The Golden State Warriors have a chance to make the 2016-17 NBA season a historic one after adding superstar forward Kevin Durant to a team that just won a league-record 73 games.
Forming a cohesive unit won’t be a walk in the park, though, at least according to one Hall of Famer with two championship rings.
“It takes time,” San Antonio Spurs legend David Robinson told Complex’s Zach Frydenlund. “You look at what happened with LeBron, (Dwyane) Wade and (Chris) Bosh (in Miami). It took them a year or two to get their legs underneath them and figure things out, and even then, that run was relatively short.
“So if you’re able to put together a team like this, you’re generally going to have a short window because you can’t pay all those guys to keep them together. There’s the short window that’s going to end relatively quickly, and it’s not as easy as going out to play.”
Robinson is absolutely right. Aside from salary-cap constraints, team chemistry definitely is a factor.
The only “super team” that had very little struggle in this regard during the opening part of its first season was the 2007-08 Boston Celtics, who went 18-2 in their first month while being led by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Unlike recent super teams, that Celtics squad was led by three future Hall of Famers who were much closer to retirement than James was in Miami or anyone is now for Golden State. Pierce, KG and Allen were all about the team aspect and trying to win their first title, which probably made it easier to set personal goals and egos aside and focus on building chemistry.
Quite honestly, the Warriors could be another exception. They have shown an unselfish attitude and style of play over the last two seasons, and they have the perfect coach to manage egos in Steve Kerr. As a guard on the 1990s Chicago Bulls, Kerr had a front-row seat to watch legendary coach Phil Jackson expertly manage Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, among others.
Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
