That's hard to justify, though - especially when a player like Durant is "gettable." The Spurs have the best chemistry, and have always been one of the best teams in the league, but they still went out and got a guy like Aldridge and now Gasol. Sure, Duncan/Gino/Parker weren't the same as they once were, but the Spurs showed that they didn't have to spend a lot of money to produce wins. Anyway, chemistry and identity can be acquired as the team plays more. Depth is definitely an issue. I agree with people saying that GSW needs to trade for a legit big in order to be a Finals contender.
Clutchfans, bruh. You should see the first few pages of the game thread for 10/25. No one was giving the Spurs a chance, saying that the Warriors would absolutely dominate. Knee-jerk is an unwritten rule on these here forums!
They still have iggy, livingston, west. That is a pretty solid bench. The warriors were at their best when playing small ball with no rim protector. Barnes for Durant is a huge upgrade.
Everyone keeps telling me "it's one game" but the Warriors had this glaring issue in the pre season of not being a good rebounding team nor a team that could defend the paint. I also noticed a lot less ball movement with GS, KD is a legit ball stopper and this is going to cause tensions between Klay and the team. These are some serious issues and I haven't even gotten to the bench which I've been saying all summer that it's super weak, in the 3rd Q with 6 minutes still left to go, Curry, Klay, & Green had already played 25 minutes, last year they average about 32-33 minutes a game because they where notorious for blowing teams out by the 3rd, again another argument I had about GS coming into this season. They are a team not use to playing heavy minutes which can be bad for Curry who's had his fair share of injuries. KD is a great pickup for any team but if it ain't broke don't fix it. Giving up Bogut, Ezeli, Barnes, Barbosa, Speights, and even Rush who were all a huge part of their success was and has to be pretty crazy. This team without KD broke the NBA record for most wins, clearly they didn't need him but the desperation to become more elite than you already were may just bite GS this year.
They traded regular season success for playoff success. No one will want to face them after they've had 82 games to iron things out.
It's not that they are a 4 player team . . or have 4 of the top 20 players in the league it is that they have 4 players that are TOP 3~5 in the league that their position Curry - Top 4 PG KlayThompson - Top 5 SG in the league? KD - Top 2 in the league Green - Top 5 PF in the league the thing is. . . their weakest position . . is the position that the NBA has essentially neuters They League has made the Center position a place holder on the court and severely limited its usefulness Rocket River