The Warriors' Unique Practice Competition
Friendly competition has a tendency to breed success when you compete against the guys who you go to war with every night. The Golden State Warriors are an excellent example of that, as media clips from their practices (like that one time they played baseball in the Chase Center arena after returning from a long road trip) show the whole team out there participating and having fun.
The most recent Warriors practice competition to emerge into the limelight is a “shooter of the day” competition, which Juan Toscano Anderson appears to have won at practice yesterday:
Yes, that’s a belt for whoever wins the competition.
The origin, as Damion Lee explained in his own media availability, is that the Warriors will have daily competitions focused on getting some shots up. The belt then goes to the winner of the competition, although Lee had the belt without winning it yesterday.
“If you win the day, you get the belt” Lee said. “Steph won today, and then Juan won the second one, so Steph graciously gave the belt to Juan… If you win the belt, you get to keep it.”
What exactly the competition was, however, was not elaborated on as Lee was jokingly adamant the media “wouldn’t get all the answers” from him. What he did say, however, is that there were two competitions, one which Steph won and then one which JTA won, so because there was only one belt, Steph let JTA rock it for the day.
These kinds of friendly competitions are what keeps the locker room so fresh and together, letting guys whose job it is to compete have some competition for the sake of fun. It’s clear that even guys who haven’t been here for the whole dynasty run are very well-integrated as well, from rookies to new vets, with the Warriors culture.
(Photo credit: Golden State Warriors)