Cavaliers vs. Warriors: 2015 NBA Finals Will Be 1st Chapter in Budding Rivalry
Winning an NBA title might have been the culmination of this season for the Golden State Warriors, but it certainly felt more like the beginning of something than it did the end for the organization.
Think, for a moment, about this team's core. Steph Curry is 27. Klay Thompson is 25. Harrison Barnes is 23. Draymond Green—who will almost assuredly be back next season, though more on that later—is 25. Festus Ezeli is 25.
Even the team's important veterans such as Shaun Livingston (29), Andrew Bogut (30) and Andre Iguodala (31) still likely have at least a few good years left in the tank.
The point is this: Golden State's core is still pretty young, and while many of these players will be up for contract extensions in the next few years, this is a group that could easily compete for a few more titles.
There will be changes, of course. David Lee, for instance, is likely to be traded this offseason, per Marc Stein of ESPN:
"The Warriors are nonetheless expected to aggressively explore the trade market for Lee in conjunction with the NBA draft on June 25 and with free agency starting July 1. Sources say Golden State is determined to match any offer that comes for Green in restricted free agency and also intends to discuss a contract extension with forward Harrison Barnes, which only increases the likelihood that Lee moves on.
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But given that Lee was reduced to being a bit player for the team this year, that won't really hurt the Warriors much. In fact, they may be able to get another piece that fits this core a bit better in exchange.
Any way you slice it, the Warriors are set up to be contenders for many years to come.
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, seem likely to have a bit more of an interesting offseason on their hands. While LeBron James seems guaranteed to return, Kevin Love's return is hardly guaranteed. And, quite frankly, the Cavs might be asking themselves if the money they would need to bring back Love might not be better spent elsewhere, especially after Tristan Thompson seemed to fit more naturally next to James.
Thompson, too, will almost certainly be locked into an extension, while Kyrie Irving will be back. And the Cavs will offer Love the max, because they traded Andrew Wiggins for him, but whether Love chooses to return will be another thing altogether.
This offseason with the Cavs, who knows?
There's the possibility that all three of Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova will hit free agency. Can the team bring them all back and retain Thompson and potentially Love? Whom would they deem most expendable?
Heck, will David Blatt even be back?
And yet it likely doesn't matter, because the Cavs have James, and James just somehow managed to lead Cleveland to two wins with a group of role players against the best team in the NBA. He had a historic postseason run, and so long as the Cavs don't completely blow up the roster around him, he's going to lead Cleveland back to the Finals.
Imagine if James actually had a healthy Irving and Love in the Finals—or even just a healthy Irving. The Cavs would have been that much more dangerous. The Cavaliers are essentially the favorites in the East so long as they have James and a solid supporting cast around him.
And so once again, it would hardly be surprising if the league's best roster (Golden State) met its best player (James) in next year's NBA Finals. Perhaps a few other teams will put their names in the running, namely out West (beware of a healthy Oklahoma City Thunder squad), but as of now, it would be very surprising if this year's NBA Finals weren't the beginning of a rivalry and power struggle between the Warriors and Cavs.
