CLEVELAND— For the Golden State Warriors, Andre Iguodala is the ultimate glue player; a smart, athletic, play-making wing whose defensive versatility lies at the heart of everything they have done on their way to becoming one of the great teams in NBA history.
For the Toronto Raptors’ Iguodala represents one of the franchise’s original sins— or at least a symbol of the dark, old days when chaos reigned. He is the player any Raptors fan with any tenure watches and can never quite forget.
The Warriors guard/forward/do-it-all has given them plenty to look upon in wonder or despondence over the years, probably both. A year ago Iguodala was so essential to the Warriors offensive and defensive schemes that he became the first player in NBA history to earn Finals MVP honours while coming off the bench. So far in what is shaping up as a route of a rematch between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Warriors – the Cavs are desperate to win Game 3 on Wednesday to have any hope of a coming back from being down 2-0 – Iguodala has provided more of the same.
And he’s a hell of a nice guy. For example, when asked what he thinks of when he hears the name Rafael ‘Hoffa’ Araujo, the burly Brazilian the Raptors took 8th overall in 2004—one spot ahead of him— in the 2004 NBA draft, Iguodala doesn’t smirk or laugh or shake his head.
“Umm, a really solid player,” said Iguodala. “Uh. Wasn’t really heard of because he was from a smaller school from a basketball standpoint, and from the West, as I was, you don’t get as much respect.”
In scouting that’s called damning with faint praise. As Raptors fans know, ‘Hoffa’ was solid, but never a solid player, as his three-season, 139-game career would indicate.
Iguodala? He’s poised to earn his second NBA title doing what he’s always done, mixing timely offense with elite playmaking while playing stifling defense against the best players in the NBA.
So far in the Finals he’s largely stymied the Cavaliers’ LeBron James, who is shooting just 42 per cent for the series and is now shooting 40.2 per cent in his last seven games against the Warriors, with Iguodala as the primary defender. The Warriors have won all seven. In Game 1 Iguodala sparked the Warriors first-half run and finished with his almost standard stat-stuffing line: 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 36 minutes while leading the Warriors with a +21. In Game 2 his numbers were more pedestrian (7/5/3 in 28 minutes) but he once again led Golden State with a +28.
“Andre is a brilliant basketball player. He doesn’t get enough credit,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after Game 1. “You look at his stat line and his line never usually tells the story, but 12 points, 7 boards, 6 assists, no turnovers and great defense. He always settles us down, and he knows exactly what’s happening out there…he is the adult in the room.”
From the Raptors perspective he’s a constant reminder of what can be missed with a moment’s indecision on draft night. Back in 2004, the Raptors were in the earliest days of Rob Babcock’s reign of error, and passing on Iguodala may have been his biggest mistake. The draft occurred only a couple of weeks into Babcock’s term as general manager. He didn’t have the time to do the deep dive into potential prospects at the No.8 spot and ended up deferring to the Raptors senior advisor Jack McCLoskey, who had enjoyed great success with the Detroit Pistons in part thanks to Bill Laimbeer, a big slow centre who made up for his lack of athleticism with a sky-high basketball IQ, a mile-wide mean streak and shooting range that extended to the three-point line.
The Raptors already had Vince Carter and Morris Peterson on the wing and Chris Bosh at the four. When their turn to pick came up they went for a perceived position of need and selected Araujo, a centre out of BYU by way of Brazil, who had torn up a weak conference as a 6-foot-10, 290-pound 24-year-old. He was rugged enough, but not a good shooter, not a smart player and far too slow for the NBA game. He was out of Toronto after two seasons, and out of the league entirely after three.
“Nothing against Hoff. Good guy, good teammate, but I was disappointed in myself [for making that pick],” Babcock told me a few years ago, in a heartfelt mea culpa. “Because my philosophy was to go with the most talented player, not the need. You only go with need if the talent was equal. And my rankings, who I wanted, was Andre Iguodala and that’s who I was ready to take. The needs all said big man. Strong physical big man. Protect Chris Bosh, protect Vince Carter. That was a mistake. That wasn’t the right pick. Looking back, I don’t know why I changed my philosophy. That was a mistake.”
Iguodala went to the Philadelphia 76ers with the next pick and, 12 years later, is the 2004 draft class’s leader in games played, minutes played and NBA Finals MVP awards won. Since draft night in ’04, there has never been a moment in Raptors history that they couldn’t have used defensive-minded, play-making, team-first wing player. Last summer they spent $60-million to sign DeMarre Carroll to provide those qualities. By that standard Iguodala is worth $100-million.
Since shifting to the Western Conference Iguodala doesn’t visit Toronto as often as when he did with Philadelphia, but he knows he occupies a special place in franchise lore as arguably the best player the Raptors never drafted (with apologies to LaMarcus Aldridge).
“The first couple of years in the league, when I was having some success I sensed that a little bit,” said Iguodala. “As I’ve gotten older I haven’t put that much thought into it, but I can see it.”
Iguodala never even worked out for the Raptors prior to the draft.
“When he was an 18-year-old freshman at Arizona and I was a 22-year-old senior he used to give me fits every day in practice with how good of a player he was and how skilled he was,” said Warriors assistant coach and former college teammate Luke Walton. “When you play against someone every single day, you realize that. When someone is just athletic you learn how to take advantage of him, you can win that match-up. With him it was absolute knowledge of the game and great feel for the game.
“I don’t know what other people saw, but when GMs called me around the draft I told everyone he’s going to be all-star caliber player in this league for at least 10 years because of what he brings to the table outside his physical attributes.” Toronto was not one of the teams who reached out to Walton ahead of the draft.
For the Raptors and their fans, Iguodala will always be remembered as the draft pick they got emphatically wrong. The evidence is being played out at the NBA Finals yet again.