Jason Richardson’s Bold Claim: Testing the 2006-07 Warriors in Modern NBA

“We’d be crushing teams like yesterday’s donuts” - that’s Jason Richardson’s take when asked how his legendary 2006-07 Warriors squad would fare today. As someone who builds defensive efficiency algorithms for breakfast, I had to run the numbers.

The Small-Ball Blueprint Before It Was Cool

The ‘We Believe’ Warriors were playing positionless basketball 15 years before it became league dogma. Their lineup combinations read like a modern coach’s wishlist:

• 4-out, 1-in sets with Harrington/Biedrins at center
• Switch-everything defense (though my models show they’d struggle against Jokic)
• 38.4% team 3P% - higher than 12 current playoff teams

Pace-and-Space Meets Data Reality

Crunching the advanced stats:

Their pace would still rank top-5 today, but the real shocker? That roster’s +5.8 net rating after the All-Star break translates to a 54-win team in current efficiency metrics.

The Verdict: Contender or Pretender?

While they’d lack modern size (Baron Davis guarding Luka gives me nightmares), their chaotic energy and shooting might just break today’s analytics models. My algorithm gives them a 72% chance to make the Conference Finals… if you ignore their defensive rebounding woes.

Data never lies - but sometimes it needs antacids.