Let's crunch the numbers

[AbeVigodaLive]

Abe, I think we agree that Golden State is ultimately vulnerable to breaking apart at some point due to egos, conflicts, etc. I think Klay Thompson could be the first domino.

That being said, it in no way affects my view that they are absolutely the team to beat for the foreseeable future in the Western Conference. Three or four years from now? May be not.

Yeah. We agree.

I might choose D. Green as the guy though. There are too many off-court vices that could lead to on-court troubles there... especially since he's already working at a disadvantage of sorts physically. But I get the Klay Thompson angle, too... especially in a basketball sense because some of his attributes are redundant with two former MVPs.

This conversation is why i think Cheryl Reeve has done such a terrific job she has gotten legit star players to take a reduced role and play as a team.

I think you're joking... but...

Nope I was actually serious.

Making $110k in the sorta well-publicized WNBA is a far cry from making $5 - $25M with constant eyeballs on you in the NBA.

Yeah the situations are very different including a smaller league etc but I do think Reeve should get credit for getting the players to buy in. Just sayin that's all.

Sure. They have a mini-Spursonian type thing there...

I just think that it's more like a collegiate atmosphere than the NBA.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Abe, I think we agree that Golden State is ultimately vulnerable to breaking apart at some point due to egos, conflicts, etc. I think Klay Thompson could be the first domino.

That being said, it in no way affects my view that they are absolutely the team to beat for the foreseeable future in the Western Conference. Three or four years from now? May be not.

Here's the problem with Golden State:

1) They gave up a large chunk of their depth in order to sign KD. They may be more star studded, but they are much, much thinner and their margin for error is much less.

2) Most important - I'm sure you all know about the law of diminishing returns. The idea that they can just keep adding offensive weapons, and the whole will equal the sum of the parts is wrong. They were already the best offensive team and best shooting team in the league. After getting KD, they still are. There's only so many shots to go around. KD takes some away from the other big 3, and they will ultimately take some away from him. Sure, they will be tougher to guard with Durant in the lineup. But how much better? They were pretty unstoppable last year. But now they are going to have problems they didn't have last year:

- Matching up on defense
- Absorbing injuries
- Building chemistry

I don't see any way they match last seasons victory total (going out on a limb I know), and I make them only a 50/50 bet to win it all.

50/50 is still pretty damn good odds....

I agree on your point about diminishing returns with scorers, which is why I think it would be a mistake to trade out one of our PGs for a high-usage PG. However, when a great scorer is also a great 3-point shooter, they can impact the offense without even touching the ball. Durant, Thompson, and Curry simply cannot be given a single inch on the perimeter. Harrison Barnes couldn't be completely abandoned either, but he was way less dangerous than Durant. None of these guys need to size up their guy in extensive isolation sets, ala Kobe, 'Melo, or even Wiggins for that matter. They are all monsters on quickfire catch-and-shoot jumpers.

Defensively there could be some legitimate concerns. Zaza is a pretty capable positional defender and rebounder, but he doesn't have the length of Bogut. And they lost Ezeli as well. On the other hand, they got a hell of a lot longer with Durant instead of Barnes. And Iggy is still around.

We'll see...I'd love to see them crash and burn, but I'm not counting on it.