Interesting. GS has their two best players in Curry and Thompson. They we're just fine with Iguodala last season but they can't keep up this year. Even with Iggy, they miss Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry. I will not be surprised at ALL if the Warriors miss the playoffs. Even if Phoenix falls out of it, there's still Memphis, NO, Lakers, and TWolves. The Warriors have picked the wrong season to be so-so.
I would hope that, considering how many questions of legitimacy was posed about the Blazers, that Blazer fans would be the last to pull this out. I understand KS wasn't necessarily saying they aren't real.
They're not real yet. I want to see more games the reduce the percentage of "guaranteed wins over the blazers" down to what they'd be normally. Right now, we as an opponent are overstated in their schedule by like 4x... They're not going to get 6 more wins off of us for the rest of the season. I think they end up 42-40, and out of the playoffs. Not real enough for me.
They are a contender... in the East. And I won't be surprised at all if they snag one of the last 2 playoff spots.
Iggy is their best all around player and significantly more improtant than Klay. Hamstrings can be a nagging injury so if it bothers him all year of course the team will suffer. Curry was one of the 4 best players in the playoffs last year, he will be great if he can avoid injury. The Lakers are a joke, Twolves have major interior defensive issues. NO has a lot of upside but hasn't been able to keep everyone healthy or get the young parts to fit so I think this probably ends up as more of a learning year for them. The best teams in the west are the Spurs, Thunder, Clipps and Rockets. I'm hesitant to put us in that tier just yet as we haven't sustained a high level of play over an extended period of time as those other teams have. Golden State, Memphis, Denver, and Dallas are in the next tier but I would rank the Warriors at the top of that group. The Pelicans, TWolves, Suns and Lakers will need to make some big improvements to get near the playoffs, I find that highly unlikely. The Kings and the Jazz will continue to be disasters this season. The not so brilliant Kings will be near the luxury tax next season, for a horrific team having to possibly let Isiah Thomas walk as a result of the stupid Rudy Gay trade.
Harden was in the finals and Dwight carried a team to the finals. None of our starters have won a playoff series.
