The Golden State Warriors won 83 total games last season, the third-most in league history behind Michael Jordan’s 1995-96 and 1996-97 Chicago Bulls. They came within 1/10th of a point of leading the NBA in both offensive and defensive rating, and posted an 11.4 net rating – the league’s best number since the 2007-08 Boston Celtics.
Steve Kerr’s team returns every key member of a young core, and made ancillary personnel moves that will ease the grind of an 82-game regular season. Then there’s internal improvement for which to account: From Kerr, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, Festus Ezeli, and even reigning MVP Stephen Curry.
The Warriors should be considered consensus favorites to repeat as champions, right? Not according to the basketball’s chief decision-makers.
In an annual survey conducted by NBA.com’s John Schumann, Golden State was picked to win the title by just 17.9 percent of the league’s general managers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs are certainly championship-worthy choices. Predicting any LeBron James team to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy is a prudent forecast, and the same goes for any iteration of San Antonio – before accounting for the Cavs’ undoubtedly more fortunate health and the Spurs’ wildly successful offseason.
Perhaps some general managers picked against the Warriors because Curry and company won the title last season, too. Only 11 teams have repeated as champions since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976.
But what could be the more likely scenario? That NBA higher-ups actually believe Golden State’s championship was forged from the luck of avoiding the Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers in the playoffs, not to mention facing three teams – the Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, and Cleveland – that were bitten by the injury bug.
Recent comments from Doc Rivers that, intentionally or otherwise, suggested as much gave the Warriors a chance to respond. Ever confident, the defending champions mostly laughed off the criticism and insisted they’d use it for motivation to prove doubters wrong.
Will Golden State add the GM survey to an increasingly crowded bulletin board in the Oracle Arena locker room? Maybe, but we’re fully confident the Warriors will be playing championship-level ball throughout the season regardless.
