Golden State Warriors season preview
By Ian Levy
The NBA season will be here before you know it and FanSided is here to get you ready. In the lead-up to Opening Night, we’ll be previewing two teams each day, reviewing roster changes, discussing important players and challenges, and hearing the perspective of our FanSided site experts. Let’s get ready for basketball!
Roster changes
Inputs: Damian Jones (C, NBA Draft pick No. 30); Patrick McCaw (SG, NBA Draft pick No. 38); Kevin Durant (SF, signed for two years, $54 million); David West (PF, signed for one year, $1.5 million); Zaza Pachulia (C, signed for one year, $3 million)
Outputs: Marreese Speights (PF, signed with the Los Angeles Clippers); Harrison Barnes (SF, signed with the Dallas Mavericks); Brandon Rush (SG, signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves); Festus Ezeli (C, signed with the Portland Trail Blazers); Leandro Barbosa (SG, signed with the Phoenix Suns); Andrew Bogut (C, traded to the Dallas Mavericks)
Retained: Anderson Varejao (C, signed for one year, $1.5 million), Ian Clark (SG, signed for one year, $1 million), James Michael McAdoo (PF, signed for one year, $1 million)
Most important player
While Kevin Durant may be the Golden State Warriors biggest addition and Stephen Curry may be their best player, Draymond Green is the most important. By virtue of his ability and versatility, no one on this roster carries more defensive responsibility than Green. The team did a nice job filling out the roster but the departures of Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, and Harrison Barnes make the margin for error that much slimmer on the defensive side. Having Green continue to perform at the level of a Defensive Player of the Year candidate will be hugely important.
On the offensive side of the ball, everyone will be asked to sacrifice this year for the sake of incorporating Durant and his talent. However, Green may be the one who ends up making the biggest sacrifice. Although he shoots and scores far less often than Curry or Klay Thompson, Green has become accustomed to having the ball in his hands, often acting as a primary facilitator. This year, many of the high screen-and-rolls he used to run with Curry may now be run with Durant, relegating Green to spotting up on the wing. He’s a capable shooter and while this may be best for the team, it may not be as engaging for Green.
This team is saying all of the right things about sacrificing for the greater good but those are all just words until the ball goes up. The Warriors desperately need an active and engaged Green on both sides of the ball this year, even if his role is changing.
Biggest rivalry
Stop me if you’ve heard this one…but the Golden State Warriors won 73 games and then blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Golden State and Cleveland have now met in two consecutive Finals and both matchups have generated a surplus of emotional heat. The Warriors had one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, and yet they are the ones seeking redemption.
The Warriors will play every team in the league multiple times this season but it’s all just an assumed prelude to a third Finals matchup between them and the Cavaliers. The Western Conference looks like a formality for Golden State and Cleveland is still the overwhelming favorite in a stronger Eastern Conference.
The Warriors have talked openly about playing for the Finals. They have said that chasing 73 wins, or more, is not the ultimate goal here and they’re going to be resting players to make sure that they’re ready for the playoffs. That’s all well and good but it’s a plan that requires super-human patience. Can the Warriors wait until June for redemption? Can they resist the urge to treat every team they play as a stand-in for the Cavaliers, taking out their pent-up frustrations on the rest of the league?
Related Story: Los Angeles Clippers Season Preview
What does success look like?
— Charles Rahrig, @bluemanhoop, Blue Man Hoop
What does success look like for the Golden State Warriors? That’s quite the question to answer after a 73-win season and the most crushing NBA Finals loss in the history of the league. Success for the Golden State Warriors would seem to be as simple as winning an NBA Championship.
It goes beyond that however. This is a team that almost has to do more than just bring home a championship. With the addition of Kevin Durant, they have a roster with unprecedented talent and a legacy to uphold.
Winning a tight series in the NBA Finals, squeaking a title out in seven games isn’t going to cut it. Nothing short of dominance will be expected, and if the Warriors are willing to sacrifice some games in the regular season for the sake of their title odds, how about sweeping the playoffs?
If there were a great way to erase the sting of winning 73 games and falling short, it would be a sweep of the playoffs. Draymond Green clearly has his finger on the pulse of the team when he brought up not wanting to chase a regular season win record again again. The focus has to be on getting a rhythm heading into the playoffs.. That’s where they can begin their real march to history and success.