While speaking on ESPN.com, Ethan Strauss hinted that the Golden State Warriors are facing significant locker room problems.
The Warriors are a great example why you shouldn’t mess with a product that’s already great.
Ethan Strauss, while appearing on ESPN.com’s True Hoops Podcast, dropped a bombshell that we’ve all been secretly thinking about for the past few weeks now.
The Warriors are crumbling apart, from the inside.
Check out this dandy of a quote, courtesy of Gleen Erby of Black Sports Online:
"“Is this malaise of theirs about not feeling motivated, not thinking they have something to play for? Is it just being tired? There’s one guy in particular on the team that keeps saying the same thing to me, and I can’t say who he is, but he keeps saying ‘We’ve got problems and it ain’t basketball.'”"
Hold up right there for a second. That last sentence speaks volumes.
This is the problem with creating so-called “superteams.” There are too many superstars and just one ball to play with. Sure, you’ll get used to playing together, but, as we’ve seen time and time again, problems will surface.
We saw that with the Miami Heat during the latter months of the “big three” era and we’re seeing it repeat itself in Golden State. Look at how the team has played recently. They’ve dropped three of their past five games to the Celtics, Timberwolves and the Spurs, before barely beating the 24-43 76ers.
These are teams they were dominating last year, but this year? Something is amiss on this squad.
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If we can take a stab at what’s wrong in Oakland, we may have to start with the changing of their system to fit in Kevin Durant. It shouldn’t be a shocker to anyone the Warriors struggles coincided with Durant getting hurt. You’d think that Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson would carry the load, but they’ve gotten so used to deferring to Durant they’re struggling without him.
This wasn’t the case last year.
Whatever the reason is, the Warriors are becoming a textbook example of why you shouldn’t mess with a great product. The Warriors are in a crisis, and they don’t know exactly how to solve it.