Who will challenge Warriors in new NBA season?

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According to ESPN’s summer forecast for the 2018-19 NBA season, the Golden State Warriors are favorites to win the championship again.

They received all first-place votes. By contrast, the Boston Celtics, ranked No.2 in the forecast, received not even one first-place vote. So a question will need to be asked: Who can challenge the Warriors’ dominance in the new season?

How strong are the Warriors?

The Golden State Warriors have won three NBA championships in the past four years and got DeMarcus Cousins during the summer. /VCG Photo

Before we answer that, let’s take a look at what kind of a team the Warriors are. First, they have made it into the NBA Finals for four consecutive years and took home the title three times. Second, they swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2017-18 Finals 4-0 and finished the playoffs with 16 wins and only one loss in the 2016-17 season. And one year before that, the Warriors took a 73-win regular season.

Second, Golden State have two NBA MVPs, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. KD had four NBA scoring leaders under his name, including a three-win-in-a-row from 2009 to 2012. Curry is undoubtedly the best 3-point shooter in the league’s history with 3-point leaders from 2012-2017 including making 402 shots in the 2015-16 season.

The Warriors swept the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 in the 2017-18 NBA Finals. /VCG Photo

Third, besides the above two, the Warriors also have another two All-Star players Klay Thomson and Draymond Green. While Green won the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award in the 2016-17 season, Thompson has delivered unbelievable performances including scoring 37 points in one quarter, 60 points in three quarters and making 11 3-points in one playoff game.

And at last, Golden State signed a one-year contract with one of the league’s best centers, DeMarcus Cousins, during the summer.

Now back to that question, which team can challenge the Warriors in the 2018-19 season?

The Houston Rockets were closer last year

The Houston Rockets led by James Harden #13 and Chris Paul #3 remain the Warriors' biggest threat in the Western Conference. /VCG Photo

As the team that finished the last regular season ranking No.1 in the Western Conference with 65 wins and lost to Golden State in the Conference Finals after seven games, the Houston Rockets had enough reasons to be seen as the biggest competitors of the defending champions. As a matter of fact, many still believe that the team would have beaten the Warriors if Chris Paul had not missed the last two games because of injuries.

If we look at the tactics and styles of the two teams, Houston should be capable of challenging Golden State. They are one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league and can make the Warriors suffer in offense with two super iso players James Harden and Chris Paul. In defense, the Rockets’ infinite switch can also drag the Warriors into the rhythm they don’t like.

What might give Houston’s fans more confidence was that they finally got Carmelo Anthony this summer after years of chasing him. As one of the best universal scorers in NBA, Anthony is also a good rebounder and has the size to play as both small and power forward. Things almost looked perfect for the Rockets.

The joining of Carmelo Anthony does not necessarily make the Rockets a better team. /VCG Photo

Unfortunately, things are not usually how they look. The biggest reason for Houston to play seven games with Golden State last season was that they had enough wing players for defense to force the Warriors to rely on iso play. However, the team lost two of their best wing defenders, Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute. Anthony is a better player in offense but is way worse in defense than those two. How easy was it to score under his defense? Ask the one-grade Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz.

Second, one of the reasons for the Oklahoma City Thunders’ failure to meet people’s expectations last season was that they could not combine the strengths of their Big 3: Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Anthony. Of the three, Anthony made the smallest contribution since he refused to start from the bench in OKC and has not made it clear whether he will accept being removed from the first squad in Houston.

Westbrook needs to change to make OKC different

Russell Westbrook #0 must change if he wants to make Oklahoma City Thunder a better team with Paul George #13. /VCG Photo

The Thunders sent Anthony away in the off-season and got Dennis Schroder who is more than qualified to lead the bench squad as the point guard. The team also managed to keep Paul George who said that he believes in Russell Westbrook as the team leader. Generally, OKC became better in certain parts of the team.

Well, that’s not enough. The Thunders were not knocked out by the Warriors or the Rockets but by the Utah Jazz, a team whose best player offense was a 21-year-old rookie guard. In the series against Utah, they managed to make Ricky Rubio play like Jason Kidd in at least two games. OKC had more problems than just Carmelo Anthony.

It’s true that you can blame Paul George’s poor performances in the playoffs and the injury that cost Andre Robertson the rest of his season, but the biggest problem is still Westbrook. In the two seasons after Kevin Durant’s departure, Westbrook still did not know how to help his teammates get better. Two consecutive triple-double seasons did not make him a qualified play-maker. It’s hard to devote 100 percent of yourself to the game when a guard of your team scored only six points but took 20 rebounds: Westbrook must prove instead of claiming that he cares more about winning than statistics.

Celtics may be the only qualified challengers

The return of Kyrie Irving #11 and Gordon Hayward #20 can make the Boston Celtics an even stronger team. /VCG Photo

As LeBron James joined the Los Angeles Lakers, the throne in the Eastern Conference is waiting for the new king. The Boston Celtics are undoubtedly one of the best candidates. They played seven games with the Cavaliers before being eliminated in the playoffs of last season and did it without two most important new members: Kyrie Irving and Gordan Hayward. Now that, the two are back, it’s difficult to imagine how strong they can be in the new season.

Boston already has the top defense of the league. They managed to keep Marcus Smart who is able to switch from point guard to small forward and sometimes to power forward in defense. The two young wing players Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both combinations of good offense and defense. The team also have Al Horford who is one of the best inside men in today’s NBA.

The biggest problem of the Celtics last season was the lack of someone who could help them determine the game. Perseverance can help you stick to the end but is not the key to the final win. Now Irving is back, the man who brought Cleveland the NBA championship by making a 3-point in front of Stephen Curry at the end of G7 in 2016. And then there’s Hayward who has been playing as Utah’s leader and well-known for his selfless play and reliable defense for five years before joining Boston with a maximum contract.

The 76ers are still too young

Joel Embiid #21 and Ben Simmons #25 are good with great potential but still have a lot to work on. /VCG Photo

The Philadelphia 76ers last season ranked No.3 in the Eastern Conference, higher than the Cavaliers. They managed to do that thanks to relatively healthy Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons who impressed the league with mature play that looked nothing like his age. The young twin stars, accompanies by a team of shooters, helped Philadelphia made big progress by relying on teamwork.

Though the team failed to entice LeBron James to join them in the summer, the return of Markelle Fultz can be seen as a good supplement. The 20-year-old young man who was selected with the first pick in the 2017 NBA Draft did not spend much time in the court of his first season before injury forced him out. If Fultz can release his talents as many have expected, it will be a huge upgrade for the 76ers in point guard.

Now to the problems. Philadelphia were eliminated by the Celtics in the semi-finals in the Eastern Conference of the 2017-18 NBA playoffs. Though they more talented physically and in better shape, the team still showed inexperience in the series. When Embiid could not attack the basket like he used to in front of Aron Baynes and Al Horford and Simmons were give two steps of distance by his defender, the 76ers’ offense simply crashed. In the regular season, young players can put beautiful numbers with their athleticism. However, as they enter the playoffs, even the smallest weakness will be placed under microscopes while their rivals try to take the most advantage of these weaknesses.

Until Embiid manages to become a reliable shooter, Simmons finds a way to punish his defenders with shooting and Fultz learns how to survive in NBA, all of which can take time, Philadelphia are still not qualified competitors for the trophy.

The Raptors are one step from rebuilding

Kawhi Leonard's decision may partially determine the fate of the Toronto Raptors. /VCG Photo

Having achieved team-record 59 wins in the 2017-18 NBA regular season, the Toronto Raptors went through a dramatic period. First, they were swept by the Cavaliers 0-4 in the playoffs. Then they fired Dwane Casey, NBA Coach of the Year for the last season. When people assumed that the team would start to rebuild, Toronto got Kawhi Leonard, one of the league’s Top 3 small forwards through trade.

If you only look at their lineup, the Raptors actually have become better. They sent away DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl in exchange for Leonard and Danny Green. DeRozan is a good All-Star player but Leonard is an MVP-level superstar. Poeltl may be a talented young big man, but Danny Green can bring the team’s most wanted wing defense. Furthermore, considering Toronto has been blamed for having too many big men for years in today’s small-ball era, letting Poeltl is not even a loss.

Still, the above wonderful prospects are only theoretical. It’s not the first time for the Raptors to be in a good position with a great lineup in the Eastern Conference but that has never stopped them from being knocked out from the playoffs, mostly by Cleveland and LeBron James, in a humiliating way.

More importantly, Kawhi Leonard has already made it clear that he wanted to join the Los Angeles Lakers during his soap opera with the San Antonio Spurs. It’s almost crazy to expect him to stay in Toronto, a place that rarely made it onto NBA news no matter how much progress they have made. If a player does not want to stay, how certain are you that he will do his best on the court, not to mention the mysterious injury of Leonard that forced him to play just nine games last season?

(Top picture from left to right: Gordon Hayward, Kyrie Irving and Al Horford from the Boston Celtics, Chris Paul and James Harden from the Houston Rockets /VCG Photo)