Why This Could Be the Best Golden State Warriors Team Ever
The NBA has never seen the Golden State Warriors quite like this.
Under first-year coach Steve Kerr, the Dubs have stormed out to their strongest start in franchise history (10-2). And there are reasons to believe this group can maintain this level of standard-setting play over the course of this 82-game marathon.
It starts with balance. The Warriors have it between their dominant defense and explosive offense, between their stellar starting five and fully loaded second team. Both top-heavy and deep, they have one-punch-knockout power and the endurance to survive a 12-round war.
TOP NEWS
Scoot Scores 0 in Historic Loss
Report: NBA May Expand Lottery
LeBron Talks 'Unacceptable' Performance
That combination isn't one known by this generation of Golden State faithful. The Warriors have occasionally fielded an exciting team, but typically that sizzle has come without any real substance behind it.
So much as they can this early in the season, they have hinted at having both flair and function this time around. They are unrecognizable in a good way.
The Warriors have been plenty of different things during their 69-year history, but greatness has rarely been a part of their identity. That could all change this season, in what could be their finest year of existence.
Golden Roster
If the season ended today, the Warriors could make a killing on the year-end award circuit.
Stephen Curry has performed at an MVP level. The 26-year-old holds top-10 rankings in points (22.6, seventh), assists (7.8, tied for fifth), steals (2.2, tied for third) and player-efficiency rating (25.2, fifth). His 5.5 rebounds per game are tied for the fourth-most among point guards.
"We thought we knew how good Stephen Curry could be," wrote Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes. "It turns out we had no idea."
Curry has even started defending at an impressive level. Opposing point guards are managing a slightly above-average 16.7 PER against him, per 82games.com, a number that is better than it sounds considering the Warriors are no longer hiding him from tough assignments.
About the only thing Curry hasn't done yet is shoot at an elite level. While his 47.2 field-goal percentage outpaces his career 46.7 percent mark, his 38.9 three-point percentage has dipped lower than it's ever been. Given that he converted 44.0 percent of his triples over the past five seasons, it's safe to assume his current rate has significant upward mobility.
And Curry is far from being this team's only award candidate.
Center Andrew Bogut has forced his way into the Defensive Player of the Year race.
The Warriors lead the league with a 94.4 defensive rating. That number drops to just 90.4 during Bogut's minutes and jumps to 98.9 when the seven-footer sits.
Bogut ranks eighth in blocked shots (1.8) and 15th in rebounds (9.2). If those stats don't immediately jump off the page, they might do exactly that when one realizes he is logging only 25.3 minutes a night. Under a per-36-minute lens, Bogut has averaged 13.0 boards, 2.5 blocks and 1.1 steals.
He has also held opponents to 41.4 percent shooting at the rim, per NBA.com's player tracking data. That's a better mark than the ones yielded by fellow interior presences Tim Duncan (42.3), Marc Gasol (47.6) and Defensive Player of the Year front-runner Anthony Davis (51.6).
"Since Bogut has been with the Warriors, he's been irreplaceable as the team's defensive anchor," wrote Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Four different Warriors could make compelling cases for Most Improved Player honors: Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes and Marreese Speights.
The first three have helped give Golden State a wrecking ball of a starting lineup. With Thompson, Green, Curry, Bogut and Barnes on the floor, the Warriors have outscored their opponents by an astounding 28.6 points per 100 possessions.
Speights, on the other hand, has been a stabilizing presence on a second unit still integrating several moving parts. The Warriors have desperately needed someone to consistently produce off the pine, and Speights has embraced that challenge.
"He's my new favorite player, Mo Speights," Kerr said, per Bay Area News Group's Diamond Leung. "He's amazing. He just keeps producing every time we throw him out there."
Speights looks substantially better than he did last season. Ditto for Thompson, Green and Barnes.
| Barnes | 9.5 | 11.0 | 39.9 | 48.9 | 100 | 119 | 105 | 100 |
| Green | 6.2 | 12.5 | 40.7 | 45.7 | 102 | 107 | 98 | 95 |
| Speights | 6.4 | 11.8 | 44.1 | 63.1 | 102 | 123 | 103 | 97 |
| Thompson | 18.4 | 22.4 | 44.4 | 45.2 | 108 | 115 | 106 | 99 |
The Warriors could also find multiple candidates for the Sixth Man of the Year award.
Assuming David Lee embraces a reserve role once he puts his hamstring problem behind him, the Warriors could pull two former All-Stars off the bench: Lee and Andre Iguodala. It could be a bumpy transition for both—Iguodala has started showing signs of life after a really rough beginning—but they could have as much talent as any second-team tandem in the league.
The Warriors players may wind up with their fingerprints all over these individual honors. And they can thank Kerr, a surefire Coach of the Year candidate, and his heavyweight assistant staff for that.
Solving the Puzzle
Talent is a necessary ingredient of any championship recipe. It takes a superstar to contend for a title, and typically a couple of them to actually raise a banner.
So, the Warriors wouldn't find themselves in this position had the front office failed to assemble such a skilled set of players. But they also wouldn't be on pace to have their best campaign in franchise history without Kerr and Co. putting all of the pieces in the right places.
Bogut has benefited as much as anyone from Kerr's arrival.
The big man was a critical component of former coach Mark Jackson's plan, but Bogut's impact was restricted to the defensive end of the floor.
Kerr ripped that restriction off quickly, and Bogut has been freed to tap into his deep bag of offensive tricks. On a per-36-minute basis, he is scoring (11.4), shooting (8.9 field-goal attempts) and assisting (3.9) more than he has at any point since joining the Warriors in March of 2012.
"They're running me in the high post a lot more and utilizing my passing and it's been great so far," Bogut told Melbourne radio station SEN, per The Age's Ronny Lerner. "Steve Kerr's turned around my career and getting me back involved offensively, too, helps."
Similar success stories can be found up and down this roster. It is the overall effect of using a stronger commitment to ball movement in order to take advantage of the many offensive weapons on this team.
Under Kerr, the Warriors are averaging 316.9 passes per game, which is 11th-most in the NBA. Their 60.6 points created by assist per game are the highest in the league.
Last season, Golden State finished dead-last with only 245.8 passes a night. The Warriors turned those passes into 54.9 points off assists, which tied for eighth-most.
There are fewer isolation looks, fewer opportunities for the ball to stick. This offense is poetry in motion when everything is clicking.
"There are moments when the Warriors' offense looks like it was shot with the time-lapse video feature on the new iPhone," wrote ESPN.com's J.A. Adande. "Nothing lasts long, especially not individual possession of the ball."
Kerr and his staff, headlined by offensive genius Alvin Gentry and defensive guru Ron Adams, have shown an understanding of how to put these players in position for success.
Curry, as he should, still has a fluorescent green light. The same goes for Thompson, who was combined with his brother in splash to attempt 14.4 threes a night and convert 5.9 of them.
But the Warriors have helped expand Thompson's offensive impact. He's still seeking out shots from distance, but he has traded his mid-range looks for attacks of the basket. Exactly 30 percent of his attempts have come within 10 feet of the goal, up from 22.3 percent last season.
Those aggressive drives have also netted him a personal-best 5.5 free throws a night. His previous high was 2.3. Considering he's a career 83.4 percent shooter at the line, those are essentially free points—and momentum boosts.
"Getting to the line is huge because it gets you in a rhythm, you see the ball go in," Thompson said, per Tim Bontemps of the New York Post, "and it’s something I really haven’t been doing the last three years."
Aggressiveness has had its perks beyond the charity stripe for Thompson, too.
Kerr has allowed Green to take on a bigger role, and the versatile forward has responded with a career-high 14.9 assist percentage. Barnes, now back with the starters, has played off others to take better advantage of his slashing and spot-up shooting skills. Over 70 percent of his two-point baskets have come off assists, up from 49.3 last season. As a result, he's posting career marks across the board as a shooter.
Iguodala has spent more time on the ball now that he's the focal point of the reserve unit. Both he and newcomer Shaun Livingston have also had the opportunity to create shots for Curry and Thompson in staggered starter-reserve lineups that Kerr utilizes far more than his predecessor.
Speights looks like a completely different player under Kerr. Leandro Barbosa has his highest field-goal percentage since 2008-09. Everybody on the team is running, as evidenced by Golden State's league-high 101.56 possessions per 48 minutes.
This team feels as if it's starting to realize its full potential. It seems like it's destined to become the best Warriors squad the basketball world has ever seen.
Setting the Bar and Exceeding It
Judging by their recent history—three playoff trips in the last 20 years—it may seem as if being the best Warriors team of all-time really isn't much to brag about.
But if you dig back further into the history books, the Dubs have fielded some dominant teams.
They have three championships in their past: 1947 (BAA), 1956 and 1975. They have won 50-plus games on five different occasions, twice reaching the 55-win mark (1976 and 1992). Their 1975-76 group, led by Hall of Famers Rick Barry and Jamaal Wilkes, had the league's most efficient defense and second-most efficient offense, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway powered the Warriors to 44 highly entertaining wins in 1990-91. Mullin and Hardaway helped them to 55 victories the following two seasons. But both seasons produced a whopping one playoff series win. That was one more than they managed with Mullin, Chris Webber and Latrell Sprewell in 1993-94.
There have been some good Warriors teams and a handful of great ones. But this has a legitimate chance to top them all.
The Warriors are currently reeling off victories at an 83.3 percent clip. For context, that would equate to a 68-win season. The franchise record for wins is 59.
It's tempting to assume the Warriors will slow down at some point, but that's far from being a guarantee.
They have played a tough schedule out of the gate. One of their two losses came on the second night of a road back-to-back series (against a good Phoenix Suns team), and the other came against the defending-champion San Antonio Spurs.
The Warriors could get better from here.
Remember, Lee has only played seven minutes on the season. His rebounding and low-post scoring would both provide boosts to this team no matter how he's used. Iguodala should become more comfortable in his reserve role as the season progresses. Livingston and Barbosa are still getting used to their new surroundings. And Festus Ezeli has plenty of rust to shake off after missing the entire 2013-14 campaign.
If this team stays healthy, it has a real chance of setting the franchise record for wins. But its real measure of success won't come until the second season.
If they want to be the best Warriors team ever, they need to send another banner up into the rafters. And they know it.
"You're proud of it, but that's about as far as it goes," Curry said of the team's strong start, per Leung. "You've got to capitalize on this start and be ready every single game until that last game in June hopefully."
It's been a long time since the Warriors could vocalize championship goals and not be laughed out of the gym. But this group has the chance to be better than every one that came before it.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
.png?w=600 "2027 NFL Mock Draft 🔮")
.jpg?w=600 "Heisman candidate goes undrafted, accepts camp invite")