The Good

It’s been a little more than half a year, since I composed this video with my mind set on the future of this team. The lights out shooting of the splash brothers, the up and coming Harrison Barnes, the healthy Andrew Bogut, and the consistency of David Lee, were all things that I was looking forward to in the coming fall. This video was made before I had even known that Andre Iguodala would be putting on a Warriors jersey next. The combination of all this brought a lot of excitement to the Bay Area over the summer. Now, we are half way through the season, and this is where the Warriors are right now.

The excitement has continued throughout the beginning half of the season. The Warriors are 21-7 with their opening night starting line up. (Also known as #FullSquad to Warrior fans) That is by far the best in the NBA. The Warriors have proven that they are a genuinely exciting team to watch, and also a playoff contender.

However, are they championship contenders? Some may say, “with an amazing #FullSquad record like that, how can they not be?” They are 26-17, and just 2.5 games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for the Pacific Division lead. This can be backed by stats as well, top 5 in rebounding, 3-pt FG percentage, and top 10 in FG percentage. Anybody who says they are not a championship level team is crazy, right?

Well, let’s just say right and wrong. The stellar play of Steph Curry, Bogut, Klay Thompson, David Lee, Andre Iguodala, and Harrison Barnes has carried the team through the beginning half of the season.

The Bad

This has worked until now, but in game 7 of the western conference finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, you are going to need to clean up your game.

The Golden State Warriors currently average 16.8 turnovers per game, 73% on free throws, and 23.1 bench points per game. In addition to that, Harrison Barnes averages 10.6 of the 23.1 bench points, which leaves the rest of the bench with only 12.5 points per game. This is no where near enough. If the Warriors want a trip to the finals, they are going to have to patch their game up.

The Future

Bob Myers has already made a step towards fixing the bench issue, by trading Toney Douglas to Miami in a three team deal with Boston which brought Jordan Crawford and Marshon Brooks over. These two are specialists in scoring, which is exactly what the Warriors needed from their bench. Brooks averages 8.1 points per game over his career, and Crawford averages 12.8. Eventually, Jermaine O’Neal and Festus Ezeli will be back as well, which will also help the Warrior bench out by a lot.

So the bench issue can be solved, easily. Through making a few roster moves, and waiting for the injured to get healthy. However, the problem of the turnovers and the free throw percentage needs to be addressed. I have no doubt that Mark Jackson emphasizes these problems daily at practice. I believe that the improvement will come over time, as the group learns and grows as a whole.

So it looks like the Warriors may be prepared for a deep run into the playoffs. Of course, it is way to early to tell from now. However, it does seem that the pieces will be in place if everybody manages to stay health come playoff time. With maybe one or two more roster moves, bringing a backup point guard for Steph Curry, the Warriors will be in a very good position.