Now that the regular season of the NBA has finally started, less talk and more action are to be expected. Aside from the expectations of fans from the rookie players on every team, critics and fans alike are expecting more or in fact something better from the defending champion, the Golden State Warriors.
Though the warriors had captured the NBA title last year, outplaying LeBron James' Cavaliers and giving them their first title since 1975, still the team should not be complacent. They should continue to do their best and capitalize on whatever strength they have right now in order to capture a back to back title, and finally silencing the critics of their team.
The task of winning a back to back title is indeed an exciting and yet daunting task, especially that some teams over the past 30 years were not able to achieve a repeat championship, and these include Pistons back in 2004, the Celtics in 2008 and the most recent one the Mavericks in 2011. These teams failed to defend their NBA title while having same generation of talents similar to the current roster situation of Golden State. But still in contrast to the other teams which were mostly composed of aging veterans during their respective campaign, Golden State is considerably different for they have much deeper and younger players.
However, having a deeper bench and younger core does guarantee you the NBA title or even a better NBA standing. And that brings us to the question on whether the Golden State Warriors could really achieve another championship title. Or better yet how they would achieve such goal, can they still repeat there noteworthy NBA standings last season?
From an objective non-partisan point of view, the Warriors would likely depend on the baby-faced assassin, Curry, for most of its offensive attacks, but other teams are already preparing a defensive attempt to solve the riddle of denying Curry a 3-pointer out of a pick and roll. Thus, the more the Warriors should utilize other key players and their bench during their games especially that their entire starting line-up is still intact, having of course Curry, Thompson, Green, Bogut, and Barnes.
Aside from their so-called offensive prowess, which allowed them to outscore their opponents by 992 points over the course of 103 games, Golden State Warriors should also continue to showcase their defensive efficiency. Such efficiency in defense would of course be anchored on the Draymond Green, who for the record is second in rank (in terms of votes) for Defensive Player of the Year award last season.
This season is indeed a very challenging season for Golden State and their campaign. They have so many things to prove to their critics aside from defending their NBA title. Though they are not considerably the title favorites, other experts like John Schuhmann of NBA.com opined that Warriors is the number one team in terms of power ranking. But still these predictions and rumors would remain as is, for it can only be validated or even falsified during and after every other games as Golden State Warriors starts and continue to take over the NBA standings and hopefully the coveted repeat Championship title.