Klay Thompson: Warriors can win 70 games this season

Oct 20, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) dribbles past Los Angeles Clippers guard Lance Stephenson (right) during the first quarter at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 20, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) dribbles past Los Angeles Clippers guard Lance Stephenson (right) during the first quarter at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Klay Thompson thinks the Warriors can win 70 games this year, and that they may even challenge the record of 72 set by Michael Jordan and the 1995-96 Bulls.


After the Golden State Warriors won 67 games last season by a dominant average margin of +10.1 points, they were able to continue their success into the playoffs and earn themselves an NBA championship. From ranking 1st in defensive efficiency to 2nd in offensive efficiency, while even having the league MVP in Stephen Curry as well, the Warriors were a force that ultimately no one could handle.

Now that Curry is averaging a scorching hot 39.3 points per game on 58.8 percent shooting, and the Warriors have won their first three games by a margin of at least 14 points, it’s clear they’re starting 2015-16 with a bang.

So, as they look to repeat, their All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson has said that he thinks they can be even better than last season.

On a Google Hangouts Q&A with ShotTracker (Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group reported the details), Thompson said his Warriors can not only win 70 games this season, but they may be able to rival the record of 72 wins set by Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls back in 1995-96:

"“That’s going to be a tough one,” Thompson said on a Google Hangouts Q&A with ShotTracker, a wearable tech company he partnered with. “We’ll try. There are so many good teams. We’ll try. We did get 67 wins last year, which was an amazing feat. We might be able to get 70. It’s going to depend a lot on health, obviously, and a lot of lucky bounces that go our way.“Seventy-two wins, that’s a lot of wins, man. I don’t know if that will be done again, but hey man, we might be the team to do it just because we reached 67 last year. And if we stay focused and we take every game serious, we should have a chance to reach 70. It won’t be easy. It will be extremely difficult, but you know what? Why not?”"

Extremely difficult is probably an understatement of how challenging it will be for the Warriors to reach (let alone surpass) 70 wins this season. The ’95-96 Bulls are technically the best team in NBA history, as no other has ever surpassed their record of 72 wins (or even surpassed 69, for that matter). Plus, with the GOAT himself Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Tony Kukoc, Dennis Rodman, Ron Harper, and the current Warriors head coach Steve Kerr (who made 51.5 percent of his threes that year), those Bulls were just an astonishing team.

No matter how deep and talented Golden State are right now, it’s incredibly difficult to get close to how dominant the ’90s Bulls were with Jordan at the helm.

That being said, the Warriors were a young team last season and had a rookie coach in Steve Kerr, so the potential to improve a little is certainly there. That improvement may not necessarily come in the way of 70 wins, but there’s a definite possibility that they can look even more refined at both ends of the floor as they fine-tune their championship winning performance. As their key trio of Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green improved last season (who are all still 27 and under), the Warriors improved in every aspect of the game.

In 2013-14, they ranked 12th in offensive efficiency and 3rd in defensive efficiency. Then, on their way to becoming champions last season, they jumped to 2nd and 1st in those respective areas. They even shot from 9th in assist ratio to 1st, too. With just minor changes to their bench, they went from being a good team to a historically great team. Plus, with so many young players only just approaching their prime, there’s no reason to dismiss the fact that the Warriors can still improve.

So, can they win 70 games? It’s impossible to say at this stage. Three games is a microscopic sample size, and Curry can’t score 40 points a night on near 60 percent shooting all season.

Furthermore, the Western conference is only stronger after the San Antonio Spurs added LaMarcus Aldridge and David West while the Oklahoma City Thunder have finally reached full health. Not to mention, the Cleveland Cavaliers over in the East will be a major threat once again now that Kevin Love has returned and Kyrie Irving is on his way soon.

Essentially, the competition is beyond tough for the Warriors right now.

The potential to reach 70 wins is there, but it’s a Herculean task to say the least.