After winning 67 games and being crowned NBA champions last season, the Golden State Warriors are already a great team. But Draymond Green thinks they can get even better.
You may think this seems like a ridiculous suggestion. How could the Golden State Warriors get any better? They are coming of a historically great season after defeating their opponents with an average point differential of +10.1 points and going through the gruelling Western conference before winning themselves an NBA championship. Is there really much room for improvement?
Well, if you stop and think about their situation, it’s definitely possible. And after a recent interview with Basketball Insiders, Draymond Green has said exactly that; he thinks his Warriors could get even better in the 2015-16 season.
As per usual, Basketball Insiders delivered another great piece of content and a very insightful interview with one of the best young players in the league, not to mention one of the top few defenders in the game today.
Draymond Green discussed a variety of topics, whilst also talking about how he thinks the Warriors can improve in terms of their offensive chemistry and flow:
"Basketball Insiders: “Your team could significantly improve next year and I think a lot of people are forgetting that. How much better can you guys play this year compared to last year?”Draymond Green: “I think we could get a lot better. At the end of the day, what Coach Kerr always preaches on the offensive end is flow. And I think that flow gets better with time because you understand, ‘I’m going to get my shot here,’ and, ‘If I move the ball, it’s going to come back to me,’ and all of that stuff. You understand all of that better in year two. In our first year with Coach Kerr and our first year in that offense, it was different. I mean, if somebody tells you to pass up an open shot [but] you’re going to get it back, you’re not used to that. You’re thinking, ‘Uh, why should I pass up this shot?’ At this point though, we understand it now. That makes a difference, so I think we can get a lot better. I think we are going to get a lot better and I think the sky is the limit for this group and for this organization.”"
No matter how talented a team is, if the players aren’t comfortable with each other and their styles and mindsets can’t compliment each other, they won’t find nearly as much success as possible. On offense, they won’t be able to move the ball around with ease and accuracy if there isn’t any chemistry. So, as Green said above, by continuing to grow together and get even more playing time as a unit under their belts, they may even be able to improve on their league best mark of 27.4 assists per game from last season and up the efficiency of their team even further.
As Basketball Insiders correctly pointed out in their interview, Green, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli are all 25 years old or younger, plus Steve Kerr should only improve as he gains more experience as a head coach.
On top of those key factors, they also brought back all their key players and only lost David Lee to the Boston Celtics; but his role only involved 18.4 minutes per game in the regular season and a mere 8.2 in the playoffs, so they can cope just fine without him anyway.
With reigning MVP Stephen Curry leading the way, and veteran players such as Finals MVP Andre Iguodala who have proved they can rise to any occasion off the bench, the Warriors’ offensive “flow”, as Green put it, will only intensify as their chemistry increases. Even the likely hiring of Steve Nash as a part-time player development consultant can help offer their backcourt some additional knowledge and insight from one of the best point guards in league history.
It’s not only offensive movement and shot creation as Green discussed, though. The Warriors led the NBA in defensive efficiency by surrendering just 98.2 points per 100 possessions. Meaning that with a fully healthy Andrew Bogut, Thompson and a defensively improving Curry on the perimeter, Iguodala off the bench and Green stopping everyone all over the floor, their defensive prowess won’t be fading any time soon.
Furthermore, when you consider what they did in their first season with a new head coach, and how they catapulted themselves from a 51 win-first round exit team in 2013-14, to NBA champions last season, there’s no reason their rise to greatness will fade away.
Ultimately, as Draymond said, “the sky is the limit” for the Warriors. And until another team finds a way to stop them, he couldn’t be more right.
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