Under-the-Radar Teams to Watch this Upcoming NBA Season
3. The Golden State Warriors
The Warriors may be the most polarizing team in the NBA. Some people predict Golden State to be a top five team in the Western Conference, and some people have Golden State missing the playoffs.
As for me, I’m more in the camp that Golden State will miss the playoffs than be a top five team in the West. With that being said, they could prove me wrong because Steph Curry is just that good, but before we decide where they will end up at the end of the season, let’s take a look at their roster.
It starts with Steph Curry, as long as he’s healthy, he should be doing Steph Curry things, that goes without saying. Draymond’s still there as well, and although he’s coming off the worst season of his career, he should bounce back and have a solid year. When you get passed Steph and Draymond, the Warriors questions start coming.
No player embodies that more than Andrew Wiggins. He hasn’t lived up to the hype surrounding him when the was drafted number one back in 2014, but he hasn’t been a bust either. Wiggins has been a solid player, nothing more nothing less. The question around Wiggins is whether or not he can be more than just a guy who puts up about 20 points a game for a bad team? Also, his defense is atrocious. Can Golden State get him to buy into them basketball and actually play defense and play off Steph and play winning form of basketball?
If the past is any indication of the future than the answers to all of those questions is a big no. Wiggins is entering his seventh year in the league and he’s been the same exact player all seven of those years. Why should we expect him to change now?
Next up is Kelly Oubre, aka Wave Tsunami. Oubre will be good for Golden State. Even though he’s become a meme with how poorly he’s shot the basketball to start the season, he has proven to be a solid 3-and-D wing, whose capable of creating his won shot. However, he’s not really a difference maker. He’s not going to replace what Klay Thompson gave Golden State.
Once you get past Wiggins and Oubre is when things start to become shaky.
Kent Bazemore, Kevon Looney, Eric Paschall, Brad Wannamaker, Jordan Poole, and Damion Lee headline the Warriors rotation. Do anyone of those guys spark interest into event he most die-hard NBA fan? I don’t think so.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Warriors do this upcoming season. If Steph and Draymond stay healthy, could they pull a LeBron and pull this team of confusion to the playoffs? They absolutely could, but is it more likely that they miss the playoffs in a stacked Western Conference? I think yes.