The Golden State Warriors are coming into the 2013-14 season with high expectations after upsetting the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs last postseason and now that the team has signed Andre Iguodala, even more pressure is on Stephen Curry, Andrew Bogut and Klay Thompson to perform.
Mark Jackson has appeared to be the perfect coach for this team after the job he did last season and now that the team is playing the Lakers in China, they can get an idea about what their initial rotations may look like. The Warriors can score with anyone and after adding Iguodala, they should, be even better. The team was able to push the San Antonio Spurs to six games despite being the sixth seed and they pulled off an amazing upset against the Nuggets because of how well Denver played at home during the regular season.
Harrison Barnes is another player that gives the Warriors great depth and despite losing Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry, the team signed Iguodala as well as Jermaine O'Neal and Toney Douglas, two players that could get some significant minutes. The depth is not as great as it was last season and that puts more pressure and minutes on Iguodala, Thompson, Bogut and Curry. Landry was a bench player, but he featured in all 82 games and averaged double digit points, something that is hard to come by in the league and the team appears set up for 50 wins after coming in second in the Pacific ahead of the Lakers with 47 last season.
Last season the team averaged over 100 points per game for seventh in the league while adding over 40 rebounds to be ranked third in the league and Jackson has been preaching more defense, as the team allowed just about 100 points on average last season. The team returns its leading scorer in Curry, who has over 20 points per game last season, as well as their leaders in rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. David Lee was tops in rebounding and Curry was tops in assists and steals and now Bogut has the chance to really prove himself if he can stay healthy.
Predictions: This team can easily win 50 games and Curry has the chance to go from great shooter to superstar player this season.