Warriors vs Rockets

Karolik · Aug 23, 2013

I expect it to be alot harder to beat them this year especially since they have acquired Iggy.

spdngyns69 · Aug 23, 2013

They lost Jared Jack and Car laundry. The addition of AI does not make up for their subtraction. Those 2 guys were fearless and brought toughness to that team. We can all vouch for Landry that's for sure. The backcourt is a toss up but give me Jh13 over Curry. D12 and O vs bogut and nodee lee. I'd pick the former all day everyday and twice on Sunday.

Yang_Wenli · Aug 23, 2013

It hinges a lot on how healthy Curry and Bogut will be imo. If healthy I think they might be slightly better than the Rockets, especially since Iggy is a Harden stopper. However, losing Jack who plays major minutes alongside Curry means that Curry will have to play more minutes, which might cause injury.

All considered I will say Rockets come out on top.

cmoney23 · Aug 23, 2013

DONT KNOW IF ANYONE SAW THIS BUT AN INTERESTING ARTICLE:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/toss-houston-rockets-shooting-guard-james-harden-golden-221200131.html

Voice of Aus · Aug 25, 2013

This is a good read on the impact the dubs should expect of their Offseason move.

http://basketball.realgm.com/article/229546/What-Iguodala-Brings-To-The-Warriors

After a somewhat surprisingly successful playoff run in which they had their chances to advance to the Western Conference Finals, the Golden State Warriors acquired Andre Iguodala, one of the best defenders in the game and also a very good all-around offensive player. The acquisition of Iguodala is huge for a team that really impressed the league with their energy in the playoffs last season.

Bringing him in means either Klay Thompson or Harrison Barnes will become the designated leader for a bench unit that lost key players this offseason in Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry. While it would seem like Barnes would be the ideal man for the job, we’ve yet to see what Mark Jackson is planning. Let’s work under the assumption that Barnes does in fact become the Warriors’ designated sixth man.

As a member of the Denver Nuggets last season, Iguodala was locked in as the starting shooting guard of the team, going away from his natural small forward position that he played during most of his tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers. In fact, four of the Nuggets’ top five-used lineups featured Iguodala at the two-spot. With Golden State, he would go back to the small forward slot. If we take a look at his last season with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011-12, he barely played at the shooting guard position. He actually saw a few minutes as a power forward that season (Doug Collins’ attempt to play small-ball) and played 83 percent of his minutes at his natural position.

During the 2011-12 lockout-shortened season, Golden State finished 29th in the league in defensive rating, allowing 109.1 points per 100 possessions on an effective field-goal percentage of 49.6 percent, 23rd in the league. Mark Jackson has been preaching defense to this team over and over again and will ceaselessly continue to do so to a team that is incredibly gifted in shooters and scorers. Last season, they improved to 14th in the league, allowing 105 points per 100 possessions on an effective field-goal percentage of 48.6 percent, 8th in the league.

Unfortunately for them, they took a big leap backwards last season in turnover percentage on defense, which is an estimate of turnovers per 100 defensive plays. In 2011-12, they forced 13.6 turnovers per 100 plays on defense, good enough for 18th in the league. However, they finished 28th last season, forcing only 12.4 turnovers per 100 plays.

Iguodala’s ability to shut down his opponent on defense and his great knack for reading passing lanes should undoubtedly increase the number of fastbreak points the Warriors are able to manufacture. With Iguodala on the court for the Nuggets last season, Denver limited their opponent to an effective field-goal percentage of 48.7 percent. With him off the court, the number rose to 50.8 percent, a significant 2.1 percent leap.

Looking at their defensive rebounding rate, the difference between the last two seasons are staggering. Guys like Carl Landry, Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut were big helps in the frontcourt for a Warriors' team that finished dead last in 2011-12 in this category at 69.1 percent. Their defensive rebounding rate of 75.5 percent last season was good enough to crown them as the top team. Iguodala has never averaged less than 5.3 rebounds during any of his nine seasons. Last season, he had a defensive rebounding rate of 11.9 percent, which will benefit the team as he is extremely adept at starting the break and making excellent passes in the fullcourt.

Safe to say that their team defense will continue to improve now that Bogut has shown in last season’s playoffs that he is healthy once more and now that they have acquired one of the best perimeter defenders in the business in Iguodala. These two will do a fine job of anchoring the defense.

The loss of Jarrett Jack was quite impactful to the Warriors. They don’t have anyone else who can bring the ball up and dictate the playmaking. Thompson is still shaky on his ball-handling if he's playing a hybrid role and Kent Bazemore has yet to prove much (he did have a great Summer League showing though, so there’s that). With Iguodala on board, they now have a proven ball-handler and general when Curry is in need of a rest or when the team wants to run some off-ball plays for him to get some shots up. Let’s not forgot that Iguodala has a career average of 4.9 assists-per-game on his resumé and has not averaged less than five assists since the 2008-09 season.

At 6’7”, 217 lbs, with a 6’11” wingspan, Iguodala is athletic and quick on his feet. He has a high defensive IQ, is a student of the game, watches tapes over and over again to learn his tendencies. Sounds like a pretty good defensive stopper. This is exactly what Golden State needs. Yes, Curry was hurt in the Semifinals last postseason, but imagine what could’ve been had Iguodala been assigned Tony Parker and Curry had to chase around a Danny Green around the court. Jackson can now relieve some energy off of Curry on the defensively so that he can really get to work on the offensive end and exert most of his energy on that side of the court.

A slasher, Iguodala had a draw foul rate of 11.6 percent last season, but his free throw shooting has become an issue over the past three seasons. In his first six seasons, he averaged 74.9 percent shooting at the line. For some reason, since the 2011-12 season, his shooting from the line has dropped drastically. That season, he made 69.3 percent of his free-throws. The season after, 61.7 percent, and last season he made 57.4 percent of his attempts.

The Warriors have signed Iguodala to a four-year, $48 million contract while shedding dead contract weight for the coming season and also sending out multiple first round picks. With his skillset, savvy, veteran presence and selflessness, as well as the team getting some much needed playoff experience last season, the Warriors are a significant contender in the Western Conference
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Benchwarmer · Aug 26, 2013

Grinds said: ↑

I'll give them half credit for Bogut since he played half the season. Main reason for GS having a better record is their weak division vs Houston playing in the best division.
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Yeah, we seemed to struggle vs. Warriors when Bogut was healthy. He doesn't look very athletic, but the dude can play D and alter some shots in the paint.
But this time around Bogut will be defending D12 instead of Asik. Which I hope will make a huge difference.

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