lilfishi22 wrote:bwgood77 wrote:Crives wrote:
Not last in the west. Last in the pacific... at least while Klay is out. We will see.
More then anything I think the warriors were dominant due to their defense... now they clearly have one of the worst defenses in the west with the loss of KD/Klay/Iggy. Draymond hasn’t been great during the regular season recently.. it’s been the playoffs when he is stepped up. As good as Curry is... I’m not sure Steph + DLo + regular season Draymond + even less depth then last year moves the needle in the west/pacific.
They may struggle somewhat before Klay gets back, and if the Kings and us play really really well it's possible, but I think they will still be pretty good. I think Looney has gotten a lot better and like Saberestar said, they added some depth like WCS and Burks.
I still see Steph as a legit floor raiser. If there's no stars on the team and just average but competent role players, I think Steph can still propel them to 35-40 wins. Throw in Draymond's defense and playmaking and DLo as an x-factor, I think there floor is still a .500 team. If Klay is back around ASW and even if they slowly bring him back into the fold, they should still win around 50 games.
They will be experienced, talented and well-coached enough to feast on a ton of teams in the regular season but the playoffs is a different story
Yes, Curry + replacement level players is good close to 500 ball. I've always felt Draymond was huge to that team. He has had a drop off but he will probably step up with other players missing. For them it would be nice if he got his 3 ball back to a respectable %. And if Russell can keep hitting 3s like he did last year, or better, they will be solid. It's still 3 all stars, one of them being one of the best defensive players ever. Draymond is still far more impactful than any player we have, if only for defense. They should have great ball movement with 3 players who can average 6-7 assists per game. So they will have better defense and ball movement than us, and better shooting, at least from the perimeter. But even McKinnie shot better than anyone on our team (that returned) last year, so their 1-2-3 is solid shooting and with Klay back they will be elite shooting. When he comes back they will be able to hang with anyone.