Obama Honors Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry

ladies and gentlemen, the 2015 NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States, accompanied by coach Steve Kerr, Joe Lake oh, Peter Guber and mr. Jerry West, welcome to the White House, everyone welcome the NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors. Everyone, please take a seat. Let me start by saying that I was hoping Riley Curry would be here today to share the podium with me, but I guess I'll have to get media training some other day. The East Room is not as loud as the roar, but the dubbing is well rendered.

We have some members of my Cabinet and Congress in the house who are big fans and I'm not. I'm just talking about Harrison Barnes who apparently they call the senator, he's from Iowa so maybe he's got some politics in his blood but we have one of the biggest gold fans and they say the fans around our leader in the House of Representatives, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, We have Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy here, so this is bipartisan, we have Mayor Shabbas here, so we're glad he's here to celebrate the best of the mint. I also want to recognize a warrior executive board member and NBA legend, one of the greatest. of all time, logo Jerry West, as well as owner Joe Lekha and general manager Bob Myers give them a big round of applause.

Now it's rare to be in the presence of guys from the best team in NBA history, so we're very lucky today. Since we have one of those players in the house, Steve Kerr, from the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, it's good to see them back now for those of you who don't know that the word started this season without Coach Kerr, who he was recovering. from back surgery, so Luke Walton stepped up and led the team to a ridiculous record of 39 and four, unfortunately the NBA won't let him count those wins as his, what man? That doesn't seem fair, you defied the cynics, you achieved great things. he amassed a great record and doesn't get enough credit.

I can't imagine what that feels like. Let's face it, the Warriors are in the middle of a pretty special two-year run. People say they are revolutionizing basketball. It's nice that it seems like they're just breaking the game itself and I don't play anymore, but I still know a little bit about basketball and this is truly one of the best we've seen. Great shots, great small ball passes. Nuclear alignment. It's almost not fair and not only do they play well, they play well together, they play as a team the way basketball is supposed to be played and it's beautiful to see them when they are firing on all cylinders now, let's face it, it wasn't like that , friends.

I profiled the Warriors for many years. I may be one of the few old enough to remember the last time they were good in the mid 70's. I was the last time they won a championship. I was 10 years old, so the EO that had the franchise. He had some good teams and some great players, but he had been struggling. One college player forgot there was even a team in Oakland, which, by the way, was Klay Thompson, but a few years ago Joe Lakum took over, pointed to that 1975 championship banner and said that's a lonely flag, we need another one and Last year they had 67 wins, 16 in a row at one point, that used to seem like a lot until this year where they started 24 and 0 and ended last season with their first title in 40 years. and obviously a big part of that was League MVP Steph Curry.

Stef is pretty sure that for those of you who watched the game against the Wizards last night, he must have used some slang he was clowning around, jumping around for the record that I heard during this. summer after our golf game, Steph was using the excuse that the Secret Service was intimidating to explain why he lost the game; that's not the case but he'll get another chance obviously watching Steph play is amazing and for anyone who enjoys basketball it's just a lot of fun but it's not just Steph there's Splash's other brother Klay who scored 37 points in a quarter and whose jump shot is actually a little prettier.

I love the sun. There were barn mates. Bogut blocks. Draymond Green shows us the heart over the height in each one. Night Drayman has also been known to add a few more words that I can't repeat, so you have a couple of selfless stars in their own right who came off the bench, Andre Iguodala and David Lee, and a bench that was so good that an opposing coach was complained that they had two starting lineups in the finals. Golden State faced Cleveland and the guy named LeBron was two games behind. Coach Kerr had the guts to change the lineup and it worked.

Andre came off the bench and played great defense to comb. the MVP of the finals and was a perfect example of the type of team where everyone does their part, everyone is ready to step up at any moment, selfless play, people who look out for each other and are the same guy of selflessness that the Warriors show in their community. Additionally, they have paved the way for the NBA's commitment to our My Brother's Keeper initiative that promotes mentoring in the Bay Area and across the country. I know you met with some students today at the White House Mentoring Program.

These teams also support the city's pledge effort in Oakland. To help more kids finish college, we've had players take a stand against gun violence. They would work with Michelle's Let's Move initiative. They dressed up as Santa Claus to deliver Christmas gifts to the needy and the first. The time I met Steph it was because she had teamed up with the United Nations Foundation to donate three malaria nets for every triple she made, so last night it was 33, so keep shooting, not that she needs any encouragement obviously , hello, yes, the point is. This is a great basketball team, but it's a great organization, a great culture and these are outstanding young men and I met some of them before Steph.

I've gotten to know them a little better, they're just the kind of people you want representing a city that represents the NBA and the kind of people you want our kids to support so they have a lot to be proud of and good luck during the season. rest of this season, maybe you'll break that Bulls record, but as Coach Kirk pointed out, he wins either way, either way, he has the record, so thank you all, regulations, thank you, in fact, I have a little thirsty Is it my water or yours? I thought maybe it was yours.

I assume it's yours. I mean. thank you, I also want to congratulate you on becoming the first president in the great history of our nation to use the term clown, so although it may be Teddy Roosevelt, I use it somewhere, but we want to thank you, our organization is very honored to be here to We will join you to tour the White House and celebrate our championship with you here. Our general manager Bob Meyers, who you met earlier, also mentioned to me that you will be a free agent at the end of this year, so we don't know.

If you still have something lined up but I'm ready to go, you can consider this a symbol of an upcoming deal. We want him as soon as he finishes his duties here at the White House. We would like you to be the leader of double the nation now your