There’s one team with one loss in the entire NBA, and it’s the Golden State Warriors. With that in mind, based on purely record, the Warriors seem, on paper, to be the NBA’s best team. While their league-best record suggests it, are they actually the best of the best?
The short answer is maybe.
The Golden State Warriors have the best record in the National Basketball Association, but are they really the league’s best team?
The Warriors do not have the highest upside of any team. That award would likely go to the Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets or Milwaukee Bucks. But if there’s one thing we’ve seen from this team, it’s that they’re complete and they work extremely well together.
What does a complete team look like?
Well, in my opinion, it looks like one that can defend and one that’s extremely deep, both of which the Warriors are. Steve Kerr even praised his second unit after the Dubs 41-point win over New Orleans.
The Warriors have the best defensive rating in the NBA, aided by the terrific play of former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green. The return of Andre Iguodala has been incredible important as well.
Golden State doesn’t just have the best defense; they have a historically great defense if they can sustain it. They have a 96 defensive rating coming into their last game. There isn’t another team that has one under 100. It’s been an incredible impressive start on that end of the court.
Even without Klay Thompson, the Warriors have proven they can compete.
With third-year guard Jordan Poole topping 17 points per game and shooting a career-high 35.5 percent from deep, the Warriors found their third scorer. With Green and Iggy defensively and Poole and Curry offensively, it’s tough to really say any team is better than Golden State.
They don’t have the highest ceiling, but as we saw with the Nets last season, that’s not always what matters.
The Dubs are the most complete team in the NBA, and until those with a higher ceiling put it together, Golden State should be dubbed the best team in the NBA. With wins over the Lakers and Clippers, the Dubs have a few quality victories on the season.
This team is that good, and they continue to prove that they can hang with some of the best in the league.