Warriors, as all great teams, at the intersection of talent and fortune

"A wise man turns chance into good fortune." -- Thomas Fuller

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither were the Warriors. It's easy to watch Golden State run up the score on these hapless teams -- i.e., everybody -- and feel that the Warriors simply emerged from some mystical cocoon fully formed, ready to bend the world to their will with sheer skill. Instead, it was a process, formed over time with hours of work put in by a savvy front office and some very talented players. And yes, some luck was involved.

Draymond Green -- learning to handle the ball and evolving from a big man into the hybrid dragon he is in the Warriors' system. Stephen Curry -- improving what his fans like to forget was a genuinely weak handle when he came out of Davidson. (That scouting report everyone loves to mock? Most of it was on point in its assessment of Curry. To paraphrase Monty Python, "he got better.") Klay Thompson -- dedicating himself to off-ball movement and defense. The Warriors spent years perfecting themselves, through Mark Jackson's isolation-heavy dredge-ball which suffered an ignominious fall to their hated rival the Clippers, and through Steve Kerr's first season as they learned what it was to be the frontrunner and how that in and of itself presents a challenge.

The Warriors put the work in, and now get to enjoy the fruits of that work in the form of unsurpassed dominance over everything.

But again, here's the question: Was all this, their superhuman, nearly mythological status as likely the first 73-win team the product of superior design and innate greatness? Or was it instead, or at least in addition, the result of a sort of stars-aligning phenomenon that ultimately produced this supernova of 3-pointers and stifling defense?

The Argument For Design

Warriors owner Joe Lacob came across as just about the most self-aggrandizing human being imaginable in a recent New York Times Magazine piece. He bragged about crushing every other team and strongly implied that just as vital to this alpha organization was the business and management plan that set into motion the design of the team, from roster construction to marketing execution.

However, here's what he told the Mercury News in October about the fact that his five-year plan didn't take nearly that long:

“Sometimes, I question like, ‘Man, how did we make so many good decisions?’ We made a lot of great decisions. We made a lot of great hires. And I guess we got a little lucky. All I can tell you is this is a culmination of a lot of incredibly hard work and a lot of really good people doing their job really well. It was the goal. It was the standard we set. I was a bit braggadocious early on. I did need to be that way because we needed to have a change in our mindset in the organization. And the fans needed to know that we cared and we wanted to win and that we were going to do anything possible to make it happen. … You can’t achieve that goal unless you set that goal, set that standard. I realize it was a little bit bragging early on. Maybe some people didn’t like it. But guess what? We have an organization that thinks like that now.”

Source: The long journey of Warriors' owner Joe Lacob - Marcus Thompson II.

So there's the owner admitting that the Warriors "got a little lucky." After all, getting Stephen Curry for a four-year championship run at $44 million is maybe the very defintion of fortunate. Still, perhaps a better way to look at it is that the Warriors have avoided bad luck. That approach enables a sense of satisfaction and ownership over the immensity of the Warriors' dominance while also recognizing the role that chance plays in all of life's events ... without taking anything away from how hard (and smart) they worked at building this empire.

After all, there's a method behind every good thing that has happened to the Warriors.

Accumulating all these talented players in the draft? Superior scouting.

Keeping them healthy to a degree far greater than any team in recent memory? The result of true commitment to biometrics and an emphasis on player health above all other factors.

Steph Curry's rampant and debilitating ankles suddenly becoming indestructible? The product of extensive research, tireless rehabilitation and bold, innovative medical science.

The addition of Andre Iguodala? Top-notch pitching of a free agent.

Keeping Klay Thompson over trading for Kevin Love? Crystal-clear thinking beyond media narratives.

Hiring Steve Kerr? Simply understanding what their team needed.

You can reasonably construct an argument that everything that happened to make the Warriors The Warriors was always the product of business, basketball and technology genius, along with good ol' fashioned hard work. If this sounds condescending, it's not meant to be. The Warriors really did put together a superior approach. They could have settled for Mark Jackson and his playoff appearances. They took massive backlash for that decision, including Curry himself advocating for Jackson's return.

The Warriors, in fact, could have chosen Monta Ellis over Curry in the first place. In 2012 it was clear one of them had to go, and when it was Ellis, they could have dealt him for anyone other than Andrew Bogut, who was the very definition of "injury prone" at that point despite most of his maladies having resulted from freak accidents. They could have drafted someone else in Draymond Green's slot. They could have taken Jordan Hill or Brandon Jennings over Curry in the 2009 draft, as Curry had made it known he didn't want to be picked by Golden State.

Over and over, there were tons of bad decisions the Warriors could have made, and they didn't.

So they avoided bad decisions, and that put them in a position to avoid bad luck. The process they put together worked out. They put together the right squad with the right coach, the players worked their tails off to be the best they could be and sacrificed the way they had to, and now they're reaping the benefits.

An Inherent Rabbit's Foot

Being good and being lucky are not mutually exclusive, and neither diminishes the significance of the other.

Lots of teams make bad draft choices. But the Warriors landed what appears to be the greatest player of his generation -- Steph Curry -- at the seventh spot. Putting aside the Grizzlies' decision to draft Hasheem Thabeet, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded for a pick to select one point guard, Ricky Rubio, and then used their own pick to draft another point guard, Jonny Flynn. Forget "What if David Kahn didn't draft like a college kid at the roulette table at 4 a.m. after five Long Island Iced Teas?" What about: "What if the Wizards don't liquidate their future for Mike Miller and Randy Foye?"

Curry might be in Washington.

And forget about getting Draymond Green in the second round. Yes, they took him, and they're to be credited that, but getting an All-NBA level player with the 35th overall pick is pretty much making your flush on the river. You need these kinds of breaks to be this great. You can put all the research and technology you want into sustained player health, but anyone can land funny on a knee or an ankle and turn the fortunes of a franchise in an instant.

And remember all that cap space they cleared to sign Andre Iguodala in 2013? Oh wait, they weren't clearing it solely for Iguodala. They were clearing it, mainly, for Dwight Howard. What happens if Dwight goes to Oakland instead of future Finals MVP Iguodala, who has proven to be the X-factor and bench presence every great team needs?

There were dozens of things that can't be explained by design, even if they did make the right decisions.

The intersection of Luck and Design

Of course the answer to this entire debate is that the Warriors have been both very good at all aspects of running a basketball franchise, and they've been lucky, just like Lacob said. And agin, you need this to be this good -- otherwise one could make the assumption that every team that has a good process ultimately succeeds. Ask Sam Hinkie how that worked out. Also, if you try and point to luck as the reason for the Warriors' dominance, it assumes that every lucky team is good. And you can ask the Cavaliers how many titles they've won by landing the best player of his generation ... twice.

Not only did all of these fortunate things occur, and not only did so much of the Warriors' approach work out, but they worked out to a historic degree. The Warriors didn't get a great shooter at the seventh pick, they got the best shooter of all time. The Warriors weren't healthier than most playoff teams, they barely had the sniffles last season.

And yet none of that matters if the players don't sacrifice and commit themselves to playing the way they need to. Carmelo Anthony could never be what Stephen Curry is. Dwight Howard could never be Draymond. It goes all the way down to James Michael McAdoo. Their guys put in the work, and in the end, they're the ones that win the games.

Golden State landed on a gold mine, but it was also smart enough to go digging in the dirt.

The Warriors are now on the verge of being identified as the greatest team in history, but it wasn't luck, and it wasn't hard work or ingenuity. It was everything in perfect harmony that created something truly special.

If there's anything to take away from the Warriors -- besides awe -- maybe it's hope. Sometimes you get lucky, and you make the most of it. Sometimes you work hard and smart, make the right decisions and call the right play, and everything works out. The Warriors aren't proof of basketball providence, but they are the clearest illustration that every organization only has so much control over its destiny.

You can strive to be great, and sometimes, every once in a blue moon, fate goes ahead and plays right along with you.