Is Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant a more likely MVP candidate? How many games will the Warriors win? Will they have an "easy" path to the NBA title?
Our NBA Insiders preview Golden State's 2016-17 season.
1. How smooth or challenging will it be for the Warriors to incorporate Kevin Durant?
Brian Windhorst, ESPN.com: Somewhat challenging. This is intended as a logical answer, not controversial.
Picture it in your workplace, where you are among the best, you have a history, rhythm and comfort level and a new person comes in and you have to share everything. I don't care if you're in accounts receivable, the mail room or the board of directors, it's going to be weird for a bit, no matter the intentions.
Ethan Sherwood Strauss, ESPN.com: I would say somewhat smooth. They should win a lot, but will find it difficult to sacrifice for the greater cause. Paraphrasing Chris Bosh, it's a sacrifice that sounds better in theory but is more difficult in practice. Oh, and any missteps will result in massive negative scrutiny.
Amin Elhassan, ESPN Insider: Somewhat smooth. What Durant has going for him is a style of play that meshes perfectly with the Warriors' offense as a pure shooter who thrives both coming off screens and creating for himself off the dribble. While he won't get as many shots or touches as he did in OKC, the quality of looks he'll get will be far superior.
The biggest concern might come in being "too open." Think about it: Since he was in grade school, Durant has been a focal point for defensive game plans, routinely double- and triple-teamed. The notion of having wide-open looks, or soft one-on-one coverage, might be jarring.
Jeremias Engelmann, ESPN Insider: Very smooth. So far, there has been no indication that any Warrior will have a problem despite getting fewer touches now that Durant is on the roster. I think they'll blow out a lot of their opponents, and will have a lot of fun doing so.
Kevin Pelton, ESPN Insider: Somewhat smooth. To assume there would be no road bumps given the enormousness of the change would be naive. However, Durant's skill set fits in perfectly and by all accounts he signed with the Warriors in large part because he was excited about their style of play. So the main issue probably will be how Steve Kerr finds enough touches and shots to go around.
2. What other issues will the Warriors likely face?
Strauss: Right now, Golden State isn't wholly solid at the 5, which could pose problems down the road. Some of this depends on how Zaza Pachulia progresses in this new offense. If he can gain a greater facility than he has shown in the preseason, it'd be massively helpful for a team that wants to conserve Draymond Green's runs against larger foes.
Elhassan: Unlike in the past two seasons, this team is incredibly thin, especially up front. Realistically, this team goes six deep, and two of those six are coming off the bench.
Despite the expected lethal accuracy of the Death Lineup, can Golden State put such a large burden on a relatively small, perimeter-dominant group and sustain that production for 82 games and 20-plus more in the playoffs? And can their carousel of bargain bigs hold down the fort long enough on a nightly basis?
Engelmann: There undoubtedly will be a lot of media spectacle around the team for the entire season. The Warriors need to stay focused and not let it get to their heads. Also, their bench is not as deep as it was last season, which could lead to many opponent (near-) comebacks.
Pelton: Petty jealousy from other teams. Trying to stay sharp with so much garbage time. Debates over whether they are really "light years ahead." Missing practices to accept Silicon Valley awards. Same as most any team, really.
Windhorst: For the past two years the Warriors have been in an extended honeymoon. For the most part, America loved them. Things came easy and wins came with awe.
Their world has changed. The Finals and Durant's arrival have taken their innocence. Fans and media will now look at them with a much more critical eye. Every bobble will be examined closely and non-events will be blown up. The journey probably isn't going to be as much fun and that's going to be an adjustment.
3. How many games will Golden State win?
Elhassan: 60. Between the aforementioned depth and size issues and the Warriors' open reluctance to repeat the events of 2015-16, I think we'll see a conservative approach to the regular season. By the way, talking about a conservative approach to SIXTY wins should tell you a lot about the talent level.
Windhorst: I suspect it will take awhile for them to play their best consistently and there will be more rest built in. That said, with their firepower and what I still see as a huge margin of error, I just think they're going to rack up wins.
Let's say Curry and Andre Iguodala rest for a game and the team looks average and is down, say, 10 points with five minutes left. The Warriors still have two of the deadliest shooters in the league to bail them out. They may fall into 70 wins again even if they don't want to.
Pelton: Somewhere in the high 60s. It took a fair bit of good fortune in close games to win 73 games, which makes sense: Any result that unusual requires both exceptional skill and exceptional luck. So the Warriors can be just as good and win fewer games, and probably even better and win fewer games given they will put less focus on the regular season.
Engelmann: Vegas and most other projections seem to have them around 66 wins, so I'm going with that. Kerr and the players learned in last season's playoffs that regular-season win records mean absolutely nothing. I fully expect them to hold players out of some back-to-backs and when they have minor injuries, which will lead to fewer wins than they're capable of in theory.
Strauss: 68. They've been big on not going for 73 wins again, which is just an odd sentence to type. This is a superior roster to last year's so, in theory, they have the capability to win even more games. But they almost certainly won't. Sans the effort to actually reach that 73-win benchmark, I'd expect a better point differential than last season, but fewer hard-driving efforts to tilt close games.
4. Who's the Warriors' most likely NBA MVP?
Pelton: Curry. From a narrative standpoint, the answer probably should be Durant. But if Curry manages to come even close to his level of play last season, even in a smaller role, he has to be the Warriors' top candidate albeit not necessarily the top candidate overall.
Engelmann: Vegas estimates the chances of any Warrior winning MVP at 3-1, with Durant's chances at 8-1 and Curry's at 4.3-1. I can't shake the feeling that, once again, people are underestimating what Curry -- who now may have more to prove than before -- is capable of, and that he will once again wow the NBA world and repeat as MVP.
Strauss: Durant. The early returns see Durant more involved in the scoring than Curry. Not only that, but Golden State's most effective tactic is probably a Steph screen for KD. Since defenders can't help off Curry, because of his deadly shot, the Curry screen is resulting in easy buckets for Durant. This is fantastic for one superstar's stat line, but not so much for the other's. Advantage, KD.
Windhorst: The Warriors' best candidate to win the official NBA MVP is Curry because he's the greatest shooter the game has ever seen. But the MVP on the team is Green. Without him, they will have a hard time bending their lineups to maximize their firepower. He's a vital, vital piece.
Elhassan: I'm going to go out on a limb and say Durant. He's bigger, giving him a bit more versatility in addition to the massive physical advantage he enjoys on most nights.
But beyond that, I think there is going to be a concerted effort by the Warriors to ensure Durant feels featured, and dare I say prioritized within the offense, giving him more opportunities in order to achieve that effect.
5. Fact or fiction: The Warriors will have an easy run to the NBA title.
Strauss: Fiction. They'll probably win the championship, but probability isn't inevitability, and even when it is, its achievement is usually fraught. There's almost always a moment or sequence in the playoffs that calls for doubt.
The Warriors will be going up against a few teams that will benefit from superior continuity. I'm betting on talent, but not betting that the more talented team has it so easy.
Elhassan: Fiction. I can't remember the last team to enjoy an easy run to the championship. The 2007 Spurs? Which is to say, it won't be easy, but they should pull it off.
Engelmann: Fact. "Easy" is relative, but it very much appears as if the Warriors will have the easiest run to the title since the 2001 Lakers or 1996 Bulls, if not ever. They're so good that they could probably survive an injury to any of their starters and still be the favorites.
Pelton: Fiction. I'm not sure what the last NBA championship was we'd describe as easy. Even the 2014 Spurs, who were historically dominant in the postseason, required seven games to beat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. There's always some obstacle in the road.
Windhorst: Fiction. There's no such thing as an easy title. Shame on you for asking the question.