Words by Jason Cordner
The Warriors’ offseason was a major success. They accomplished their main goal, which was to keep the core of their championship-winning team intact. Stephen Curry got his $200 million supermax deal as expected, while Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston also got fairly paid. Better yet, they got a discount from Kevin Durant, allowing the Dubs to re-sign one of the top players in the league at below market value.
The Warriors were able to bring back essentially the same frontcourt from last year as Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, and David West all re-signed for the veteran’s minimum. Meanwhile, they got three potentially productive pieces in Nick Young, Omri Casspi, and Jordan Bell, who should add to what was already a very deep team that will once again be the clear championship favorite this upcoming season.
40 points in 3 quarters of work for Steph Curry in Shanghai. #NBAChinaGames pic.twitter.com/4WOHbrWEyL
— NBA (@NBA) October 8, 2017
Steph finally got paid. Look for a motivated and healthy played to return to MVP form. He is hoping to once again challenge the limits of his own skill coming into this season, despite having had back-to-back MVP seasons and two championships to his name in the last three seasons.
The two-time MVP is still the game’s best shooter, he still led the league in plus/minus, he still effortlessly ramped up his scoring when Durant was out of the lineup, and he still turned in a maestro’s performance against Cleveland that would have been worthy of Finals MVP had Durant not ascended into a juggernaut in the finals. If Steph Curry is dropping 40 points in a preseason game, what does he has in store for the league during the regular season?
Predictions
The Warriors are just head and shoulders above everyone else in the West and the NBA in general.
The Warriors took possibly the greatest team of all time and improved it for the second consecutive year. If last year’s expectations were championship or bust, this year is nothing different.
Unless they suffer a rash of injuries, no one’s stopping them from repeating. They go 63-19 as they take it easy in the regular season. Don’t expect another 16-1 playoff run , but do expect to see the dubs repeat as NBA champs.
