Nothing is a given in the NBA. Even for a team like the Golden State Warriors, who have everything they need to win another title, the path to victory will be bombarded with countless challenges and obstacles.
Still, as one NBA analyst wrote, the Warriors should feel pretty good about their chances to win it all in this new season.
With a star-studded core, a solid supporting cast, and a rewarding culture that nurtures excellence, there are plenty of reasons to believe in what they can do.
NBA Analyst Reveals Big Expectations For The Warriors This Season
In a recent article, The Athletic’s John Hollinger gave his outlook for the Warriors this season and explained why they are expected to build upon their success last year.
First of all, any championship requires a combination of fortune and health, both of which only seem preordained in retrospect. While some champions require more of that luck than others (those Steph-Durant teams didn’t need a whole lot), it’s still a thing. The Warriors’ six best players (Wiggins, Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green, Poole and Looney) each played all 22 playoff games. The odds don’t favor a repeat on that front. Additionally, I suspect a lot of analytics projections are going to be rather sour on Golden State, partly because most methodologies have never valued Thompson that highly, partly because of the key players’ age and partly because of the departed bench pieces.
Nonetheless, the Warriors should feel reasonably good about their title chances and even better about their hopes of coming out of the West. Other teams will present legitimate threats, particularly if the Clippers are at full strength in the spring, but I don’t see one single opponent that looms as so daunting that the Warriors would be huge underdogs.
For me, the eventual West champion is a bit of a toss-up: I’d pick the Clippers if I knew they’d be healthy, but I think the Warriors have a better chance of getting to May with everybody upright. For that reason, I think they’re a slight favorite to return to the Finals … although I’m following history and picking a different team to win it.
Winning a championship is far from an easy thing to do. As you might imagine, winning two straight championships is an even harder feat. The Warriors did it once a few years ago, but can they do it again?
With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, anything is possible. But it remains to be seen how they can maintain the same level of play they did a season ago.
