Via Sportskeeda
Key Players: Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Iguodala
Future Hall of Famers: Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Iguodala
It's okay, we've all done it. When you're alone and no one is around, you abandon your morals and cast aside the team you root for night-in-and-night-out and imagine what it must feel like to be a Warriors fan.
You imagine the child-like grin a 30-footer from Steph would put on your face. You can finally admit that Draymond Green is a top-20 player in the league and how you love everything he brings to the game. You feel your heart beat instead of sink everytime Klay Thompson launches a picture perfect three. Your eyes are open and you're able to realize both the financial and physical logic in DeMarcus Cousins signing a one-year, $5.3 million contract. You appreciate the fact that Steve Kerr manages to balance multiple Hall of Fame talents and implement a system where they can all shine. You get so deep into your imagination, you start listing reasons Kevin Durant is better than LeBron James.
Eventually, you snap back to the sad reality of not knowing if your team will see the court in mid-April -- much less mid-June. You return to your life as a Warriors hater.
30-foot bombs from Stephen Curry are met with grimaces. Draymond Green's defense and intangibles are ignored, while you call him donkey. You're rattling on about elevation as you try to find any flaw in Klay Thompson's form. The snake emoji is in your keyboard's favorites as you mock Demarcus Cousins' decision. You cling to Luke Walton's 39-4 interim coaching record to argue that Steve Kerr is nothing more than a good personality filling the main sideline spot. Kevin Durant is entering his third season as a Warrior, but you're just as passionate about Durant ruining the league today as you were in 2016. Three years later, "the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead" is still in your bio, and you're not even a Cavs fan.
Even though you're a hater, your passionate disdain towards Golden State is justified as the juggernaut of the NBA looks primed to win its third straight title and its fourth in five years.
Golden State's Scenarios
Via NBA.com
How good is too good? Too good is when your best and worst case scenario can't be separated, as both scenarios are viewed as successful.
Too good is when your main concern is winning too easily. As much as lovers of competition love to discredit Kevin Durant, all it takes is a working set of eyes to recognize the 30-year-old as an all-time great. For those needing a reminder of Durant's excellence, look no further than his single-handed defeat of the Cleveland Cavaliers in game 3 of last year's Finals.
Via House of Highlights
Golden State never needed Kevin Durant.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were always going to be the greatest shooting backcourt ever, arguably the greatest in general, regardless of Durant's help; in fact, one could even argue, Curry was on the path of becoming the greatest point guard of all time. This is the same player that became the league's only unanimous MVP while leading a 73-win team that was one kick to the reproduction area from being the undisputed greatest team of all time; but, even the best of us need a plan-B on our bad days.
Another relatively easy run to a championship could lead Kevin Durant to want more than a 'use when needed' role. Kevin Durant hasn't exactly settled the rumors of him leaving with his stance being, "We'll see what happens."
The chances of another championship being what happens increased by about 269 lbs on July 6th.
Before tearing his Achilles in the last seconds of a home victory, DeMarcus Cousins was in the middle of the best season of his career, posting numbers of 25.2 points and career-highs in rebounds (12.9) and assists (5.4). Cousins ability to shoot combined with his willingness to pass makes him the perfect offensive big man for Steve Kerr's offensive system. Imagine Draymond Green and the threat he poses on his best offensive day, that's DeMarcus Cousins on his worst of days. Thoughts of a 6'11, 269 lb Cousins leading fast breaks with three of the greatest shooters of all time running lanes is as scary as ... as scary as ... a simile can't even be created; that's how scary the Boogie-led Warriors fast breaks will be.
A healthy DeMarcus Cousins makes one of sport's most dominant dynasties virtually unstoppable. As a Pelicans' diehard, I refuse to admit that Cousins is the best center in the league and a top-10 player on the planet, so here's a long video that'll lead you to that conclusion yourself:
Via: House of Highlights
If the superstar center is healthy, there's no doubt the Golden State Warriors will be the 2018-2019 NBA champions. If the superstar center isn't healthy, there's little doubt that the Golden State Warriors will be the 2018-2019 NBA champions.
Another championship is on the horizon for Golden State, but it's how the team gets that championship that creates the separation between the Warriors "best" and "worst" case season scenarios.
Golden State coasting through the season and becoming unstoppable once DeMarcus Cousins returns may sound great for the Warriors, but another championship without much competition will make even the most diehard of "I just want to win" guys, like Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, want a little more competition. Since Kevin Durant joined the Warriors, Golden State has a 32-6 playoff record, with last season's Houston Rockets making up half of the losses.
A team like the Houston Rockets or Boston Celtics making the defending champions at least sweat by forcing a series to go to six or seven is the Warriors best-case scenario, as it makes the team's 2019 free agency duo of Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson feel like they're needed.
Revisiting the point from earlier, the Warriors worst-case scenario is coasting their way to ring number four, causing the organization and its upcoming free agents to feel like they've done all they could for the team. Klay Thompson has already expressed his disinterest in taking a hometown discount; so, one could easily see Warriors general manager Bob Myers undervalueing the impact of Thompson and viewing the two-way superstar as low as the fourth most important piece while offering lowball contracts.
Golden State winning another championship, but losing either Durant or Thompson as a result is as "bad" as it can get for the NBA's model franchise.
Record Prediction: 65-17; The Warriors are in a win-win(lose) situation.