The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors won a league-record 73 games, and that was without four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant. Now that he's in the fold, expectations for the Bay Area squad are through the roof.
General manager Bob Myers is taking a realistic approach to the upcoming season, recognizing that his team has undergone an extreme makeover this summer, and expecting an adjustment period before everything clicks.
"I think a lot of people think we signed Durant and everything is great, which in reality, that is a really good thing," Myers said on KNBR 680 Wednesday, according to CSN Bay Area. "But we have a lot of new parts. This is not a team like last year's team, where we could just hit training camp in stride. As much as we like our roster, it's gonna take some time to evolve ... "
"Even though we're happy with the offseason, I do think we're gonna have some turbulence. Because the other thing is, I think the scrutiny on the team is gonna be so high that any loss, anything that happens in a negative way, is gonna be exaggerated. It's just gonna be, 'I can't believe they lost a home game,' or 'I can't believe they lost two in a row,' ... people might write or say, 'Well, they're not as good as last year,' so there will be some challenges and incorporating a really, really good player into our team."
Along with Durant, Myers also locked up veteran frontcourt talent in Zaza Pachulia and David West, who will join the Big 3 of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Rotation players Shaun Livingston, Ian Clark, and Andre Iguodala will maintain their roles, while Damian Jones and Patrick McCaw will look to make an impact in their rookie campaigns.
At the same time, six players from the 2014-15 championship team (Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, Brandon Rush, Marreese Speights, and Leandro Barbosa) are long gone. Incorporating so many new faces will be challenging, but Myers understands that it's a process.
"It takes time to develop chemistry," Myers added. "And that doesn't happen in one day, or one week, or one month. It's exciting. I think it's gonna be a great process to watch unfold. But I do think because of the expectation level ... when you have that level of expectation, that's where you want to be as an organization, but it also magnifies any adversity or any stretch of losing.
"So it's good, it's fine, but you have to be aware of it, and not be shocked when it comes."
