The Golden State Warriors are a first class organization and when I think of them I remember the San Antonio Spurs and how they managed to remain title contenders for close to 12 years by retooling around Tony Parker,Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan. The Golden State Warriors core 3 of Stephen Curry,Klay Thompson,and Draymmond Green have been quite frankly unbeatable when all 3 are healthy with the exception of their loss in the 2016 NBA Finals versus LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2019 NBA Finals they were on their way to forcing a Game 7 in Toronto before Klay Thompson suffered an injury which kept him out the entire 4th quarter of Game 6 at Oracle Arena where the Toronto Raptors finished the Warriors off. These past playoffs they were rather inconsistent in the second round versus Ja Morant’s Memphis Grizzlies but finished off with a bang by dismantling the Boston Celtics in 6 games in the NBA Finals. Once the Warriors caught their rhythm the Celtics had no chance unless Kobe Bryant’s soul would’ve entered Jayson Tatum whose performance in the 2022 NBA Finals was historically bad.
With key rotational pieces Otto Porter Jr,Gary Payton II,and Nemanja Bjelica gone now head coach Steve Kerr will have to carve out roles for new incomers Donte DiVincenzo and Jamychal Green who will join a bench which should consist of Jordan Poole,Jonathan Kuminga,Kevon Looney,and Moses Moody. Depth was huge for the Warriors last season and Otto Porter Jr’s contributions defensively as well as timely shooting in the 2022 NBA Playoffs went understated, we saw how dynamic the Warriors defense was with the return of Gary Payton II as well against the Celtics and both those players are now elsewhere. We are watching LeBron James defy time as he continues to play at an elite level going into his 20th season in the NBA and we expect Stephen Curry to do the same which I believe will be possible only his decline will be much more noticable being that the older he gets the slower he will become which will in turn make him easier to guard off the ball.
Steph will be Steph he is in my opinion a top 10 player all-time already and his legacy is cemented after winning his 4th championship without Kevin Durant while also taking home that long alluded Finals MVP which his critics have held over his head since he won his first title 2015 but failed to receive the award. Backcourt ally Klay Thompson will get in a full training camp and should be alot more consistent than he was last season when he came back early and his inconsistent shooting ultimately held the Warriors back, he managed to average 17 ppg in the NBA Finals which wasn’t bad at all but anyone who has watched Klay Thompson score 52 points on 10 dribbles in a game would know the Celtics were spared and the series could’ve ended much sooner had he been anywhere close to 100 percent. To beat the Warriors with a fully healthy Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry will be a tall task but Kevin Durant is no longer there to save them and if Jayson Tatum actually would’ve grown a pair the Celtics would’ve mopped the floor with them.
The Celtics in my opinion should’ve won the the 2022 NBA Finals, they played good enough defense to take home the trophy but their atrocious execution on offense was the reason they lost. They practically gave the Miami Heat the series on a silver platter in the Conference Finals and heading into the Finals I thought Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown smelt blood and were going for the fatality in the 2022 NBA Finals no matter who was in their way but the Warriors defense completely exposed their inability to get to the rim consistently and keep the pressure on. Much of what I criticized about Jayson Tatum’s game came to the light as I always wondered is he more of a shooter or is he a slasher, he couldn’t get to the rim and draw fould even if his life depended on it and lost one ball after another literally everytime he attempted to drive. So since the Warriors figured out neither Tatum or Brown was going to break down their wall they pretty much kept them at the top of the key forcing them to beat them with perimeter shooting which was absoviously a fail.
My point is they were pushed 6 games and Jayson Tatum was historically bad, Tatum still has more than enough time in his career to get vengeance for his shortcomings but with the return of Kawhi Leonard in Los Angeles and LeBron James looking to win one last championship as a Laker the Warriors chances aren’t too good in my opinion. Nikola Jokic is getting back his top guns in Denver in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter jr making the Nuggets a serious threat as well along with the Phoenix Suns who despite a Game 7 meltdown at the hands of Luka Doncic still boast arguably the best backcourt in the NBA at the moment with Paul and Booker. That is leaving out the Grizzlies,Pelicans,Mavericks,and Timberwolves who are all young teams who boast young superstars eager to make their mark heading into the mid 2020’s. It will be a gauntlet for Golden State next season to just make the Finals and the competition for the Larry O’Brien trophy in the Finals will likely be against Giannis,Durant,Embiid,Butler, or a Celtics team who won’t repeat the same mistakes they did the previous Finals.
There are too many question marks on the Warriors, extensions for Jordan Poole,Draymmond Green,and Andrew Wiggins have to be hashed out and nothing guarantees all 3 will return unless Joe Lacob is ready to go over the luxury tax. These current Warriors are more like a tiger shark as opposed to a great white, a tiger shark will scare you if you see it swim by while you are on a boat but you watch a great white swim by and you’ll probably lose balance and fall over the boat. Point being the Golden State Warriors with Kevin Durant were literally unstoppable, if you ever figured out their schemes with Steph,Klay,and Green Durant was able to diffuse any defincies on offense. As much as I like Jordan Poole he is not and never will be the offensive threat Durant was and currently still is, Wiseman isn’t scaring anyone down low for at least this coming season,and Kuminga isn’t ready to be a prime Andre Iguodala just yet. It helps to have the best head coach in the game in Steve Kerr who put on a coaching clinic versus Boston making Ime Udoka look like he belonged as an assistant once again but Kerr’s motion offense without Kevin Durant will be exploited and the Warriors will prove to be mortal much like the Spurs were through their runs, till next time.
D-NBA 