The Weekly Dish

The wait is finally over. Warriors basketball is back.

For the week of Monday, Oct. 24 – Sunday, Oct. 30

The 2016-17 NBA season tips off tomorrow night, as all 30 NBA teams enter the evening with identical blank slates. For the Warriors, their opening night matchup with the San Antonio Spurs represents their first non-preseason game action since falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the final minutes of Game 7 of one of the most exciting and hotly contested NBA Finals in recent memory. That sobering defeat put an unfortunate end to an otherwise stupendous Golden State season, in which the Dubs followed up their 2015 title by breaking the all-time NBA record with 73 wins in the regular season. It wasn’t the end the Warriors or the fans had hoped for, but all that is in the past now. Tomorrow begins anew, and those same fans have plenty to be excited about as Golden State enters this season with plenty of reasons for optimism.

Much of that excitement surrounds the arrival and addition of the one-and-only Kevin Durant, who joined up with the Warriors as a free agent back in July. It was, without a doubt, the most momentous and talked about development of the NBA offseason, which has further vaulted Golden State into a stratum of media attention, the likes of which very few, if any, professional sports teams have ever experienced. Durant joins two-time defending NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry, as well as Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in making the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors the first team in NBA history to enter a season with four reigning All-NBA players. It’s an embarrassment of riches for Steve Kerr, who now enters his third season with the franchise with perhaps his most talented roster yet. That roster fell to the Raptors in their first preseason game back on October 1st, but since then, have yet to lose another contest, winning each of their final six preseason games by an average of 13.7 points. Curry, Durant, Green and Thompson played a total of 83 minutes together in the preseason, and in those 83 minutes, put up numbers that would make them the most offensively efficient, best shooting and best passing team in NBA history – and all by wide margins. Preseason is preseason, however, so while those statistics may not be based on an adequate sample size, they nonetheless reinforce the notion that the Warriors will continue to be one of the most exciting teams in the league, particularly when those guys are on the court.

While most of the attention surrounding the Warriors has centered on the aforementioned four All-Stars – and rightfully so – Steve Kerr hasn’t brought the ‘Strength in Numbers’ theme back for a second season for no reason. The Warriors enter the season with a roster that is nearly half-comprised of players who were not on the team last year, including the likes of Zaza Pachulia, David West, JaVale McGee and rookies Damian Jones and Patrick McCaw. Many of the newcomers, as well as some holdovers from last year’s roster, will be called upon to fill the voids created by some of the offseason departures, and over the course of the preseason, both McCaw and Ian Clark truly stood out, hence their recognition in this week’s Spotlight. McCaw, the Warriors’ 2nd round pick acquired in a Draft night trade with Milwaukee, has been lauded by teammates and coaches since the start of training camp, and looks to have solidified himself a spot in the backcourt rotation right out of the gate. Clark, meanwhile, has been tasked with filling the role Leandro Barbosa occupied much of the last two years, and has passed with flying colors thus far, having proven himself to be both a reliable veteran presence and deadly shooter off the bench. While McCaw and Clark are considerably different players, they’ve proven to be a nice complimentary pairing in minimal time, and combine to give Golden State yet another interesting option in the backcourt. If the Warriors can get significant production out of those two, it will go a long way towards making Golden State’s bench unit – which already boasts the likes of Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and David West – one of the top in the league.

The Warriors’ regular season begins on Tuesday, and it’s not exactly a cakewalk, as the Dubs host the San Antonio Spurs in the final and perhaps most anticipated game of the NBA’s Opening Night slate. The Spurs went 67-15 last season on their way to a second place regular season finish in the West, and although all-time great Tim Duncan has since retired, Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge provide San Antonio with more than enough star power to compete with Golden State or anyone else. After Tuesday’s home opener, the Warriors head out for their first road trip of the season, beginning on Friday night in New Orleans. Following that matchup with the Pelicans, the Dubs will head to Phoenix and round out the week with their first divisional game of the season on Sunday. The expectations for this Golden State squad are sky high, and a fast start to the new campaign would help set the tone for the arduous season ahead, and all the exciting twists and turns that come with it.