Golden State player rankings in annual GM survey

[Kd35brah]

Zasa is human personal foul.. He'll get 2 quick ones coming off the team bus to the arena. He will not be a factor at all so with that

David West has been done for 2 years now.

ZaZa averaged 9ppg and 9rpg in 26mpg last season with the trash Mavs.

TT is a better rim protector than Zaza but it wasn't by much last year.

Green was a top rim protector last year and before.

 

[G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman]

No argument

He still better than Corey klay Matthews

No jewelry to show for that assertion tho.

 

[jwinfield]

Writers make their championship predictions

Mike Wise

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Did you just say Zasa and West

Them dudes are washed.

Like I said the Warriors have no size or toughness. Who is gonna keep Kyrie and LeBron out the paint?

Who?

JaVale McGee.


Zaza and Draymond are monsters on the boards. Zaza is quietly one of the best offensive rebounders in the league. And West was still really damn efficient off the bench last year.

They ARE weak on interior defense with Zaza, though they can partially hide it when they have Draymond and Iggy in the game at the same time, not to mention that Klay helps keep guys wrapped up on the perimeter too. Teams will score on them inside. The problem is that you're going to be trading twos for threes a lot of the time.


If you want to think about it this way though...the Heat just made 4 straight Finals and won two of them, with the following guys getting the most frontcourt minutes:

2011: Bosh, Joel Anthony, Haslem (Haslem injured all season and half of playoffs)
2012: Bosh, Battier, Haslem (Bosh injured half of playoffs)
2013: Bosh, Battier, Haslem/Birdman
2014: Bosh, Rashard Lewis, Birdman


Oh, and then the 2016 Cavs, rolling with Love, TT, and Frye

Now, you can call Draymond-Zaza-West soft, but they look like beasts compared to what the Heat were rolling with. And the Warriors are far more stacked on the perimeter than the Heat ever were.

People always overreact to these so-called "superteams". They never live up to their hype. Winning a chip is hard, really hard...as last year showed. Running off a bunch of them is that much harder in this day and age. It's not just about talent either. A lot of factors go into winning just one, let alone a bunch of, chips.

But when the hell was the talent even close to what Golden State is playing with?

There's never been another superteam formed by adding an MVP-caliber player to a team that was already at the top of the league.

Name another team that had arguably top-2 guys at four different positions, AND strong guys at the 5th position, bench, and coaching.

There's never been a superteam formed with this many top-echlon players at once, or by adding a player this good to a team that was already that good.

 

[FTBS]

But when the hell was the talent even close to what Golden State is playing with?

There's never been another superteam formed by adding an MVP-caliber player to a team that was already at the top of the league.

Name another team that had arguably top-2 guys at four different positions, AND strong guys at the 5th position, bench, and coaching.

There's never been a superteam formed with this many top-echlon players at once, or by adding a player this good to a team that was already that good.

That 04 Lakers team was pretty close. Sure Malone and Payton were older but they were both coming off seasons where they averaged 20 and 8 and we were still in the 1 star per team era so that was actually probably a bigger deal considering the league at the time. There wasn't even a CLE that you could say might have a chance of matching up with them on paper.

All I know is that I have NEVER seen a "superteam" live up to it's hype...ever. It has never happened. Maybe GSW is the exception to the rule but I will believe it when I see it. Something always comes up and it's never as easy as it seems like it will be. This isn't 2K where you can turn off injuries and fatigue and there are no off the court or mental/emotional issues coming into play. We also can't forget that all the key pieces here choked like dogs just a few short months ago.

 

[Illuminatos]

Did you just say Zasa and West

Them dudes are washed.

Like I said the Warriors have no size or toughness. Who is gonna keep Kyrie and LeBron out the paint?

Who?

These posts disgust me man

The same Zaza that finished 6th in the Western Conference All-Star game votes is washed?

 

[Joe Sixpack]

The same Zaza that finished 6th in the Western Conference All-Star game votes is washed?

 

[Versa]

Just want to point out to everyone saying that the Warriors are losing a lot due to missing defensive players that...

1. Kevin Durant hasn't been a one dimensional scorer for quite sometime now and is good defender.

2. The Warrior's best line up statistically last year was Curry/Klay/Dray/Iggy/Barnes. So for those saying the warriors suddenly got soft and defensively weak, unless you feel losing Harrison Barnes and replacing him with Kevin Durant is somehow a minus, I think they'll be fine

What year did you think was an easy path?

.

Why ask stupid questions? The second LeBron and Bosh went to Miami it was pretty much guaranteed they'd be winning a few rings.

Interestingly enough, the only thing that stopped them from winning 3 in a row was LeBron himself. He went to Miami to set himself up for the easiest road to a ring and ended up choking against Dallas big time lol. Made up for it the next two seasons though.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Why ask stupid questions? The second LeBron and Bosh went to Miami it was pretty much guaranteed they'd be winning a few rings.

Interestingly enough, the only thing that stopped them from winning 3 in a row was LeBron himself. He went to Miami to set himself up for the easiest road to a ring and ended up choking against Dallas big time lol. Made up for it the next two seasons though.

Lebron's "easy road" in 2011 meant beating the near-defending champ Celtics, followed by beating the 61-win, favored Bulls only by outplaying the MVP Rose on both ends, even defending him in 4ths, and then getting beat straight-up by a very good Mavs team that had just steamrolled through the Blazers/Lakers/Thunder in the West.

And all with Mike Bibby's rotting body at point, Joel Anthony at center, Spolstra at coach, and no one at all on the bench.

That isn't an "easy road". If they had won, it would have been impressive and taken everything they could do.

2012 and 2013 almost look even more ridiculous to be called "easy roads". Both championships required Lebron to step up in ways that compare with the most difficult work anyone has put in for a championship in recent memory.

And I've never agreed with the "would have been a three-peat" talk. If the Heat had won in 2011, do you really know that Lebron would have been able to step up in the ways that he did to pull off the incredible wins in 2012 and 2013? I'm not sure that Game 4 against the Pacers, Game 6 against the Celtics, the start-to-finish Thunder beatdown, or Game 6 and Game 7 against the Spurs happen the same way if Lebron hadn't had the 2011 loss light a fire under him the way it did.



p.s. - If Miami was supposed to have an easy road in 2010-11, the GMs certainly didn't think so. Only 33% of them picked Miami to win the title. 63% picked the Lakers to three-peat, and the remainder had the Celtics. Heck, only 71% of the GMs even had the Heat winning their own division.

 

[OG_StankBrefs]

Nah homie just keeping it real and reminding you of history since we talking about taking the easy road to championships

And when that road got a LITTLE BIT difficult....

- nikka, you keep postin dat Miami comparison pic as if it hasn't already been addressed and shut da fukk down.

- And what was dat Cavs' team lookin like without Bron playing again?

Why the Cavaliers are so bad without LeBron James

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2389832-the-case-for-lebron-james-to-win-nba-mvp-yet-again

https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxs...mvp-033015.amp.html?client=ms-android-verizon

http://www.businessinsider.com/cavaliers-struggling-without-lebron-james-2015-1

LeBron James injury gives Cavaliers excuse, not answer

How would GS fair without KD?

I'm gonna take a shot in da dark and say dey could possibly be....ohhh I dunno 73-9?

 

[Professor Emeritus]

That 04 Lakers team was pretty close. Sure Malone and Payton were older but they were both coming off seasons where they averaged 20 and 8 and we were still in the 1 star per team era so that was actually probably a bigger deal considering the league at the time. There wasn't even a CLE that you could say might have a chance of matching up with them on paper.

That was the closest in that the Lakers were already incredibly good, and Shaq/Kobe were the best at their respective positions matching Durant/Curry. Plus coaching and a solid filled-out roster. But Malone/Payton were clearly going downhill, with neither having made the All-NBA team the previous year and both getting even older that year. Meanwhile, Klay/Green might not have even hit their prime yet, and they're already top-2 at their respective positions.

But, yeah, I'll give you 2004 as the "closest" that it got.

However, the Lakers had Kobe, the kind of self-centered player that can be exploited to sabotage such a team. The oral history of that team was incredible - first Kobe planning to opt-out and test free agency, then the crazy Shaq-Kobe feud that hit crisis level when Kobe publicly called Shaq fat and lazy, and then the, "make Kobe jealous and selfish" game plan of the Pistons:

Chauncey Billups: Our game plan was very calculated. We knew we were going to play Shaq straight-up. We knew there was no way we could stop Shaq straight-up. And there was also no way we could stop Kobe straight-up. But, if we’re going to play Shaq straight-up, [the Lakers'] eyes are going to get big, which means they’re going to keep throwing it down there. We’re telling Ben the whole time, "Take fouls when you need to, but don’t get yourself into foul trouble. You need to give up a layup, cool, we’re going to get what we want on the other side." But what’s going to happen is Mr. Bryant is going to get a little discouraged with getting no touches and now the second half comes around…now he’s pressing. He’s going to start coming down and just breaking the offense. When you do that, you’re done—you’re playing right into our hands. Even if you start making those shots, you’re finished.

Seriously, I don't see any of that happening with Golden State. No one is disgruntled. No one hates each other. No one is looking to get out of town. No one is old and injury-prone.

The only thing I see here is mental, the whole "Lebron is under Curry/Draymond's skin now and Durant is his underling". But I think that unless something else goes wrong first, they really feel they have the edge and aren't going to be worried about Lebron or anyone else.

 

[FTBS]

That was the closest in that the Lakers were already incredibly good, and Shaq/Kobe were the best at their respective positions matching Durant/Curry. Plus coaching and a solid filled-out roster. But Malone/Payton were clearly going downhill, with neither having made the All-NBA team the previous year and both getting even older that year. Meanwhile, Klay/Green might not have even hit their prime yet, and they're already top-2 at their respective positions.

But, yeah, I'll give you 2004 as the "closest" that it got.

However, the Lakers had Kobe, the kind of self-centered player that can be exploited to sabotage such a team. The oral history of that team was incredible - first Kobe planning to opt-out and test free agency, then the crazy Shaq-Kobe feud that hit crisis level when Kobe publicly called Shaq fat and lazy, and then the, "make Kobe jealous and selfish" game plan of the Pistons:


Seriously, I don't see any of that happening with Golden State. No one is disgruntled. No one hates each other. No one is looking to get out of town. No one is old and injury-prone.

The only thing I see here is mental, the whole "Lebron is under Curry/Draymond's skin now and Durant is his underling". But I think that unless something else goes wrong first, they really feel they have the edge and aren't going to be worried about Lebron or anyone else.

Can't overlook the quality of competition either. Warriors biggest threat is the Cavs. The Lakers biggest threat on paper was probably a healthy T-Wolves. Look at that roster and look at squads like LAC today that really have no shot.


Of course everything is good now, they haven't played a game yet. There has been nothing to get disgruntled about yet, because literally nothing has happened yet. No one is old but KD is a year removed from foot issues and the only reason they were able to afford him in the first place is because of Steph's ankle issues and he kinda limped through the playoffs just last year. Beyond that you don't have to be injury prone to have an injury and now that they are so top heavy an injury is even more impactful. We talking not just this year, but the next 5. So much stuff can happen in that time. The mental thing can't really be overstated after what we saw out of all the key parties just 5 months ago. We have seen like 10 3-1 chokejobs all time and all the key pieces here are responsible for 2 of them. Honestly I would be more shocked by this squad rattling off 5 in a row than I would be by them imploding and not even getting 1.

 

[Lord_Chief_Rocka]

I agree overall but the idea that Lebron didn't have help is bullshyt

 

[mr. smoke weed]

Stop rehashing the same fukkin thread

y'all are unoriginal as hell

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

LeBron and Kyrie can blitz anybody, but the Warriors have enough defense to win a series against them.

Since when??