shi-woo wrote:Love Curry, his legacy, and what he did that year (well, outside of the obvious), but there are some bad takes in this thread.
That Warriors team was only the Covid years removed from being a dynasty. It's not like this was some different team. They were still good, had the #1 ranked DRtg, and an offense better than the 17th they were given.
That team was absolutely stacked, and was not the weakest supporting cast. They went 12 deep, and had a Top 5 player on it. They won 53 games with Klay missing 50 games, Curry 18, and Drey 36...That was a 60+ win team if even marginally more healthy.
Not only did they have their big 3 still playing at an high level, but they surrounded them with the best bench guard in the game, former #1 pick wing having the best season of his life making the ASG, 3 solid veterans in GP2 Looney and OPJ. They still had a slew of role players including Kuminga and Moody
That title was not a carry job, and that team was absolutely stacked similar to the 2019 Raptors.
That team was far superior to the 2015 Warriors, it just wasn't as obvious because of the injuries, people thinking Klay fell off a cliff even though he was still giving you elite offense, and everyones distrust and hatred toward Wiggins and Poole.
Boston had no shot beating a veteran team that juiced to the gills with high impact players. It was crazy seeing Steph get #4 and cement his legacy, but that was a legit TEAM, very similar to the Duncan/Manu/Parker Spurs teams that kept winning it.
Not many teams can say they had 4 AS level players, a 6MotY level player, 3 veteran role players, and 2 recent lottery picks on their team.
Yeah I disagree with this.
The 2015 Warriors team was easily better than the 2022 team...the only difference was that Curry had made significant develops over that span, specifically in his ability to finish around the basket with contact. In 2015 Curry was a faster more agile player, but he was somebody that could get stifled with physical teams and had a lot more difficulty finishing around the basket. By 2022 Curry was a lethal finisher, way stronger, developed a better mid-range and floater game etc.
The 2015 Warriors roster had close to a prime Klay and Draymond who were better in 2015 compared to 2022. Barnes was a really good 3+D athletic player, Igoudala was still really damn good, Barbosa was a very good bench player, Livingston was one of the best back up PG's in the league, Bogut was a very good center, and you had other contributors like Speights and Ezeli.
In 2022 Klay was a diminished version of himself and Draymond was slightly worse. Wiggins was fantastic that playoffs but I would take Barnes and Igoudala over Wiggins any day of the week. Looney is okay but a clear downgrade to a guy like Bogut. The rest is pretty meh. Poole was a decent streaky inconsistent player, Igoudala could barely play by that point, Gary Payton Jr. benefitted from the spacing of Curry, and both Moody+Kuminga barely played in the playoffs, lol.
To put it bluntly, that 2015 Warriors team without Curry is still a 45 win team in my opinion while that 2022 team without Curry is a 25 win team.
