© David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Over the last four years, the Golden State Warriors have cemented their place as one of the most dominant teams in NBA history. They are one of just seven teams in NBA history to win three NBA titles in four years.
But those runs inevitably come to an end. For Ric Bucher, a senior writer for Bleacher Report, that run will end this year. Bucher says the cause of that demise is attrition and an over-reliance on starters.
“The reason that I’m not buying the Golden State Warriors this year,” Bucher said. “I believe everyone has them as the prohibitive favorite, the team to beat, I don’t see them that way. Because I believe that ultimately it’s going to come down to riding the same horses to have any sort of a record and at the end of the year, that’s what they’re going to have to rely on.”
Bucher said that the Warriors’ bench options will need to step up to give the team a chance at bringing home another title this year.
“The assumption was that they’re going to get something out of Patrick McCaw, they’re going to get something out of Jonas Jerebko and something out of Evans,” Bucher said. “That, to me, is the only way they have any chance of repeating.”
No team has won four of five titles since 1969, when the Bill Russell-era Boston Celtics did it. The collective injuries and sustained physical pressure of seasons extended by long playoff runs catch up to every dynasty and the Warriors will not be an exception, Bucher said.
“If they have to rely on the core that has been there the last four years, then I look at all the injuries. Every single player in that core suffered an injury at the end of last season,” Bucher said. “It’s no fault of their own, it’s simply the grind… No team has won four out of five championships since the Russell era. There’s a reason for that. There’s a collective beatdown on teams from playing that deep into season after season, the grind of those postseason minutes, the mental challenge of it that simply wears teams down. And I don’t know that the Warriors are going to be immune to that.”
At the end of this season looms the free agency of Klay Thompson and potentially Kevin Durant, if he declines his player option. Yesterday, a report from Chris B. Haynes suggested that Durant may end up with the New York Knicks.
The New York Knicks have a "very good shot" at landing Kevin Durant next summer, per @ChrisBHaynes
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 3, 2018
Bucher said it wouldn’t be out of character for Durant to move elsewhere.
“He strikes me as someone who’s broken through the shell of, ‘I’m going to do what everybody tells me to do,’… He’s already taken the heat for not doing that,” Bucher said. “So now it’s a matter of, ‘I’m going to do what the hell I want.’ So I don’t close the door on him possibly staying here, but I also get the sense that he’s a guy that says, ‘I want to know what is behind door number three.”
The prolific struggles of the Knicks and their championship drought since 1973 could entice Durant to want to stamp his mark on the franchise.
“Maybe I want to go some place and demonstrate that I can do it where there’s no question that I am the leading force and I can ultimately resurrect a franchise,” Bucher said. “That’s where the Knicks come in because this is my opportunity to plant my flag and say I’m the one who brought them back.”
To hear the full interview with Ric Bucher on the Gary & Larry podcast, in which he discusses why the DeMarcus Cousins signing is not as impactful as people have suggested, and whether or not LeBron James is the greatest player of all-time, click the link below.
