Warriors still favored despite rivals’ upgrades
Barring injuries, Golden State expected to roll on
The Golden State Warriors don’t scare easily, nor should they.
Such is life when you have won two of the last three NBA titles and more regular-season games in a three-year span than any team in league history, re-signed every key member of this super team and added complementary pieces during the offseason.
So, yes, the Warriors took notice when their Western Conference rivals went all-in on the super-team formula. The Houston Rockets added Chris Paul to pair with James Harden. The Oklahoma City Thunder went from the Russell Westbrook show to a far more dangerous Westbrook-Paul George-Carmelo Anthony production. And the San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors’ toughest challenger last season, added an intriguing player in small forward Rudy Gay.
In the Eastern Conference, where Kyrie Irving ’s trade request forced the Cleveland Cavaliers to retool their roster, the additions of Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, Jae Crowder and LeBron James’ BFF, Dwyane Wade, mean an unprecedented fourth Finals rematch could be in order.
None of that changes this: The only thing that truly frightens these Warriors is the prospect of injuries derailing their would-be dynasty.
If you gave coach Steve Kerr and Co. a Gatorade bottle full of truth serum, they probably would cite Kevin Durant’s left knee injury in February as the last time they were truly shaken. They all thought his season was over that night, only to breathe a collective sigh of relief when he returned in early April and eventually dominated the Finals against the Cavaliers.
Or maybe the playoff run in 2016, during those pre-Durant days when Stephen Curry’s right knee was good enough to play on but not quite healthy enough to allow him to be great. That was the title chance that got away, not to mention the sort of cautionary tale that they’ll remember heading into the 2017-18 season.
In a way, the Warriors’ rivals did them a huge favor by refusing to succumb to their dominance. This is the kind of NBA landscape that should force the Warriors to refocus at a time when they might have been fighting complacency or overconfidence.
As Kerr put it at the Warriors media day, “I’m mostly worried about our team and concerned with what we’re doing, but it’s always fun to follow the rest of the league, too.”
Resident team spokesman/AllStar forward Draymond Green couldn’t agree more: “I think at the end of the day, yeah, teams did make a lot of moves, but our goal is the same goal as always — be the best version of us that we can be. ... So I’ll focus and worry about us and what we’re going to do, not necessarily how another team is going to jell or how this duo is. I think if we take care of what we need to take care of, it really don’t matter how much others jell.”
This kind of roster affords that kind of psychological luxury.
If the Warriors play their best and avoid physical setbacks, they’ll be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the third time in the last four seasons. Even with the free agency fireworks and trades that reshaped the league’s contenders, a sizable gap remains between the Warriors and everyone else.
But what really gives them an edge is that Kerr knows all about the potential pitfalls championship teams can face.
“We’re fortunate to have Steve as our coach, because he’s won seven championships,” general manager Bob Myers says of the fourth-year coach who won five titles as a player (Chicago Bulls and Spurs) and two in a suit for Golden State. “I mean, even saying that, it’s kind of surreal for me to kind of coexist with somebody that’s had that kind of success. But he’s able to provide the proper perspective to the players as far as challenging them each day, right?”
There’s one qualifier: Kerr needs to stay healthy, too.
Kerr’s back problems were caused by a botched surgery in the summer of 2015 that resulted in a spinal cord fluid leak. They appear to have improved since his painful playoff run that sparked retirement questions. He missed half of the 2015-16 regular season, plus more than six weeks during the 2017 playoffs before he returned in Game 2 of the Finals.
Now, he intends to coach the entire season.
Yet as the Warriors showed when associate head coach Mike Brown went 11-0 during Kerr’s absence, it’s the players’ ability to stay on the floor that matters most.
Maybe if Durant and sixth man Andre Iguodala weren’t so unselfish, accepting less money to return, or if fellow free agents Shaun Livingston, Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee had opted for more money elsewhere, the Warriors would have looked slightly vulnerable.
But in Durant, Curry, Green and Klay Thompson, they have the league’s best collection of stars, with an even deeper bench to boot.
Nick Young and Omri Casspi, productive scorers who sacrificed money for their chance to be champions, also were added.
“This year reminds me of two years ago … with the continuity, almost the exact roster coming back,” Kerr says. “Having all of our vets, KD and Zaza, David, having all those guys comfortable with what we’re doing already, along with the core group that’s been here the last few years ...
“I think we’ll be better this year. We’re deeper. As I talked about, the continuity is really important. But the challenge is obvious. Three years in a row in the Finals, trying to make it a fourth. Very few teams in the history of the league have done that, and there’s a reason.
“It’s a long haul, so we’re going to have to navigate the season, pace ourselves but not lose our edge, and that’s the balance we’re looking for.”
That’s all well and good, of course. But whether the Warriors stay standing really is the key to them staying champs.