Warriors built by outside the box thinking

OAKLAND — Andre Iguodala flashed a grin and shook his head in a bit of amazement when pondering the manner in which the Golden State Warriors have evolved.

"It's just strange how things come together," the Warriors' sixth man told USA TODAY Sports as he strolled through Oracle Arena on Saturday. "It makes you believe, if you don't already believe, that there is a higher being."

No doubt, the Warriors' mojo has been bolstered by alignment-of-the-stars factors including the emergence of Stephen Curry as an MVP, Draymond Green proving that he was a better prospect coming out of college than many projected and the fortunate timing of Harrison Barnes deciding to stay in college for an extra year, only to be ultimately available for the Warriors.

Yet it's just as striking that Golden State, heading into Game 2 of the NBA Finals needing three wins to claim the franchise's first championship in 40 years, has benefited by a willingness to embrace out-of-the-box thinking.

Steve Kerr won five rings as a complementary player and is a former general manager, but until this season had never served as a coach on any level. For that matter, his predecessor, Mark Jackson — whom Iguodala credited for instilling confidence in the likes of Curry and Green — hadn't coached before getting the Warriors job, either.

The guy who hired the coaches? General manager Bob Myers, recently named NBA executive of the year, was an agent for 14 years before transitioning to the Warriors' front office in 2011, a year before being promoted to his current role.

This isn't the typical formula for building a championship, but look at the Warriors now.

"When anything works, it looks good," Myers told USA TODAY Sports, sitting courtside after a practice.

Myers recalled watching games with NBA general managers during his years as an agent, feeling a bit sympathetic as he witnessed their emotions during the ebb and flow of games — regular-season games, at that — but also a bit envious that they were in roles stoked by passion.

"That was appealing in one sense, but I kind of misdiagnosed what that would be like once I got the job," he said.

The job has been much tougher than Myers, 40, ever imagined, but what a quick study he was.

Although Curry wasn't his selection, the moves — and non-moves — by Myers have been consistent in developing an identity on the court that matches the cutting edge philosophy throughout the organization.

He had a banner draft in 2012, that consisted of landing Barnes with the seventh pick, Festus Ezeli in the 30th slot and Green 35th. He was the assistant GM under Larry Riley in 2011 when the team drafted Klay Thompson to complement Curry. And he didn't trade for Kevin Love last offseason, which would have meant dealing Thompson.

These are the players that allow them to play out-of-the-box, too, on the cutting edge of how the NBA's game is evolving.

"The new NBA is much more versatile," Myers said. "So we wanted to grab players who can do that."

The Warriors' up-tempo style, built on ball movement and spacing, is a hybrid to the system the San Antonio Spurs have thrived with and the offense-heavy scheme that Kerr had with the Phoenix Suns.

Yet for as explosive as Golden State plays in filling up the treys with its Splash Brothers, it built the league's best regular-season record this season by complementing the high-powered offense with the top-ranked team for defensive efficiency.

"We're capable of winning an 84-82 game," Alvin Gentry, the assistant coach who will join the New Orleans Pelicans as head coach after the playoffs," told USA TODAY Sports. "But we can also win a 118-115 game."

Gentry, who was an assistant with the Suns under Mike D'Antoni before taking over as coach, can vouch for the evolution.

"The one thing that we didn't have in Phoenix, is … you have to be really good defensively," he said. "That's what we were missing in Phoenix."

No doubt, the Warriors have demonstrated that there are multiple ways to win.

And if they can finish off the Cavaliers, it may be a model others will soon want to emulate.