Popovich: Warriors offer much more than talent

In the era of the Super Team, the Spurs stand out as the guardians of team basketball. The last vestige of an older league where team ball reigned and stars competed against one another rather than joining forces.

That of course is ridiculous. There have always been super teams, and the Spurs have had a crazy amount of talent over the last two decades.

That doesn't stop us from viewing a team like the Warriors - the ultimate super team - as not much more than a ridiculous collection of talent, an all-star team dropped into the NBA.

But Golden State is much more than that. The Warriors are the best of both worlds: A super team that also plays beautiful, flowing team basketball, as Gregg Popovich, the league's foremost purveyor of team basketball, so eloquently explained after his Spurs were swept in the Western Conference Finals…

</div> <div> <p>"This is maybe the best defensive team in the league, on top of everything. So they don't just play with talent. They execute at the defensive end of the floor. On offense, no team is more unselfish. Finding the open man and that sort of thing. And they get credit for that. Coaches are always trying to get their team to do that, but they have a multitude of people who are unselfish in that regard and play a beautiful game."</p> </div> <p>The Warriors are the rare dominant team that is also tremendously fun to watch. They share the ball and still manage to have fun doing so. It's not <em>that</em> the Warriors win that makes them so compelling to watch, which has been true for most of the dynastic teams we've seen in sports history; it's how they win: by playing a brand of basketball that even the most purist of fans can appreciate.</p> <asset-embed uri="http%3A%2F%2Flink.brightcove.com%2Fservices%2Fplayer%2Fbcpid2777811600001%3Fbckey%3DAQ%7E%7E%2CAAAABvaL8JE%7E%2CufBHq_I6FnylUhWkNSqL6V_zjIsdPuwc%26bctid%3D5370340871001%26autoStart%3Dfalse" /> </body></html>