The Olympics are in the rearview mirror and NBA teams are beginning to prepare for training camps. We take a look at a Warriors squad who fell short of the playoffs a year ago and will be without one half of the Splash Brothers on their roster for the first time in over a decade. In these previews, we will take a look at each team’s key acquisitions, fantasy stars, and predicted finish.
Key Acquisitions
The loss of franchise icon Klay Thompson was the biggest news of the offseason for the Warriors with the front office doing what they could to freshen up their backcourt and wing rotation.
The sign-and-trade which saw Thompson end up in Dallas landed the Warriors veterans Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson.
Hield – who was traded from Indiana to Philadelphia at last year’s deadline – is one of the league’s best shooters having shot 40.0% on 7.6 average three-point attempts throughout his career.
Anderson, who comes over from Minnesota, offers the Warriors a nice mix of size, ball-handling, and defence on the wing.
To help cover the departure of Chris Paul, they also signed De’Anthony Melton to a one-year, $12.8 million deal.
Injury concerns limited the 26-year-old to just 38 games with the 76ers a year ago but, in those outings, he averaged a career-high 11.1 ppg shooting 36.0% on 5.6 threes per night and showing off the same defensive intensity on the perimeter which has proven a staple of his career.
Fantasy Stars
Prodigious superstar Stephen Curry (30th overall, 16th PG/13th SG) remains the Warriors’ cornerstone and is coming off a year in which he averaged 26.4 ppg and 5.1 apg shooting 40.8% on 11.8 nightly threes.
Jonathan Kuminga (79th overall, 34th PF) meanwhile is fresh off a career year in which he put up 16.1 ppg and 4.8 rpg on a tick under 60 TS%.
Projected Finish
46 wins was not enough to propel the Warriors to playoffs a year ago with their season coming to an end at the hands of Sacramento in the play-in.
Many of their main rotation guys enjoyed a clean bill of health however Draymond Green’s erratic behaviour cost them throughout the season with the four-time All-Star suspended on multiple occasions including a 12-game ban for an incident in which he clocked Jusuf Nurkić in the head for no particular reason.
It’s difficult to see where the Warriors improve this season, but their success likely hinges on two things – Curry’s health and Green’s behaviour.
The West is again a bloodbath and, with avenues towards improvement difficult to pinpoint, the Warriors may again have to fight their way into the playoffs the hard way.
