The Golden State Warriors received a lot of votes and recognition in this year’s edition of the NBA’s GM survey. Here’s an in-depth look at them.
Every year, at the beginning of the season, the General Managers around the league complete polls. They give their input on league rankings, expectations, and other general NBA observations. It’s always interesting to see what the guys who get paid the big bucks think.
They’re not always right. Only 7.1 percent of GMs thought Stephen Curry would win last year’s MVP award. He was behind LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, and James Harden and tied with Russell Westbrook. The runner-up, Kawhi Leonard, didn’t make an appearance on the list.
Their inaccurate guesses are even more fascinating than the times they get it right. But it’s cool to see who and what the league’s General Managers value.
The Warriors are, obviously, stacked. They’re the favorites to win the title. Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck wrote a very insightful piece that highlights NBA executives’ thoughts on how to stop them. Essentially, you don’t. You just hope they mess up.
We’re going to take a look at what the General Managers had to say in this year’s survey. I’m going to look at team expectations and assessments. Then I’ll go into both coaching and the individual players and where they ranked and what the GMs thought of them. Pretty much anything the Warriors are mentioned in. There’s a lot to digest so let’s get into.