Despite winning the 2015 NBA title, few people have the Golden State Warriors repeating in 2016. Most people have their money on either the San Antonio Spurs or Cleveland Cavaliers. While those teams certainly deserve to be given strong consideration, it feels as though most people are in denial that the Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship just two months ago. What I want to do in this article is explain why some people is overlooking the Warriors and why the Warriors deserve to be the favorites to repeat in 2016.
The two main reasons why people
are overlooking the Warriors have to do with their style of play and franchise
history. The way the Warriors won the 2015 NBA title seemed to defy common
sense due to their fast tempo and emphasis on three-point shooting. Most teams
that win titles win by slowing the pace down and finding ways to score inside.
The Warriors did the opposite, which casts doubt in people's minds about their
ability to win a title for a second straight year.
As for their history, the
Golden State Warriors historically are a pathetic franchise that can't get out
of their own way. Some people (including myself) have a hard time coming to
grips with the fact that this Warriors team isn't like any Warriors team we've
seen before. The players are totally new, the coach is totally new, and the
ownership is totally new. The Warriors teams we saw play in the late 90s and
early 2000s were an entirely different entity that happened to call themselves
by the same name. It sounds strange, but it's really the truth.
Before I go on to explain why
the Warriors should be favored to repeat in 2016, let me be clear that there
are good reasons for people to have the concerns that they have. As good as the
Warriors are at hitting three point shots and playing a more fast tempo, it is
still true that it's easier to win games by slowing the game down and taking
higher percentage shots inside the arc. What allows the Warriors to win without
conforming to this general rule of basketball is that they have two of the
greatest three point shooters of all-time in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
We need to understand that for those guys, a three-point shot might as well be
a mid-range jump shot or even a moderately contested layup. They are super
comfortable taking threes and since that is their comfort zone, it isn't crazy
for them to shoot the amount of threes that they take.
As for the Warriors' history is
concerned, they don't deserve the same respect that the Spurs have because they
simply don't have the track record that they have. The Warriors may very well
develop a similar track record, but for now, they don't have much of a track
record for success, so it's fair to ask the Warriors to earn that track record and
reputation for winning before we take them as seriously as more proven teams
like the Spurs.
Now, with all of that as a
disclaimer of sorts, let me now explain why the Warriors should be favored to
win the 2016 NBA title. First of all, they are really young. All their core
players are coming back and they are coming back as NBA champions. If you
thought last season's Warriors team was scary, wait until you see a Warriors
team that has a championship under their belt. The 2015-16 Warriors will be an
even more confident version of last season's team. If that doesn't make you
like the Warriors' chances to repeat, I don't know what will. So long as this
team continues to win with such a young group of guys, they should probably be
the favorites to win the title every season until another young team dethrones
them.
Secondly, no other team out
West can be trusted. The team that everybody has taking the West in 2016 is the
San Antonio Spurs, a team that has had their share of ups and downs in the playoffs
over the course of their storied legacy. The Spurs will be dangerous in 2016,
don't get me wrong, but history suggest that they are far from being a lock to
come out of the West. They have as many shortcomings in the playoffs as they do
championships.
When looking at the rest of the
West, there are tons of question marks everywhere. The Rockets, Clippers, and
Thunder did nothing this past summer that should make us pick them over the
Warriors in 2016. Like San Antonio, they'll be dangerous, but in truth, they
shouldn't be more feared than the defending champion Golden State Warriors. As
for the Eastern Conference, only the Cleveland Cavaliers should command the
Golden State Warriors' respect and they didn't make any significant upgrades to
their team during the summer, either.
When looking at the current state of the NBA and
sizing up the contenders, it becomes clear that the Golden State Warriors
should be favored to repeat as champions in 2016. They have the talent, youth,
and hunger to do so. What's scarier is that they appear to have even more
motivation to prove people wrong once again.
---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord for NBA news
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