After Alvin Attles (16), Rick Barry (24), Wilt Chamberlain (16), Tom Mescherry (14), Chris Mullin (17) and Nate Thurmond (42), this is number 9 ofAndre Iguodala Who will soon join the Chase Center ceiling following his visit to the Warriors, from 2013 to 2019, then from 2021 to 2023, for four NBA champion titles.
Beyond its qualities as a basketball player, its regularity and its versatility, “Iggy” notably marked the spirits by winning the title of MVP of the 2015 finals, the first trophy of the dynasty composed with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, then Kevin Durant.
The “anti-Lebron” weapon
In a factor X role in the series against the CAVS, he had been responsible for defending on LeBron James, while all of Cleveland's attack went through him, exhausting him while being opportunistic in attack.
The “King” also made him the same the following year with his “Chasedown Block” in Legend … almost eleven years after his arrival and four titles later, so here he is to benefit from honor Ultimate, while waiting for his little friends to follow, Kevin during understood.
“It's just that I'm the oldest”,, He first slipped In the tone of the joke. Mark Jackson's favorite sentence was: “Time is undefeated”. It played in my favor this time, since I am the first ”.
More than the titles, Andre Iguodala also remembered how much he had believed in this project and in this team. He had notably been one of the first to materialize what was still just a dream, to make Golden State a team of champions. After elimination in the first round against the clippers in seven rounds in 2014, magic ended up operating, and the Warriors then dominated the League for seven years, almost without sharing.
“I remember my press conference as if it were yesterday”he added. “I remember what I was wearing. I remember questions, answers. And you know, I was a second -class 'free agent' waiting behind Dwight Howard. So I didn't think the press conference was going to make headlines at the national level. Maybe only at the local level. But I remember one of the answers I had given: 'We are not so far'. They had just pushed the Spurs into six games (during the 2013 playoffs), with very tight matches. Steph was asserting himself. And I used the word 'champion'. »»
They didn't know it was impossible, so they did it
His arrival, coupled of course to that of Steve Kerr a year later, were the last parts to constitute a group which then became unstoppable. With humility, Andre Iguodala added that with hindsight, he did not expect such success!
“I had never exceeded the second round”he recalled. “The Warriors no longer since the 1970s. We barely left the” Not One, Not Two, Not Three “by LeBron James, so we had to be careful what we said after that. I didn't know anything about it because I had never arrived so far. It was just, I don't know, an intuition. But I did not think that four titles would be obtained, and that there would be a jersey withdrawal. ”
Now executive director of the players' union, Andre Iguodala has not forgotten to salute the management of the Warriors, and obviously paid tribute to Stephen Curry, around which the dynasty was built. Playing so long by his side also had the merit of keeping him in shape and lightening the weight of years.
“I can correctly assess my career, so I don't need to be validated. But that's what I could say: I think I was the first to understand how I could prolong my career by playing alongside Steph Curry … I hate making the headlines. Kevin Durant is the most talented basketball player I have ever seen. I include Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is the best, but I'm talking about talent. No one is better than Kevin during. But without Stephen Curry, none of our jerseys would join the ceiling of a room ”he recognized. “Without them, I would not be in this position. I think they are aware of how important I was. But obviously, Steph, Klay and Draymond being so unique in their personality, it is a powerful recipe and really difficult to reproduce … I am really, really, really enthusiastic about sharing this moment with them ”.
