Following a rare loss on Saturday night, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr spoke to the media about his team and shed some light on the culture that has been built over the past few years.
According to Kerr, who has won 8 rings throughout his playing and coaching career, the best teams keep a consistently positive culture — even in the hardest of times.
“If you can’t maintain your culture during the down times, then you don’t really have a culture. It’s just dependent on winning. The culture has to survive losing stretches.
We’re 19-4, we’ve established a two-way dynamic with this team, we’ve guys who care, who fight for one another… we’re in a great place.”
Fascinating quote here from Steve Kerr: "If you can’t maintain your culture during the down times, then you don’t really have a culture. It’s just dependent on winning. The culture has to survive losing stretches."
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) December 5, 2021
Indeed, it’s true that the Warriors have separated themselves from the rest. For years, they have been a team that players have run to play for, and it’s just because of their success.
Former Warriors guard Quinn Cook once said this about getting a call from Golden State in free agency:
“When Golden State calIed,” Cook said via NBC Sports, “I told my agent, ‘I didn’t care if I never play. I don’t have to play. I just want to be a part of the organization. I want to learn every single day from those guys.’”
Just being there, it just meant a lot,” Cook said. “It just meant a lot, having relationships with those guys. It means the world to me because it was a true family. They accepted me and they accepted all the young guys who were new to the team, and they treated us like every other player, man. Just to have relationships with guys like that, to learn from guys like that, it means the world and it’s something I cherish to this day.”
Moreso than maybe every other team in basketball, the Warriors play for each other, and they operate as a unit despite the amazing stars that do well enough on their own.
That culture is why guys like Andrew Wiggins and James Wiseman have completely bought in this season.
But will that culture be enough to get them another Championship? We’ll just have to wait and see for ourselves.
