When I hear people say to me that the Golden State Warriors are ruining basketball, I simply smile at them and asks a single question; how?

How can a team featuring three Most Valuable Player trophies, multiple players with All-NBA team honors, and over a dozen All Star appearances be bad for basketball?

How can a viewer not become entranced by the boyish fun that the Warriors play with on the court?

How does your jaw not drop when you watch Curry dazzle defenders with an array of moves that are typically only pulled off in YMCA recreation games?

How can you not sit and become engulfed by the wave of sound that takes place in Oracle Arena when Kevin Durant spikes one of his signature slams off of a delicious lob tosses by Draymond Green?

How can you not be utterly perplexed as to how Klay Thompson can catch and shoot so quickly with a defender in his face?

How can you not get caught up in the fun that surrounds Golden State? Like watching Curry drain half court shots and go through magical dribbling warmups, or seeing Thompson sign a toaster for a joy-filled fan.

After I ask these questions the person begins to have their opinion change.

The simple truth is that the Warriors are great for the development of basketball and the development of the National Basketball Association.

Their play style has attracted millions of new fans and the budding rivalry between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers has skyrocketed prime time television ratings for the league.

Since the emergence of this super-team ABC has slotted a Saturday night prime time slot to an NBA game each week during the regular season. The Junior NBA (a project launched that promotes kids from all over the world to play basketball) has exploded. Kids from all over the globe are now playing the game.

Jersey and merchandise sales have erupted and the NBA is generating more revenue than ever before.

The free agency saga involving Kevin Durant was similar to a Hollywood movie plot. Keeping fans involved and the NBA in the news and relevant all through the short offseason. Not to mention the fact that backups and second teamers (like Jon Leur, who is best known for dunking on Lebron James) getting lucrative contracts.

With game one of the Finals ending last night and the Warriors utterly dismantling a Cleveland team with the game’s biggest star, critics began to harp on how bad Golden State was for basketball.

But all of these analysts and twitter gods are missing the point, back in 2011 they were not talking at great length about the Finals. Memes were not being created from the game’s action and nobody gave a crap about who won.

Now the Finals are a can’t miss event. They are being covered at a Super Bowl like level.

If the Warriors were just an average team with mediocre players like Baron Davis and Caron Butler the NBA would not have exploded at this level.

I’ll ask again; are the Warriors bad for basketball?