Are the Warriors contenders?

[GusFring]

Without a healthy Klay not even close

[LakersLegacy]

The only reason the Warriors aren’t contenders is because they don’t want to be. They have all the assets to get another all-star to play with Curry-Klay-Dray.

Wiseman is worth a lot. The Warriors need to make a trade

[5paceman]

Any team with Curry—the greatest player in the game—is a contender. All the naysayers can go post on the "Curry is going to be exposed" thread from last year and give us more good laughs.

What has he done in the past two years? You love Curry so much you can’t admit he has flaws.

Well he won the scoring title last year on an efficient .655 TS and wasn't so far from 50/40/90. Is that something?

Of course he has flaws like anyone. I'd say his biggest flaw is his height and getting exposed on rlgm.

[eminence]

I’d say they’re just short, could be one with a trade.

[WarriorGM]

Any team with Curry—the greatest player in the game—is a contender. All the naysayers can go post on the "Curry is going to be exposed" thread from last year and give us more good laughs.

What has he done in the past two years? You love Curry so much you can’t admit he has flaws.

Curry showed he could take a 30th place team and lead them to a 54% win record and the equivalent of a playoffs berth in other years in the Western Conference. In doing so he has provided clear evidence that he is the greatest floor raiser in the league.

I can admit he has flaws but why should I when clearly there are so many who seem to see only that and cannot acknowledge his superior performance?

[DroseReturnChi]

Any team with Curry—the greatest player in the game—is a contender. All the naysayers can go post on the "Curry is going to be exposed" thread from last year and give us more good laughs.

What has he done in the past two years? You love Curry so much you can’t admit he has flaws.

Curry showed he could take a 30th place team and lead them to a 54% win record and the equivalent of a playoffs berth in other years in the Western Conference. In doing so he has provided clear evidence that he is the greatest floor raiser in the league.

I can admit he has flaws but why should I when clearly there are so many who seem to see only that and cannot acknowledge his superior performance?

the warriors are a bottom 10 offense for entire season. either curry the number 1 scorer is garbage or rest of his team is.
and this was entire squad minus klay. curry's weakness mainly defense and playmaking is the reason why he is the weakest floor raiser bc those affect team performance part of reason why lebron who has exact opposite traits is considered goat.

the entire squad only won 1 time minus kd they didnt prove for half a decade. like i predicted, wiseman and kuminga are g leaguers wasting roster spots not sure why lacob is content paying 100 mil tax on a crappy playin team.

[wegotthabeet]

I’d say they’re just short, could be one with a trade.

I'd say one trade away with Klay at 80% or better. Nice depth, with room to make a move.

1st option - Curry (superstar)
2nd option - Thompson (star, assuming he returns to form or close to it)
6th man - Poole

Rotation - Draymond, Wiggins, Looney, Wiseman, Iggy, Porter, Bjelica, Moody, Kuminga, Bradley.

If they can consolidate some of the rotation/youth pieces for an upgrade I think they can get there.

[SharpyShuffle]

Any team with Curry—the greatest player in the game—is a contender. All the naysayers can go post on the "Curry is going to be exposed" thread from last year and give us more good laughs.

What has he done in the past two years? You love Curry so much you can’t admit he has flaws.

Curry showed he could take a 30th place team and lead them to a 54% win record and the equivalent of a playoffs berth in other years in the Western Conference. In doing so he has provided clear evidence that he is the greatest floor raiser in the league.

I can admit he has flaws but why should I when clearly there are so many who seem to see only that and cannot acknowledge his superior performance?

Every team except a small handful of contenders is a 30th place team without their biggest star. That's how the nba works, its a stars league, most teams are lucky to have just one true star, so you take away the star and the team sucks.

You think the Mavs are winning 20 games with their pack of replacement level players led by the corpse of KP? How good are the Blazers without Dame? Wolves were 4-18 without KAT last year. Pelicans were 2-9 without Zion but close to .500 with him: and he's just a kid. Etcetc.

Warriors fans trashing their own team to try and big up their beloved Steph is just sad.

[kuclas]

Unless klay comes back to 85% of himself. I don’t think warriors will be any better than a 4-5 seed.

Lakers
Suns
Utah

Denver (health of Murray)
Clippers (health of Leonard)
Warriors (health of Thompson )
Portland (trade?)
Dallas

4-7seeds will be very close Probably no more than 4 games separates all those teams.

[durden_tyler]

When you have the Top 5 player, the best shooter (if healthy), yes you should be considered contenders.

[Madhouse]

I think they are overrated and a top 4-6 seed only.

[righterwriter]

Wiseman was one of three players in the Kerr era to have a negative net rating in a two man combo with Steph. The Warriors' offense was abominable with Wiseman on the floor and quite good without him. He's very athletic, but that's where his talent ends until he learns how to play the game.

And you think that made him the worst player in the NBA last year?

If you sort by players to have played >500 non-garbage time minutes (per Cleaning the Glass), Wiseman had the worst net rating in the entire NBA: -16.9. No other player to receive meaningful minutes for a team that was trying to win games was as bad as Wiseman.

Can you answer the question: Do you think Wiseman was the worst player in the NBA last year?

[PhilBlackson]

They certainly have it in them to be disruptive and upset teams but there defense isn't as good as it was back in 73W days (no point in comparing to KD days)...and the WC is deeper and much tougher than as well while these guys are older. The Lakers, Nuggets, Suns, (healthy) Clippers and ever regular season Jazz is a murderers row to get through and I'm not sure they're better than any of them.

[xdrta+]

The only reason the Warriors aren’t contenders is because they don’t want to be. They have all the assets to get another all-star to play with Curry-Klay-Dray.

Wiseman is worth a lot. The Warriors need to make a trade

Who is this all-star they could trade for?

[JN61]

I remember people telling me how they are light years ahead of rest of the league and going back to moving ball around since it was obvious to them that Durant made them worse. And this off season every warrior fan telling how with Thompson back they are going to be one of top seeds. So they better be.

[5paceman]

I remember people telling me how they are light years ahead of rest of the league and going back to moving ball around since it was obvious to them that Durant made them worse. And this off season every warrior fan telling how with Thompson back they are going to be one of top seeds. So they better be.

They better be lol? You are just trolling and referencing people who might not even exist, then sayings that's the entire fanbase.

Please quote the people who tell you these things especially if you want to hold it against everyone. What I've read is Warriors fans saying they have a shot at a top seed if everything goes perfect.

This is like one of the most annoying things about the internet. After the talk from OKC fans about SGA being an MVP candidate I think we need to see that next year if he is going to be worth that contract at all and stay with no help. I was told they are on the verge of making the playoffs and a rapidly improving team. Better do something soon before him or your stable of young guys look for a winning situation elsewhere. How are OKC fans so delusional? See how that goes. Barf.

[MrSparkle]

Draymond is still a great role-player… but he’s obviously a shadow of his prime self. He can’t score double digits anymore.

And Klay has missed two full seasons. His last pro game was almost 2.5 years ago. There are zero and I mean zero examples of guys coming back from that long of an injury setback and playing remotely as well. It would be a great feat of modern medicine if Klay was anywhere near his prior 16 PER. The guy is going to be a less efficient floor spacer with less quick feet (acl and heel, and age. Granted he is the best prototype to return from such an injury (catch and shoot 3P), but odds are really against him.

The Warriors can go for a 10-14 Spurs kind of a run, but they need Kuminga or Moody to have a Kawhi type growth.

They are a decently deep team, but I’m not high on Wiseman at all.

Anyway, they have Curry and athletic defensive pieces. The West is open. I can sure see them contending. They’ll need really good luck though. Lot of things can go wrong.

[WarriorGM]

What has he done in the past two years? You love Curry so much you can’t admit he has flaws.

Curry showed he could take a 30th place team and lead them to a 54% win record and the equivalent of a playoffs berth in other years in the Western Conference. In doing so he has provided clear evidence that he is the greatest floor raiser in the league.

I can admit he has flaws but why should I when clearly there are so many who seem to see only that and cannot acknowledge his superior performance?

Every team except a small handful of contenders is a 30th place team without their biggest star. That's how the nba works, its a stars league, most teams are lucky to have just one true star, so you take away the star and the team sucks.

You think the Mavs are winning 20 games with their pack of replacement level players led by the corpse of KP? How good are the Blazers without Dame? Wolves were 4-18 without KAT last year. Pelicans were 2-9 without Zion but close to .500 with him: and he's just a kid. Etcetc.

Warriors fans trashing their own team to try and big up their beloved Steph is just sad.

Kristaps was with the Knicks wasn't he? 30-win teams. Blazers without Dame? 3-2. The Wolves with KAT? Non-playoff teams aside from the year with Butler. The Pelicans with Zion? Non-playoff teams so far. The basement Warriors with Steph? 8th at the end of the season and that's with him missing 15% of the games. Not including the games he didn't play, Curry was leading the team to a 59% winning record. Etc. etc. indeed. None of your examples support what you are saying.

We can also point to teams that were without superstars recently. Were the Clippers or Raptors without Kawhi last? The Nets without KD? The Lakers without AD and LeBron? No. Not even close.

Steph is a giant. The Warriors front office failed him the past couple of seasons. Steph has made that organization billions. It is very difficult to overstate what Steph has given that team or big him up too much. If anything Warriors fans especially around here don't support Steph enough. Many are content with simply keeping the rookies and developing for the long haul. It is fans of other teams who are apt to suggest making win-now trades with their assets as can be seen even in this thread.

[Zeno]

How many times has a mid season "If so and so comes back healthy" scenarios ended up positively? If Klay was starting the season healthy, I'd give them a fringe contender status out of respect but this feels like wishful thinking. Also I can't see them contending while playing their Wiseman or the rookies significantly so they are probably going to have to pick a lane halfway through.

[Roscoe Sheed]

We have to see the level of durability and performance Thompson is capable of before providing an opinion on this topic.