(top left clockwise: Andrew Bogut, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and David Lee)
3. Golden State Warriors (Pacific Division)
Division Rivals: Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers,
Phoenix Suns
and Sacramento Kings
The Golden State Warriors ended last season with a record of
23-43 and earned the 13th spot in the much tougher Western
Conference. That didn’t happen
because they couldn’t score, because they did. It happened because they
couldn’t stop their opponents from scoring either. Averaging just under 100
points per game, the Golden State Warriors were one of the most enjoyable of
the lower ranked teams to watch last season, and even though you sat back and
enjoyed highlight after highlight, when the buzzer sounded you had to come to
terms with the fact that they had just lost and accept that all the effort went
unrewarded. With 6 players scoring an average of 10 or more points coupled with
a combined 22 assists per game, it would have been nothing short of infuriating
for fans of this team from the beginning to the end of the shortened season. I've added a video at the bottom of this post showcasing the Golden State Warriors' top 10 plays from 2012 to help better explain my point.
With the departure of Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks,
point guard Stephen Curry can now conduct the team as originally intended since
he was drafted back in 2009 as the 7th overall pick. This however
has been an issue thus far for two reasons; one Monta Ellis often required the
ball to shoot them back into games, and two; Stephen Curry was often injured.
If he can stay healthy, I expect his 14 points and 5 assists per game to
increase, not only because of how much more time he will have with the ball in
his hands, but who he has surrounding him to help alleviate pressure and do
their part.
David Lee, simply put, is a top 10 power forward in the NBA.
If you think I’m crazy you might need to watch more Warriors games. Regularly
scoring 20 points with about 10 rebounds in 30 minutes of floor time is impressive,
considering 5 other players still score an average of 10 or more points by his
side. His new partner in crime and former Milwaukee Buck Andrew Bogut will be
right at home in the center position hopefully maintaining or improving on his
12 points and 9 rebound average. Stephen Curry will have a great time having to
pick between these two giants on offense, and opposing defenses will struggle
to keep a pair of defenders on the floor capable matching Lee and Bogut when on
the floor at the same time.
In his second year, Klay Thompson, who had his coming out
party of sorts off the bench towards the end of last season, will get more
minutes as he will likely be a starter this time around. He will no doubt score more than his 12-point
average and increase his shooting percentage, which was a ridiculously good 44%
as a rookie in 24 minutes of game time.
To be fair, outside of Carl Landry and his consistent 12
points and 5 rebounds the rest of the team suffers from a quick drop off in
terms of production. The reason I think this team can sneak its way no higher
than the 8th seed is because the Oklahoma City Thunder have taught
us that if each player on a young team accepts their role on offense and
defense, single star lead teams will have a tough time dealing with them.
With Utah and Houston likely having worse seasons then they
did last year, I foresee opportunities for Phoenix, Portland, Minnesota and
Golden State to fight each other for the 8th spot in the Western
Conference playoffs. With Portland
and Minnesota in the Northwest Division and having to deal with Denver,
Oklahoma and each other, Golden State will be content with dueling it out with
Phoenix in the Pacific Division if push comes to shove. Then again, Golden
State share the Pacific with the Clippers and the Lakers as well, teams they
will need to perform well against for any chance of my prediction coming true.
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