Over the past month, the USA Today writers Adi Joseph and Sean Highkin have been releasing their NBA Watchability Rankings, putting teams in order of how fun they are to see play. Twenty-eight teams later, the Golden State Warriors finally have their spot on the list: Second.
While this isn’t a huge surprise given the type of exciting basketball the Warriors have been known for, it is confirmation that fans outside the Bay Area are paying attention. Now healthy, the Dubs have one of the youngest and intriguing rosters in the league and though they won just 47 games last season, they’re depth and style of play could improve upon that number this season.
Joseph has them winning 53 games, good for 5th in his Western Conference projections. But winning is only part of what makes the new Warriors so exciting. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson shoot the lights out, while new addition Andre Iguodala joins Andrew Bogut to create a formidable defensive presence:
The “Splash Brothers”: Jackson has called Curry and Thompson the best-shooting backcourt in NBA history. Whether or not that’s overstating the case, there’s no better shooter in the league right now than Curry. He broke Ray Allen’s record for three-pointers made in a season last year and is a career 44.6% shooter from beyond the arc.
A healthy Aussie in the middle: Bogut’s career has been plagued by leg and foot injuries, but in the playoffs last year, the Australian center showed the kind of impact he can have on the defensive end. Coming into training camp, Bogut says he’s healthier than he’s been in years.
A new defensive leader: Bogut isn’t the only defensive threat the Warriors have in their arsenal. The addition of Iguodala is huge — there are few better perimeter defenders in the league, and he’s deadly in the open court, which will make teams pay for doubling Curry and Thompson.
With just one team left ahead of them in the rankings, the Warriors path to #1 is laid out clearly: win a championship. That’s just what the Miami Heat have done in consecutive seasons, and how they landed the list’s top spot.
In terms of pure entertainment value, the Warriors can’t get much better than they are now, but if they could take the next step in the post-season, it’d be pretty interesting to see what this team could do in a Finals series against those Heat.
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