OAKLAND, Calif. — Long before the late-night theatrics, the record-setting pyrotechnics and the 3-pointers from outer space, the Golden State Warriors wandered through the basketball wilderness. They cycled through coaches like disposable diapers. They started players on 10-day contracts. They went years without sniffing the playoffs.
Tim Roye, who began calling games as the Warriors’ radio play-by-play voice in 1995, recalled hearing from fans. They would send handwritten letters, which showed how much they cared. The only problem was their team stunk.
“Man, were they angry,” Roye said.
Given the events of more recent seasons, few people on the planet have greater perspective on the team’s emergence as an all-universe juggernaut than Roye and two colleagues who have been staples of the Warriors’ radio and television broadcasts for decades: Jim Barnett, who has worked as the Warriors’ TV analyst since 1985, and Bob Fitzgerald, who has done play-by-play of the team’s games since 1993.