The Warriors’ dynastic Big Three have helped the organization achieve unimaginable success in the NBA over the past decade.
But NBA veteran JaVale McGee, who won two of his three titles with Golden State, believes the team’s success goes beyond being led by future Hall of Famers Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Instead, the 7-foot center pointed to an unexpected off-court reason for the team’s sustained success.
“When I went to the Warriors, it opened my eyes to more things you can do in the league,” McGee told KeynoteUSA Sports California’s Deuce Mason and Morgan Ragan on the “Deuce & Mo” podcast. “Before the Warriors, it was just play basketball and go home. And then when I got to the Warriors, I saw the way they moved. I saw the demeanor, the way they talked to people, the way they built relationships outside of basketball and within the organization.
“You’re talking to the general manager, we’re talking to the coaches, we’re taking them out to dinner. It was more of a social thing than I expected when I first came into the league.”
When McGee first entered the NBA in 2008 with the Washington Wizards, his mentality was to go to work and come home.
He admitted that he never felt the need to interact or hang out with his coaches or teammates outside of a hello and goodbye.
However, when he arrived in the Bay Area, where the Warriors had just made two consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals, he understood that everyone had to be on the same page to win a championship, and that required more than the X’s and O’s. of the game. .
“When I came to the Warriors, it was like we were having dinner on the road and can you bring your family with you?” McGee continued. “You’ve got Draymond there with his cousin. I’m here with my aunt. Coach Steve Kerr is there with his son. They rented out the whole restaurant so we can all stay together while we’re on the road.
“It was just a different energy, and I try to bring that to other teams that I go to and help them understand that’s one of the reasons why the Warriors are winning. It wasn’t that they had Steph, Klay and Draymond, but that it was”. Not only that. “It was the fact that even off the court, they became a family function and we were all one on the road and at home.”
Of course, having players like Curry, Thompson and Green certainly helps.
But as teams like the Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers have learned, it takes more than talent to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June.
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