Warriors celebrate 10th anniversary of 2015 NBA championship team originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – For the second time in three days, the Warriors turned back the clock to celebrate their nouveau riche history.
The Warriors over the past 10 years have been the most decorated team in the NBA, with more championships than any team in major American professional sports. On Tuesday night at Chase Center, they paid homage to the roots.
The 2014-15 Warriors ended a 40-year championship drought for the franchise. Moreover, they took over the NBA with collective personality, superb performances and the joie de vivre exuded from the first month of the season until the final buzzer ended with triumph in Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Cleveland.
Three retired members of that team – Festus Ezeli, Brandon Rush and Marreese Speights – were in the Bay Area over the weekend for the retirement ceremony of Andre Iguodala’s No. 9 on Sunday. They took to the podium before their halftime ceremony Tuesday to relive past glories from the viewpoint of those who were present for the birth of a dynasty.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” said Speights, who was a prototype deep-shooting power forward off the bench. “It changed all of our lives.”
Rush was acquired in December 2011 in a trade with the Indiana Pacers. So, he was a Warrior before it was popular to be a Warrior. He was on the team before the planet fell in love with it – which made his experience that much more rewarding.
“My first year here … was a struggle,” said Rush, a solid two-way wing who now coaches his son’s AAU team. “I think we won 23 games (correct) and then following year we were able to put it together. Steph [Curry] was getting healthy and things started to change. We and came up winning and it’s been a dynasty the last 10 years.”
The Warriors went 23-43 under first-year head coach Mark Jackson but improved to 47-35 the next season, making their first NBA playoff appearance in six years. They went 51-31 in 2013-14 before losing to the Los Angeles Clippers in a searing seven-game Western Conference playoff series.
Golden State’s shot-callers sensed there was more that could be mined from the roster and replaced Jackson with Steve Kerr, who brought with him veteran lead assistants Ron Adams and Alvin Gentry. They took a roster featuring Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala, David Lee and Curry, along with new acquisition Shaun Livingston, to the next level.
“Everything was just 1-on-1, beat-your-man type of basketball,” Rush said, describing Jackson’s coaching style. “Then, when Kerr came here, he wanted us to move the ball, not turn the ball over, take great shots and find the open man. Just having that type of coach has always been a blessing, especially one with his winning background. He knows the right way to win basketball games.”
While Kerr credits Jackson for building a defensive mentality, Ezeli credits the former coach with instilling swagger not only in Curry and Thompson – “The best backcourt in the history of the NBA,” Jackson said – but throughout the roster.
“He was putting just confidence in all the different players across the board,” said Ezeli, an athletic center who now serves as an analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area. “And then Steve Kerr coming in and tying it together, saying, ‘OK, if you guys move the ball and play together, play unselfishly, then we’re going to get somewhere.’ What that somewhere was, we didn’t really know. We just wanted to see. And it’s crazy to say that we were NBA champions.”
That team won Golden State’s first NBA Finals since 1975 with defensive tenacity, offensive firepower and as much depth as any Warriors team since. Kerr was named Coach of the Year. Curry was league MVP.
“One thing that team don’t really get a lot of credit [for] is how connected we were off the court, the different events we had,” Speights said. “Like going over to Draymond’s house, going to different people’s house and just hanging out. That was a big part of us winning, and that’s different from other teams. Being here is special.”
It wasn’t always that way in Golden State. The franchise spent the better part of four decades mired in mediocrity or worse. They’ve since joined the NBA elite. The current team is trying to reinforce that status.
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