe one hundred and eighty pounds
Speaker 1: entering the league, but he would attempt to throw that
Speaker 1: way around.
Speaker 8: They made it obvious that they did not want him
Speaker 8: to come to Golden State. If I was a father,
Speaker 8: I wouldn't wanted it either. This is a bad team.
Speaker 8: What are we doing here?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 8: And so I never blamed. And in addition to that,
Speaker 8: they did not allow Steph to visit the Golden State
Speaker 8: Warriors pre draft, and I did tell Jeff Austin, if
Speaker 8: Steph's available, we will pick in spite of that, and
Speaker 8: we did.
Speaker 7: With the seventh pick in the two thousand and nine
Speaker 7: NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors select Stephen Curry from
Speaker 7: Davidson College.
Speaker 1: That booing you heard was the sound of prescient Knicks
Speaker 1: fans in the garden that night, already upset they wouldn't
Speaker 1: get their chance to draft Curry with the next pick.
Speaker 8: Once that happened, there were never any issues. The Curry family,
Speaker 8: Nel Curry and Sonia came. When we introduced Steph, Jeff
Speaker 8: Austin came, there was never any issue, and I remember
Speaker 8: introducing him and he still looked hocking with fourteen year
Speaker 8: old kid.
Speaker 1: It took a full regular season not for Curry to
Speaker 1: look any older. He was still the clean shaven, scrawny,
Speaker 1: baby faced point guard by the time the regular season
Speaker 1: reached its final game. It took a full regular season
Speaker 1: for the man who drafted Steph to officially realize he'd
Speaker 1: made the correct decision.
Speaker 8: I don't recall a lot of than said that. There
Speaker 8: are things that people asked me about that I don't
Speaker 8: remember that. But there was a point in his rookie
Speaker 8: year we were playing in Portland Park and Steph just
Speaker 8: put on a tournamendous shot.
Speaker 3: You know, Curry's like Steve Nash high basketball IQ.
Speaker 10: So he's going to be an all start for years
Speaker 10: to come.
Speaker 3: Curry step back of a pedagraph.
Speaker 4: He's got another one three point lead again for the Lawyers,
Speaker 4: and now we're down there.
Speaker 3: We're a minute forty five left, new career high for
Speaker 3: Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: Steph finished his first season with a final game stat
Speaker 1: line up forty two points, eight assists, nine rebounds, two steals,
Speaker 1: one block shot, and a win in what was a
Speaker 1: meaningless game to the standings or playoff implications.
Speaker 8: I recall setting in Portland watching him play that game,
Speaker 8: and after that game say, okay, we have got our
Speaker 8: point guard for the next sten years.
Speaker 1: Riley underestimated just how long Curry would run the court
Speaker 1: in the Bay. We're currently at sixteen years and counting.
Speaker 1: But before that incredible run could even start, there were
Speaker 1: a couple of upgrades necessary to create the foundation of
Speaker 1: this stable dynasty. One was the ownership group running the team.
Speaker 1: The other was a right ankle Curry was running on
Speaker 1: when Steph first joined the league. Neither was stable. Chris
Speaker 1: Cohan was the Warrior's owner and was often the target
Speaker 1: of the ire of Golden State fans, even though most
Speaker 1: of the decisions considered problematic under his watch weren't exactly
Speaker 1: all his alone. I mean, can you really blame a
Speaker 1: team's owner for not drafting Kobe Bryant. But there was
Speaker 1: enough failure in those sixteen years that Cohan faced the
Speaker 1: brunt of the criticism. When Joe Lagub, a minority owner
Speaker 1: of the Boston Celtics at the time, and Peter Gouber,
Speaker 1: Mandalay Entertainment CEO, bought the team from Cohen and the
Speaker 1: summ of twenty ten, they viewed the franchise not as
Speaker 1: one experiencing a decades long championship drought, but one that
Speaker 1: had limitless potential if treated properly.
Speaker 9: An opening night out of our ownership, I was introduced.
Speaker 4: Lads shut off, head show, Lake up, and Peter.
Speaker 9: Cuber getting ready to take the mic. Nineteen thousand people there.
Speaker 9: I didn't really know what I was going to say
Speaker 9: it didn't plant it in advance, and I saw the
Speaker 9: banner up there and I just pointed, if you look
Speaker 9: up there, that is a very lonely flat.
Speaker 2: We want another one.
Speaker 9: I told everybody what I thought was from a heart,
Speaker 9: which is, these are the greatest fans in the world,
Speaker 9: and you deserve more.
Speaker 11: My new pairgrap color is blue and yellow, and my
Speaker 11: favorite letter is W. Lots of w's go get Amorials.
Speaker 1: By the time the Warriors hired Rick Wells in twenty
Speaker 1: eleven as their chief operating officer, the vision to improve
Speaker 1: the franchise was well underway. Welts had been the president
Speaker 1: of the Phoenix Suns. It says he shared the vision
Speaker 1: of Lake Op and Goober when it came to Golden State.
Speaker 12: I think everybody who was an observer of the Warriors
Speaker 12: over the twenty years before I got there, you would
Speaker 12: look at that team and just go, oh, my God, like,
Speaker 12: if you could ever get this in the right ownership
Speaker 12: and management hands, this shouldn't stand toe to toe with
Speaker 12: any franchise in sports. I mean, the place in which
Speaker 12: we lived was an amazing place to live. The corporate
Speaker 12: base there or the companies that were changing the face
Speaker 12: of the world.
Speaker 10: You could be a.
Speaker 12: Part of that fan support for a team that never
Speaker 12: made the playoffs, and it was you know, we all
Speaker 12: looked at it and just said, oh my gosh. And
Speaker 12: then I remember I was president of the Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 12: I remember when Joelka and Peter Guber bought the team.
Speaker 12: And what really made an impression upon me was their
Speaker 12: first real higher When I read the Jerry West, I've let, Okay,
Speaker 12: maybe these guys are taking a look at it a
Speaker 12: little differently than has historically been the case. But I
Speaker 12: was like, you know where, after half an hour of
Speaker 12: talking to him, it was like, where do I sign?
Speaker 12: They had big aspirations. They had this crazy notion of
Speaker 12: perhaps building an arena in San Francisco they talked to
Speaker 12: me about then. So for me, it was like I
Speaker 12: was so drawn to the opportunity just because I knew
Speaker 12: it had success written all over it. I grew up
Speaker 12: learning from Jerry Clangelo that the best way to have
Speaker 12: NBA organization be successful is to have your business people
Speaker 12: and your basketball people aligned on the goals and in
Speaker 12: constant communication about how we're going to get there. And
Speaker 12: you know, for me, this came to light in Phoenix. Really,
Speaker 12: Steve Kerr was our general manager and I would have
Speaker 12: a weekly staff meeting on Wednesdays, and Steve came into
Speaker 12: my office one day and said, can I come to
Speaker 12: your weekly staff meetings?
Speaker 8: Like what?
Speaker 12: Like, Yeah, I think people would enjoy it if you
Speaker 12: came to our weekly staff meetings.
Speaker 13: But what was about was not about you know, tell
Speaker 13: us how Steve Nash's risk is feeling. It was about, Hey,
Speaker 13: we're thinking about next season and you know, we're thinking
Speaker 13: of using these players in our campaign. And this is
Speaker 13: kind of the theme like what are we missing? What
Speaker 13: would the reaction from locker room be to that? What
Speaker 13: would what would how would.
Speaker 12: The players feel about that? And that's how Joe and
Speaker 12: Peter wanted the organization to be. And there's you can
Speaker 12: be successful and not do that. It's possible to do.
Speaker 12: But I think to get the most out of the
Speaker 12: organization that's the single most important thing.
Speaker 13: And that that to me, really resonated. I think it
Speaker 13: was the most important part of our conversation.
Speaker 1: The ownership transition included a coaching change after Don Nelson
Speaker 1: ended his second stint with the Warriors in twenty ten.
Speaker 1: That meant promoting Keith Smart, who lasted just one season
Speaker 1: as head coach, and then hiring former point guard Mark Jackson,
Speaker 1: who played over one four hundred games, including the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but had never coached a single game. It included a
Speaker 1: lot of turnover at all levels of the organization, but
Speaker 1: the most problematic turnover was happening on the court, as
Speaker 1: in Curry turning his ankle over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: Did Verry Neil dribble it off his legs?
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, Steph Curry ankle coming out of the pack.
Speaker 1: Oh this is It's just heartbreaking, is all I can say.
Speaker 1: Curry would suffer multiple ankle injuries within his first few seasons,
Speaker 1: some of them so confounding even his teammates wondered how
Speaker 1: long he'd be effective in the league if his right
Speaker 1: ankle kept proving to be his actual achilles heel.
Speaker 8: Steph is hurt.
Speaker 9: Steph Curry is hurt, saying I will he went straight
Speaker 9: down and never moved.
Speaker 3: Oh man, he's in a lot of pain.
Speaker 6: Let's see if he steps on someone's foot, Yep, there
Speaker 6: it is same foot, yep, Griffin, and he turned that
Speaker 6: ankle to same He turned it in San Diego.
Speaker 1: Against the David Lee, a teammate of Curry's for five seasons,
Speaker 1: saw the frustration's first hand.
Speaker 6: I think the most interesting part about that is whether
Speaker 6: it's his jump shot or it's his ankle. Steph never
Speaker 6: seemed to waiver on his confidence about his ankle and
Speaker 6: his injuries.
Speaker 8: And yeah, he had that one ankle he.
Speaker 6: Kept rolling over and over and you're like, Okay, I
Speaker 6: tried something new, and I think I'm good this time.
Speaker 6: We'd be in a preseason game. I remember against the
Speaker 6: Lakers one time, and it's in the fourth quarter and
Speaker 6: it was an absolute you know, not stepping on somebody,
Speaker 6: just a simple movement and a completely side of his
Speaker 6: ankle touched the ground and you can see the frustration,
Speaker 6: but at the same time he just he's like, no, no,
Speaker 6: I'm going to get this figured out, and I have
Speaker 6: faith that this is going to work out. And I
Speaker 6: think he tried like six hundred different kinds of ankle
Speaker 6: braces and taping techniques and every which way, and finally
Speaker 6: he found something that worked and the rest is history.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just the correct brace or the proper taping
Speaker 1: technique that allowed for history to be written It included
Speaker 1: a lot of tension because Curry being advised that he
Speaker 1: would need an ankle surgery that could include using a
Speaker 1: tendon from a cadaver. A doctor Richard Ferkel would be
Speaker 1: in charge of repairing Curry's ankle, but not for a
Speaker 1: lot of fretting from Steph's father. Dell was no longer
Speaker 1: advising an unknown Riley not to draft Curry. He was
Speaker 1: now trusting Riley, a known team confidant, to offer advice
Speaker 1: about his son's ankle.
Speaker 8: Dell Curry called me. He said, Larry, do you think
Speaker 8: he needs surgery though? And I said, yes, he does,
Speaker 8: because he's worked, he said on everything. I took him
Speaker 8: to Portland to the Niking factory to where we thought
Speaker 8: they might be able to build a shoe that would
Speaker 8: help statelevise the ankle. On great effort, but it still
Speaker 8: wasn't right. I never saw him get down to the
Speaker 8: point where he was chattered or thinking it's own. It
Speaker 8: may have happened, but never saw it, and I member
Speaker 8: since that I felt like I was more worried about it.
Speaker 8: Maybe he was at times, but his dad since state urgency.
Speaker 1: But Riley joined the Curry family, including Steph's new wife,
Speaker 1: Aisha in the surgical center while Steph was going under
Speaker 1: the knife. What doctor Furkle found when he began the
Speaker 1: procedure was that there would be no cadaver ligament necessary.
Speaker 1: What he discovered was effectively all Steph needed was a
Speaker 1: good cleaning out of the oft injured ankle. From Pablo
Speaker 1: Torri's twenty thirteen feature in ESPN, the magazine on this subject,
Speaker 1: a one ounce HD camera snaked into Curry's subterler and
Speaker 1: ankle joints produced images of thick, sticky bands of scar
Speaker 1: tissue like crab meat, Furkle says, as well as in
Speaker 1: flame tissue, bone spurs, and chips of cartilage. To anyone else,
Speaker 1: orthopedic seafood might be revolting. To Curry, it was good news.
Speaker 1: Tory's story explained why it was good news. A motorized
Speaker 1: device could remove all of that from Curry's ankle in
Speaker 1: less than two hours, and it would shorten his expected
Speaker 1: recovery time significantly, and by July twenty twelve, after a
Speaker 1: season in which he played only twenty six games, Curry
Speaker 1: was once again rehabbing his ankle, but this time with
Speaker 1: much more faith that the flukiness had also been removed
Speaker 1: the season following his ankle procedure was something of a
Speaker 1: reintroduction for Curry. While Lebron James and the Miami Heat
Speaker 1: were stealing the oxygen from everyone in the league, Steph
Speaker 1: was quite literally finding his legs again. He missed only
Speaker 1: four regular season games. He damn near doubled his three
Speaker 1: point attempts per game while maintaining a forty five percent
Speaker 1: shooting clip. Andy had one particular game that, even though
Speaker 1: it came in his sports season, was his unofficial coming
Speaker 1: out performance. It was February twenty seven, twenty thirteen, in
Speaker 1: New York City's Madison Square Guarden, a building Mike Breen
Speaker 1: knows so well because he grew up in it and
Speaker 1: has called Knicks games inside and out of MSG since
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one as a radio announcer and since nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety seven as a television play by play announcer for Wfan.
Speaker 1: Who better to describe the magic of MSG than break Well.
Speaker 14: I don't think I'm the most objective person because I
Speaker 14: grew up in New York and Madison Square Garden was
Speaker 14: the building I went to as a kid, and I
Speaker 14: always felt it just had a special aura, but it
Speaker 14: just there's a certain sound with that ceiling that they
Speaker 14: have there and the stage lighting where it's just like
Speaker 14: there's these performers that are on stage and you know,
Speaker 14: not a rough and tumble crowd, but a crowd that
Speaker 14: doesn't suffer fools. It was just the perfect atmosphere for
Speaker 14: a big event.
Speaker 1: On this evening, Curry would have nearly the perfect night
Speaker 1: in that perfect atmosphere. Mark Jones and Doris Burke were
Speaker 1: there to witness it, calling the game for ESPN.
Speaker 10: Curry with a floater, got it to go.
Speaker 3: Tell you what, For a guy who a lot of
Speaker 3: people questioned that six three, one hundred and eighty five
Speaker 3: pounds could he be effective.
Speaker 14: In the league, he has put those concerns to rest.
Speaker 8: Well.
Speaker 5: Andreant to double Coury with a quick trigger.
Speaker 2: Cat the three ball.
Speaker 5: You know he does shoot forty five from downtown on
Speaker 5: the season. Curry with another jumper and it's a one
Speaker 5: point game.
Speaker 3: Just you know, he plays with a pace of a
Speaker 3: guy who's an old man in the league.
Speaker 1: Right, he's still pretty young.
Speaker 8: You don't meet Stephen Curry.
Speaker 4: Out He's gonna go with his pace.
Speaker 5: Still the second best shooter in his family, though, I
Speaker 5: say yeah.
Speaker 3: But I make a better I agreed.
Speaker 5: Del I'm talking about his brother Secan.
Speaker 3: No, Dell probably will go down as the best families.
Speaker 5: What Dell couldn't do what Stephan does. Curry for the lead,
Speaker 5: got it? Steph Curry smooth. He scored the last fifteen
Speaker 5: in a row for Golden Set.
Speaker 1: After the break, Steph Curry makes his first major splash
Speaker 1: in the NBA.
Speaker 14: I always found in extraordinary when a team comes to
Speaker 14: a road arena and a player on that road team
Speaker 14: has the ability to kind of capture the hearts of
Speaker 14: the fans that are rooting against him and his team.
Speaker 14: But it happens when certain arenas a player goes into
Speaker 14: and fans just can see greatness or potential for greatness.
Speaker 8: And that night, that's what they saw.
Speaker 14: We all knew that he was he had a chance
Speaker 14: to be special, and for him to have that type
Speaker 14: of a game that it was so close and they
Speaker 14: wind up losing, it made for like the perfect deepening
Speaker 14: for the big fans of the Garden because they saw
Speaker 14: this maybe the first instance of the greatness of Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: In the second half, Curry, who had an abbreviated version
Speaker 1: of the Bible, First Philippians four thirteen, written on his sneakers,
Speaker 1: reading I can do all things. Was doing one thing
Speaker 1: particularly well. He was scoring with regularity, despite constant double
Speaker 1: teams and adding attention from the mixed defense.
Speaker 4: What's the pick and roll of it?
Speaker 8: Take it out of Curry's hands?
Speaker 5: Football, take and the same result we've seen for the
Speaker 5: first two periods. You see what I mean? So now
Speaker 5: you make the adjustment.
Speaker 3: You're trying to trap and make somebody else beat him.
Speaker 4: But Stephan relok kates after getting out of the trap,
Speaker 4: and again like, doesn't you play like an old guy?
Speaker 3: Like the pacing and.
Speaker 8: Not getting rattled.
Speaker 1: By the first few minutes of the second half, it
Speaker 1: was apparent you were watching one of those memorable performances
Speaker 1: you get just a handful of times in an NBA season.
Speaker 1: You could hear it in the voices of Jones and Burn,
Speaker 1: but if you listen close to enoughs, you also hear
Speaker 1: it in the reaction of the fans, the groans and
Speaker 1: even a few cheers. As Mike Green predicted, We're getting
Speaker 1: louder with every maid Curry bucket.
Speaker 5: The Warriors are connected on fourteen of their AD sixteen.
Speaker 5: Make that fifteen of seventeen.
Speaker 2: He's cooking with some hot grease.
Speaker 5: Right now, Steph Curry has thirty three put against belc
Speaker 5: for three?
Speaker 8: Got it?
Speaker 5: What a night for Steph Curry?
Speaker 1: Did you hear them? We've seen that movie before.
Speaker 5: Steph Curry with another three? If he walks back said
Speaker 5: to say, I am a bad man, but you got
Speaker 5: nothing for me tonight?
Speaker 8: Looking how upset my fortune is?
Speaker 1: How about now Curry for three?
Speaker 8: Who unbelievable?
Speaker 5: Making it rain in New York forty six?
Speaker 4: Back in the way, Curry?
Speaker 7: Why not for three?
Speaker 4: Big go? And the next crowd is stunned.
Speaker 5: He is in a soon right now, all by hisself.
Speaker 4: I gotta go quick.
Speaker 5: Curry off the screen, got in up room again. Butter
Speaker 5: Steph Curry, it's eleven three of the night.
Speaker 1: Curry was a perfect seven of seven from three in
Speaker 1: the second half of this game. His running mates were
Speaker 1: still finding themselves. Rookie Draymond Green and second year backcourt
Speaker 1: made Klay Thompson combined for ten points in this game,
Speaker 1: with Clay missing all six of his three. His time
Speaker 1: to shine as a splash brother was still to come.
Speaker 1: But on this night in New York, Curry couldn't have
Speaker 1: found a better place to let the world know he
Speaker 1: requires everyone's attention. The following season, Mark Jackson would already
Speaker 1: declare Steph and Clay the best shooting backboard in the
Speaker 1: history of the league.
Speaker 10: But we got guys that can knock down shots. When
Speaker 10: you talk about you know, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry,
Speaker 10: in my opinion, that the greatest shooting backcourt in the.
Speaker 1: History of the game, a statement that seems perfectly obvious today,
Speaker 1: was looked at as premature braggadocio from a relatively noviist
Speaker 1: head coach at the time. That didn't stop Jackson, a
Speaker 1: friend and eventual partner of Breens in the television booth,
Speaker 1: from regularly letting folks know just how much potential this
Speaker 1: pairing had.
Speaker 8: Mark made sure it was on your radar.
Speaker 14: One of Mark's strengths is his ability to instill confidence
Speaker 14: in whoever's around them, whether he's a teammate, whether he's
Speaker 14: a coach, whether he's a fellow broadcaster. And the way
Speaker 14: he talked about this team and their potential and how
Speaker 14: good they could be. You know where we thought he was,
Speaker 14: all right, you're going a little over the top of here,
Speaker 14: these guys are going to be good, but let's take
Speaker 14: it easy. But right from the start, he saw what
Speaker 14: the potential was in that team and those players. So
Speaker 14: you had to listen to him and believe him because
Speaker 14: obviously he knew what he was talking about.
Speaker 1: The organic, esthetically pleasing Warriors. Assent seemed to be on
Speaker 1: a solid path, but the Golden State front office made
Speaker 1: one more decision they felt could accelerate the timeline to
Speaker 1: a championship. It would mean leaving a key figure behind.
Speaker 1: It was one of those gambles that had to work out,
Speaker 1: but no one was certain.
Speaker 8: It would.
Speaker 15: Look. I was shocked at they made that decision because
Speaker 15: it was a tough decision. I think as far as
Speaker 15: the organization goes, you know, we just Warriors that I
Speaker 15: mean the playoffs for so long, there's a little media
Speaker 15: noise around that finally made the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Coming up on this podcast series that relives the incredible
Speaker 1: Golden State run, we look back at the rise of
Speaker 1: the Warriors, their massive impact on the game, and how
Speaker 1: they plan to continue to succeed into the future. You
Speaker 1: take me through the highs and lows, the championships and
Speaker 1: challenges that forged the dub dynastas.
Speaker 6: Those are like the times in your career where you're like, wow,
Speaker 6: I was just a part of something special. It was
Speaker 6: definitely something to celebrate.
Speaker 15: Well, first off, dramon Nivat to develop into a voice.
Speaker 15: He's always been a cloud, tell you what a king's buy.
Speaker 15: And I think that's what makes him so great. Do
Speaker 15: I think that constant negative attention on him compared to
Speaker 15: the constant positive attention on Steph was a faculty?
Speaker 10: Sure.
Speaker 8: I mean he revolutionized the game and there's no doubt
Speaker 8: about that.
Speaker 10: At one end of the steps going through his routine. At
Speaker 10: the other end was Kevin's going through his routine, and
Speaker 10: you know it's like we're watching Mozart and Box at the.
Speaker 8: Exact same time, composed music.
Speaker 10: It was stunning.
Speaker 1: Dub Dynasty is a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
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