The Bulls went out and got the second-best record of all time the year after setting the record. That's not biding their time until the playoffs--that's pushing the gas all season. And the Warriors are better offensively and defensively than last year, and beating teams by a larger margin, so I don't think they're coasting either.
I'm not sure where y'all are getting the idea that they're worse on defense. They're allowing less points per possession on defense than last year and is 1st in the league as opposed to 5th last year. Durant's actually been a revelation on that end posting his best defensive numbers of his career. If anything, their offense slipped a little bit. Again, I think you guys are just seeing what you want to see with the few games you watched of them and justifying the logical conclusion that losing Bogut/Barnes would hurt their defense, when objectively it has not.
The bogut effect. His loss was tremendously felt in the finals and people sense it this year. They are not as strong in the interior defensively. His screens were deadly and created an insane amount of space. He was the enforcer along with green. Zaza is not as good. Depth is important, McGee and varejao are not Ezeli and speights. Iggy is not the same. Ian Clark is not barbosa. But Durant is supremely better than Barnes. But they sacrificed bench for star play. I agree with the strategy. They are still dominate but now they have weak spots for teams to exploit. Last year they didn't have these weaknesses before Cleveland took advantage of the bogut injury and their first weakness.
I think Curry is just picking his spots more. Having Durant carry the load during the regular season can only help Curry late into the season and into the playoffs. Curry should have less wear because of this. The Warriors are obviously very good, they just aren't pressing to be the best regular season team like they were the last couple of years. Losing to the Cavs in the finals I believe taught them a valuable lesson.
Offensive/Defensive ratings don't prove anything when you compare teams from different seasons. That's because those ratings are heavily affected by the strength of the teams during that particular season. 15-16 Warriors could easily have worse stats than the 16-17 Warriors, and still be the better team.
True. Their offensive rating so far is 116, in comparison to last year's 114. Their defensive rating is about the same. To say that they are a worse team is a stretch. But we already expected them to be better offensively adding someone like Durant. Whether they have the will and grit to win it all will have to wait till the playoffs. That said, I do agree that they lost last year's invincible aura. Is that because of Durant or is that because of the humbling experience of losing in the Finals?
Their adjusted offensive rating (adjusted to opponent's defensive strength) is still better than last year's adjusted rating. These ratings are the best indicators of how good a team is.
The defense this year is led by their perimeter defense guarding the 3ball in which they lead the league.
You're missing the point. That's adjusted within the context of the current season, and it gives you an indication of how good a team is IN THAT CURRENT SEASON. It proves nothing when you start comparing teams from completely different seasons.
Dude, when you have things underlined I'm thinking it's a link to back up your claims not just to emphasize your points, haha. Like @Easy said, they are still better adjusted for strength of schedule. I agree just comparing raw stats between seasons could be misleading (especially across generations) but I don't think that's the case here.
Well, I just felt the need to point it out since you seem very adamant that the 16-17 Warriors is the better team, when in fact it could be either way.
You're not wrong, I just don't think it's that big a difference between ONE season. It's still by and large the same group of 400 or so players. I accept that there is a confidence interval. But I just don't buy everyone in this thread summarily dismissing this year's team to be worse, especially on defense. I feel like people are biased and just seeing their own narrative in the games, especially since the one game everyone watched and remember the most is a loss against our Rockets.
While you're right about it roughly being the same pool of players, I think that is a rather simplistic way of looking at it. While the talent level is roughly the same, team building is a very tricky thing. Sometimes only 1 player (or coach) can turn the team around (one way or the other). You also need a lot of luck to build a successful roster (just too many variables to account for). I do agree that there shouldn't be a very dramatic shift in strength within back-to-back seasons though.
I disagree. I just think winning was easier for them at that point. I think the 72 win team had to try harder to get to 72 than the 69 win team had to to get to 69. I agree with the first parts - I think they are simply a better team than last year. But also one that's not as focused on their regular season record or accomplishments, so their record is worse.
I wonder if any of this has anything to do with Curry's money. The dude is married and has a family, he played his best the last 2 seasons and still didn't get a contract. I mean Harden Russell and even Conley!! got new contracts. I wonder if that bugs him.
It's not going to bug him when his next contract could be worth $200+ over the lifetime of the deal. Curry is doing his best to get Durant incorporated into the team, even if it means going back to Pre-2015/2016 Curry. Of course that player ain't bad at all (e.g. MVP) though it has to sting him just a little knowing that another dude just came in and took half of his alpha status away from him without his blessing.
I think there better but team especially the Cavs and rockets have kinda caught on to what GS was doing the last few years and now play the same way and have the players to not only play that way but excell at it. I just think some teams have adapted to their style and embraced it. Shout out to Morey and Les for realizing this and going in this direction instead of the ones we fans wanted which was a thibbs type coach and all Defense. They were right all along and have to be given major credit. The league is changing and the rockets were the first team to really adapt.
Curry is putting up the same # he put up when he won the MVP 2 years ago. There was no way he was going to put up that same number from last year. If he did, he would be a top 5 player in the history of the NBA. Last year was just insane.
What makes you think it was without his blessing? He was one of the ones that pushed to bring Durant over. I think they all just love playing team basketball and don't really care so much about their stats (except maybe Durant, who hasn't been in that culture for very long yet).
