Why the Golden State Warriors Will Be Back in the NBA Finals in 2016

With the Golden State Warriors having won their first NBA championship since 1975 on Tuesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the question, naturally, turns to whether or not they can return to the Finals next year.

In the NBA's Western Conference, there's no rest for the weary.

Thanks to Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook (via NBA on ESPN), we already know the gambling odds of the Warriors making the Finals again next year are pretty good:

There's plenty of reason for the Bay Area to be optimistic. With the exception of Finals MVP Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut, Golden State's core players, led by Stephen Curry, are all entering their prime. 

What's more, all the key players are under contract for the foreseeable future. Draymond Green is a restricted free agent this summer, but thanks to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group, we know Green isn't in a rush to leave town:

Still, returning to the Finals isn't as simple as showing up the following year with the same roster. Here's why Golden State will again survive the Western Conference gauntlet next season:

Roster depth and flexibility

With apologies to the fans in Cleveland and Oklahoma City for bringing up fresh wounds, injuries are the biggest threat to a contending team's championship hopes. While no team can overcome an injury to a star player, few are as well equipped as the Warriors to cope with a star's intermediate absence.

Replacing Curry's style would prove impossible—the NBA has never seen anyone play quite like him—but can the Warriors find a way to tread water should he miss a month? Absolutely.

Klay Thompson, who finished sixth in the NBA in points per 48 minutes during the regular season, is more than capable of picking up the scoring slack. Curry's playmaking duties would be harder to replicate, but Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala are gifted passers and have proved to be nothing but versatile during their careers.

And what if Thompson were to go down?

Harrison Barnes has that covered. With the omission of one game in which head coach Steve Kerr decided to give half the team a night off, here are Barnes' splits with and without Thompson in the lineup:

	PPG	FG%	3PT%
With	9.8	47.2	39.8
Without	17.8	67.4	63.6

It's safe to say Barnes was more than ready to step up with Thompson sidelined. 

Losing a star player will slow even the deepest of teams. Still, the unmatched versatility of Golden State's roster puts them in the unique position to maintain a reasonable seed should they lose Curry or Thompson for parts of the regular season.

They have assets to improve

It took less than 24 hours after the Warriors won the championship for ESPN's Marc Stein to drop this somewhat expected bit of news:

Lee isn't worth the $15.5 million he's owed next season, but his expiring contract is an attractive asset for teams looking to shed salary before the free-agent frenzy of 2016. For Golden State, taking on longer contracts in return won't be as burdensome with the salary cap expected to rise over $20 million in 2016, according to DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony.

With few obvious needs, it's unclear what the Warriors might want in return. Adding another shooter off the bench would be a bonus, particularly one who could spell Curry at point guard, and a long-term replacement for Bogut at center wouldn't hurt.

Then there's Barnes. In January, ESPN's Ethan Sherwood Strauss made an interesting point about Barnes' development:

Barnes hasn't lived up to his billing as the seventh overall pick in the 2012 draft, nor has he lived up to the hype of being the top overall recruit out of high school in 2010. Still, we've seen flashes of Barnes' potential, and he has time on his side. 

They have Steve Kerr

Beyond everything else, the biggest reason to believe the Warriors will be back in the Finals next year is Kerr.

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Kerr's tactical flexibility was on display all season, from inserting Green into the starting lineup at the beginning of the year, to rolling with "small ball" in the Finals. His willingness to try new ideas gives the Warriors the ability to adapt to any adjustments the opposition makes.

More than that, though, Golden State's players have bought into Kerr's message. During a postgame interview with ABC's Doris Burke, Kerr was effusive in his praise of his team's selflessness (h/t Yahoo's Dan Devine):

"

The sacrifice that every guy made. From Andre [Iguodala] and David [Lee] stepping away from the starting lineup to, throughout the playoffs, different guys stepping in and playing, whatever matchup we needed. We just played, and they were all in it just to win. That's the only thing that mattered. This is an amazing group of guys.

"

Kerr knows what it takes to repeat as champion, having been a part of the second half of the Chicago Bulls dynasty. He'll be telling the Warriors what they need to do to get back to the Finals next year.

And they'll listen.