Coming off arguably the greatest playoff run in NBA history, there's little question that the Golden State Warriors are the team to beat in 2017-18.
While the Warriors' roster has few holes, head coach Steve Kerr believes motivation could potentially be an issue for the defending champs.
"The biggest challenge is complacency," Kerr told The Athletic's Marcus Thompson. "We've been to The Finals three years in a row. And for our core group, I guess that would be four or five guys - Shaun (Livingston) and Andre (Iguodala), Steph (Curry), Klay (Thompson), Draymond (Green) - that's a long haul and you just cannot lose your edge in this league."
After blowing a 3-1 lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 Finals, Golden State had little trouble finding motivation during last year's title run. Kerr recognizes that things could be different this year now that his team has already silenced the doubters.
"You know, defensively we'll be keeping a close eye on our numbers and our intensity and our fundamentals. We're not going to let them slide. And yet, human nature is to let your guard down a little bit with success. So, we have to be aware of that, the coaching staff, and we can't disregard that. … That's the balance we've got to find. We always talk about our balance between being a little crazy and disciplined. It sounds like an oxymoron, but we need to keep our edge (and) pace ourselves, too. And how do you do that? That's our job as a staff, to try to navigate that."
The Warriors will open their season Oct. 17 against the Houston Rockets.
