#golden-state-warriors

#golden-state-warriors

Guard is the Warriors' biggest strength and arguably their largest question mark. Depth abounds in the backcourt. Megastar Steph Curry is aging as gracefully as a bottle of his Gentleman's Cut bourbon and is still one of the game's elite players. But the shooting guard spot is unsettled. While the team potentially has five different players who could realistically start games at the spot this season, each comes with their own strengths and weaknesses.

A decade after winning the first of four titles to start a dynasty, the Golden State Warriors have seemingly been passed by the rest of the Western Conference. According to ESPN BET, the Warriors have just the seventh-best odds to win the West this season, behind the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and LA Clippers.

With one deft change to the starting lineup, Warriors coach Steve Kerr demonstrated the biggest difference between this season's roster and this year's iteration. Out went the returning 6-foot-4, 205-pound Brandin Podziemski, and in went the 6-9, 260lb newcomer Al Horford. The new lineup saw Moses Moody and Jimmy Butler moved to guard and wing respectively, and Draymond Green shifted to his more natural power forward position and away from guarding 7-0 giant Donovan Clingan.

Golden State had the first-round draft capital -- the Warriors can trade up to the maximum four first-round picks and also swap in the next seven years -- to make a significant trade during the season. But, unlike the sizable contracts available in the Jimmy Butler trade last February ( Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson), that did not exist this season. Curry, Butler and Draymond Green combine to earn

But there's one guy who might get overlooked in that conversation, and I'd argue he was a pretty noteworthy signing at the time. Considering Toronto's limited appeal to free agents, grabbing Otto Porter Jr. seemed like a sleeper move; I remember being pretty excited to see a savvy veteran and a still-solid player (at least I thought so) join the Raptors.

Kent Lacob expressed his gratitude for the opportunities within the Warriors organization, yet he feels that it has not provided him with a fully robust perspective on life.

James' agent, Rich Paul, implied the Lakers must improve to contend, suggesting that LeBron may consider a trade, even as he opted into his contract.

McMillian made a beeline to the basketball goal in his driveway, trying to act like he was dunking on someone like Baron Davis did during the iconic game.