Golden State Warriors: “What stands out about this Warriors team compared to past years?”
Finishing a combined 54-83 the last two seasons and missing the playoffs in both years, the Golden State Warriors entered the year with a much improved looking roster. Led by Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, the Warriors are once again looking to prove that they are championship contenders and beginning the year 13-2 — the best record in the NBA — has put them in a position to do so.
Depth and their willingness to sacrifice has been the two biggest things that have stood out about this Warriors team compared to past years and the one thing that separates them from other teams in the league is their energy. These guys are professional athletes, so you are not always going to see sidelines jumping up and down and celebrating after a big play, but every single time something good happens for this Warriors team, their bench explodes.
These guys are just simply having fun out there and this positive attitude directly contributes to their play on the court. The last two seasons, injuries played a big role in the Warriors demise, but they just simply did not have the personnel to be the team they had been over the years.
From 2015-2019, the Warriors made 5 consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals, winning three titles in the process. Of course having Klay Thompson healthy and Kevin Durant on their team was a big part of their success, but they also had depth at every position.
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During the 2019-20 season and 2020-21 season, the Warriors were always scrambling to figure out who was going to play where and they just did not have enough overall talent to be anything special. Now though when you look at this team, they have two, sometimes three guys at every single position that can play big minutes.
The willingness of veterans like Curry, Green and Iguodala to sacrifice their production for that of the team is quite astonishing and we have even seen new guys like Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica buy into this philosophy as well.
Steve Kerr knows what it takes to win not only because he has won three championships coaching this team, but because he himself was a part of 5 different championship teams during his 15-year playing career, three of which were in Chicago with Michael Jordan.
When you have one of the greatest players of all-time in Stephen Curry, you do not need much as a team to be successful, but you do have to have depth and high energy guys. The Warriors have both of those things this season and when Klay Thompson and James Wiseman return from injuries, this team is only going to get better.
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The Golden State Warriors are currently the best team in the NBA and while it seemed like a long-shot at the beginning of the year, they could very well make their sixth NBA Finals appearance in the last eight seasons.
