Warriors are league's ambassadors after globe-trotting offseason

Oct 16 (Reuters) - When the Golden State Warriors touched down in China earlier this month for two exhibition games, the reigning NBA champs were greeted like rock stars, with hundreds of screaming fans waiting at the airport and hotel despite their late night arrival.

The greeting in Shanghai and Shenzhen cemented the Warriors as a global brand and one that is especially beloved in the fast-growing Chinese market, where 300 million people play basketball, according to the Chinese Basketball Association.

"It reminds me of when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls used to travel. It was like the Beatles were coming," five-time NBA All-Star and current television commentator Reggie Miller said, referring to the team that dominated the sport in the 1990s.

"The Warriors have that global effect."

The Oakland-based team led the league's Chinese market last season in jersey sales, digital viewers per game (4.1 million) and followers on the Chinese social media account, Weibo (3.8 million), NBA China CEO David Shoemaker told the San Jose Mercury News.

The awe-struck team even received a locker room visit in Shanghai from the global face of tennis and lifelong basketball fan Roger Federer.

Aside from their on-court dominance - the Warriors have won two of the last three NBA championships and are the odds-on favorite to repeat this year - the team's unselfish style of play and colorful roster make them irresistible to overseas fans, Miller said.

That all starts with point guard Stephen Curry. The 6-foot 3-inch (1.91 meters), three-point shooting maestro routinely makes taller, stronger players look helpless to stop his bombs from downtown or his dazzling drives to the basket.

"He's got the choir boy look and he does what every young kid, male or female, wants to do. They want to make those long shots," Miller said of Curry, whose jersey is the NBA's top seller in China.

"Kids can go to their moms and dads and say, 'I want to play like Steph Curry. I'm not going to be as tall as Kevin Durant but I can do that,'" Miller said, referencing to Warriors' 6-9 (2.06 meters) small forward.

The team has an edge too, most notably outspoken power forward Draymond Green, who on Thursday said the unprecedented offseason moves made by the rest of the league to overcome the Warriors juggernaut would not work.

The rest of the teams "don't have a ... clue" how to win against the Warriors, he told GQ.

"Draymond is a great guy but when he plays he has that demeanor that he's going to go right through you," Miller said.

"So they've got that yin and yang on the team that appeals to everyone."

To top it off, the Warriors are coached by Steve Kerr, who already achieved international fame for his role on the Bulls in the '90s.

"You have everything encompassed in your players and your coaching staff," Miller said.

"The Warriors are like a perfect storm." (Reporting by Rory Carroll)