Legendary hockey coach Herb Brooks, when interviewing to be the head coach of the US Olympic Men’s Hockey team for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, reportedly told the higher-ups who ran the USOC that their humiliating losses to the Soviet Union in previous years weren’t due to a lack of talent; rather, he postulated, “All-Star” teams, assembled based on name recognition and individual talent, rarely possess the balance, camaraderie, and teamwork required to go from a group of individuals to a team, where the whole ends up being greater than the sum of the parts.
When the Golden State Warriors started this season, they were in essence one of those All-Star teams; they had the last 2 MVPs, four of the best players in the entire NBA in their starting lineup, and a thin but well-regarded bench backing up the superstars.