Are the 2022 Warriors going to be a better team than the 2015 Warriors?

[WarriorGM]

The 2015 Warriors entered that season uncelebrated. They went on to produce a historic season.

I'm getting an early vibe the 2022 Warriors can too.

Comparing the two lineups I come up with something like this:

2022 vs. 2015

Steph = Steph
Draymond = Draymond
Klay < Klay
Iguodala < Iguodala
Wiggins = Barnes
Bjelica < Bogut

Okay not looking so hot but then you have

Jordan Poole and Otto Porter Jr. who may be Barnes level players and I cannot help but think this 2022 team should be even stronger than the 2015 team.

The thing about the Warriors is that they are probably rightfully considered at the vanguard of teams that ushered in the three-point revolution—but they haven't actually leaned into it. That is until now. Are the Warriors once again going to take the lead and show the league how a three-point team is supposed to look when it is actually done right?

I'm excited for this season. The defense is a concern but the potential for another Warriors team taking the league by storm and completely upending expectations from what I can tell is not insignificant.

I think the first 10 games or so will tell a lot. I'm entertaining thoughts that 60-wins is achievable and I'm wondering if I need to throw a bucket of water over my head to wake me up. If they start something like 8-2 though I think I'll be on to something.

[cdubbz]

This is the most excited I've been for a Warrior season since 2016, 2017, 2018.

I do see the Warriors are the underdogs this season by some. I don't fear the Lakers and I think they will be a really good playoff team, but injuries, defense, and shooting are liabilities for them.

[giberish]

The 2022 Warriors aren't going to be anywhere close to as good as the 2015 team.

Curry = Curry
Draymond < Draymond (significant offensive downgrade)
Klay << Klay (at least for the regular season, given the time he'll miss)
Iggy <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Iggy There's no 2022 equivalent to 2015 Iggy, or anyone close. Pretending otherwise is ignorant or delusional.
Wiggins = Barnes
Looney < Bogut
Poole > Livingston
Porter >> Lee

But the last two don't come close to covering for the Iggy downgrade, much less the Klay and Draymond downgrades.

The good news is that no one in the WC is a 67 win team. The only team with a good chance at even 57 wins is Utah, and they're not really built for the playoffs.

[Onus]

I think we have as good a chance to win the west as anyone. There's no real dominant team in the west.

[and1GS]

Absolutely not there is a 0% chance we're as good as the 2015 iteration.

[a8bil]

Going into the season? No. the 2015 team had mostly a veteran bench, did not have developing young players besides Barnes and Holiday, and did not have the number of questions GSW has with its new talent. This team has a lot of young talent that could develop over the course of the season and make the question more interesting....but only time will tell if we see such development.

[Badly Browned]

Talent wise it could be close, but the 2015 was a gritty, veteran, and already playoff tested roster. Their stars were in their mid-20s and their key vets were early 30s.

The 2022 roster has teenagers and a 20yo they want to develop with the stars in the 30s.

Also, the biggest thing is the league in 2015 was completely unprepared for Curry. The 2015 Warriors were #1 and #2 in DefRtg and OffRtg, and they didn't use Draymond at the 5 until the NBA Finals.

[Onus]

Talent wise it could be close, but the 2015 was a gritty, veteran, and already playoff tested roster. Their stars were in their mid-20s and their key vets were early 30s.

The 2022 roster has teenagers and a 20yo they want to develop with the stars in the 30s.

Also, the biggest thing is the league in 2015 was completely unprepared for Curry. The 2015 Warriors were #1 and #2 in DefRtg and OffRtg, and they didn't use Draymond at the 5 until the NBA Finals.

who were these grizzled vets that were playoff tested?

Iguodala, Bogut, Lee, Livingston, Barbosa and who? And none of these guys had real deep playoff runs before. There's a lot of romanticism about that 2015 team.

the 2022 roster has teenagers who are at the end of the bench and don't figure into the rotation. Our vets are Curry, Klay, Draymond, Looney, Bjelica, Porter, and Wiggins.

[Badly Browned]

Talent wise it could be close, but the 2015 was a gritty, veteran, and already playoff tested roster. Their stars were in their mid-20s and their key vets were early 30s.

The 2022 roster has teenagers and a 20yo they want to develop with the stars in the 30s.

Also, the biggest thing is the league in 2015 was completely unprepared for Curry. The 2015 Warriors were #1 and #2 in DefRtg and OffRtg, and they didn't use Draymond at the 5 until the NBA Finals.

who were these grizzled vets that were playoff tested?

Iguodala, Bogut, Lee, Livingston, Barbosa and who? And none of these guys had real deep playoff runs before. There's a lot of romanticism about that 2015 team.

the 2022 roster has teenagers who are at the end of the bench and don't figure into the rotation. Our vets are Curry, Klay, Draymond, Looney, Bjelica, Porter, and Wiggins.

Ok fine, not your classic gritty ring-wearing vets. Still, the core had been together for a few years now, and even their young main guys in HB and Dray had gone through 2 playoff years by that point.

Anyways, I basically think if Klay was healthy from the begining and depending on how Wiseman shapes up this 2022 roster can be as good as 2015.

But I still don't think they'd run out 67 wins against today's league, the league is more prepared for fast and spread offenses compared to 2015.

[510TWSS]

no

[Onus]

Talent wise it could be close, but the 2015 was a gritty, veteran, and already playoff tested roster. Their stars were in their mid-20s and their key vets were early 30s.

The 2022 roster has teenagers and a 20yo they want to develop with the stars in the 30s.

Also, the biggest thing is the league in 2015 was completely unprepared for Curry. The 2015 Warriors were #1 and #2 in DefRtg and OffRtg, and they didn't use Draymond at the 5 until the NBA Finals.

who were these grizzled vets that were playoff tested?

Iguodala, Bogut, Lee, Livingston, Barbosa and who? And none of these guys had real deep playoff runs before. There's a lot of romanticism about that 2015 team.

the 2022 roster has teenagers who are at the end of the bench and don't figure into the rotation. Our vets are Curry, Klay, Draymond, Looney, Bjelica, Porter, and Wiggins.

Ok fine, not your classic gritty ring-wearing vets. Still, the core had been together for a few years now, and even their young main guys in HB and Dray had gone through 2 playoff years by that point.

Anyways, I basically think if Klay was healthy from the begining and depending on how Wiseman shapes up this 2022 roster can be as good as 2015.

But I still don't think they'd run out 67 wins against today's league, the league is more prepared for fast and spread offenses compared to 2015.

I agree with this. 67 wins would be quite the feat for this team.

[GSWFan1994]

It could be a great team, but it's still too early to tell. I think we will have a better grasp on that near the 20-game mark.

But it will be very hard to top the 2015 team. The league is in a much different context right now. And our own players have declined as well, some just a little, others a bit more.

I'd say this though, the supporting cast looks stellar on the paper. If everything clicks, we should be in for a thrilling ride.

[WarriorGM]

To be clear I'm not basing my assessment on expected wins. I don't think the team this year will be a 67-win team or even try to be. But I get the feeling many would consider the 2019 team a better team than the 2015 team—because Durant—even though the 2019 team only won 57 games.

But an over 55-win team? Yes I see it as possible. Given favorable breaks maybe even likely. This team is still one built around a core that had three 67-win seasons and the greatest regular season team of all-time. Many of the estimates I hear strike me as low. I mean 48 wins? Last year the team finished with a 54% win rate or the equivalent of a 44-win season and that was with a team that for the majority of the season didn't really know itself. This version of the team should be much better. The 2013 Warriors had 47 wins. The 2014 Warriors had 51 wins. I think the 2022 Warriors will be more comparable to the 2015 team so I am having a hard time lowering my estimate to below 50 like some I've heard.

[Upperclass]

Warriors need a starting SF who doesn't ball stop.. rim protection and a backup PG.. pretty glaring issues.. the 2015 team had many interchangeable pieces.. the 2022 version does not

[HiRez]

Draymond < Draymond (significant offensive downgrade)

This is a real key, 2015-16 was peak offensive Draymond, he shot 39% from 3 that year, and it's fallen every year since, down to 27% last year, and I doubt it's ever going back up significantly. His minutes will continue to decrease as well.

We're not better than 2015-16 regardless of Klay's condition, but that doesn't mean we can't still be pretty good.

[Impuniti]

2022 Draymond is not anywhere near 2015 Draymond, that Draymond wasn't an older Ben Simmons when it came to shooting. If 15 Draymond was in the playin, Warriors win both those games by 10+ points during regular time. Draymond was the worst player out there. And what type of Klay the team gets is a whole other story.

As for the team itself, we need to see how they gel in the first 2 months first. It'll give us some answers. Otto right now is shooting over 50% from 3, what is he going to give the team? Is he going to be fit? Is Bjelica despite his defensive issues going to be a reliable player? Is Klay going to give good minutes 6 months from now and be a legitimately good player or just ok? Are we getting too overhyped on Poole? Is any of Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody going to be of any positive this year? Is Kerr going to continue to put Wiseman on the floor if he's as bad as last season and give him 30MPG? Too many questions.

I'm pretty optimistic, but there's so many questions.

Absolutely not there is a 0% chance we're as good as the 2015 iteration.

If the questions I put up there are all positive, than this team is better. But the chance all of that turns for the better for GSW is a whole other story (low chance).

[Impuniti]

The 2022 Warriors aren't going to be anywhere close to as good as the 2015 team.

Curry = Curry
Draymond < Draymond (significant offensive downgrade)
Klay << Klay (at least for the regular season, given the time he'll miss)
Iggy <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Iggy There's no 2022 equivalent to 2015 Iggy, or anyone close. Pretending otherwise is ignorant or delusional.
Wiggins = Barnes
Looney < Bogut
Poole > Livingston
Porter >> Lee

But the last two don't come close to covering for the Iggy downgrade, much less the Klay and Draymond downgrades.

The good news is that no one in the WC is a 67 win team. The only team with a good chance at even 57 wins is Utah, and they're not really built for the playoffs.

If this early preseason Poole is what we get, Poole will have more value than anyone outside of the top 4 put together. Guy is playing like an all star in the making for this season.

[Old_Blue]

It would be one hell of an accomplishment for this team to win 55 games.

[ChuckDurn]

The ‘21-‘22 Warriors? Not a chance, as others have said.

But the ‘22-‘23 Warriors might be. What it will take:
1. No major injuries
2. Curry maintains his current level (which is arguably > his 2015 level, particularly defensively)
3. Klay returns to being 85% of 2019 Klay (which was > 2015 Klay)
4. Draymond doesn’t further regress offensively (but he’s definitely way behind 2015 Draymond already)
5. Wiggins plays equivalent to 2020-21 Wiggins
6. Poole continues to improve, becomes a 46% overall / 38% 3-pt. shooter at 15 ppg off the bench
7. Wiseman takes a jump (in year 3), becoming at least average defensively, and averaging 14 points and 9 rebounds in 28 mpg (60% shooting, mainly on pick-and-roll and dunks)
8. Moody becomes an “Iguodala-lite”, being the smart, steady bench stabilizer guy. And with a much more solid 3-point shooting game than Andre ever had. (No, I’m not saying he’s going to achieve “full Andre” in his second year, if ever. But that he takes that similar role of playing good D, making the smart plays, and stabilizing things as the main bench wing.)
9. Kuminga becomes a guy who can come in the game and super-charge the front-court from the bench, averaging 8-10 points/game efficiently, and playing passable defense.

The style would be very different than the 2015 Warriors, which had a dominant defensive mindset. We can’t replicate that with this roster. But we can be dominant offensively, if 3 guys (Poole, Wiseman, and Kuminga) develop right, to go along with Curry, a recovered Klay, and a steady and efficient Wiggins.

But this year, I don’t see that happening. Give it a year.

[azwfan]

If the 1st quarter of our last preseason game is any indication, **** no.