Fansided

Every NBA team’s best iteration ever

By Micah Wimmer

PORTLAND, OR - 1987: Head Coach Pat Riley leads Magic Johnson #32, Byron Scott #4, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #33 during a game played circa 1987 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1987 NBAE (Photo by Brian Drake/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - 1987: Head Coach Pat Riley leads Magic Johnson #32, Byron Scott #4, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #33 during a game played circa 1987 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1987 NBAE (Photo by Brian Drake/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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PHOENIX, AZ – APRIL 5: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors is seen during the game against the Phoenix Suns on April 5, 2017 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ – APRIL 5: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors is seen during the game against the Phoenix Suns on April 5, 2017 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Golden State Warriors: 2015-16

Yeah, yeah, I know they blew a 3-1 lead with the unanimous MVP and the Coach of the Year after going 73-9, but here’s a counterpoint: they went 73-9 and were the most exciting, fun, and dominant team I’ve ever watched. It’s truly unfortunate that the team is more remembered for the fact that they lost in the Finals than for the trip they took to get there. Also, it’s pretty absurd just how many things had to go wrong for them to lose in a seventh game by four points. There was the Draymond Green suspension along with injuries to Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut that left the team decimated when it mattered most.

But I come not to apologize for the 2016 Warriors, but to celebrate them. And they absolutely deserve to be celebrated. They broke the record for wins in a season and featured Stephen Curry putting in a season that is one of the greatest individual years in NBA history. The dude averaged over 30 points per game on 50-40-90 shooting while making over five 3-pointers a game. It was absolutely bonkers. The only players to ever average more Win Shares per 48 minutes in a season are Kareem, Wilt, LeBron, and Jordan — four of the five greatest players in NBA history. For myself, and many others, this Warriors team was appointment viewing. Every single game was a chance to see a team do something at the highest possible level, while occasionally flirting with disaster before almost always catching fire and averting it at the last minute.

I get that you can make a very valid argument that the following season’s team, which switched out Harrison Barnes for Kevin Durant, was better, and you may be right in some ways, but there was a palpable joy and an ineffable beauty in the 2016 Warriors that these latter incarnations have failed to match, and I’m always going to opt for transcendentally risky beauty over sterile inevitability.

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