So I got myself imagining for a bit how we could beat a team that would be able to contend with GSW by specifically attacking their weaknesses.
1. You start with a super-dominant bigman who can score 40 a game if you leave him alone, as this is Golden State's only clear defensive weakness. There are only three players in the NBA that count in my mind: Demarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, or Karl-Anthony Towns in a year or two. I suppose it's conceivable that we could trade for one of the first two, so we have our first slot held down by Cousins/Davis
2. You need to pair that big-man with a second guy who can also run good offense, preferably being capable of both scoring up close and from the perimeter. If the other big guy is not an offensive threat or can only affect the offense in one way, it's no good because Golden State can help off him for a double every time with their perfect rotations. It would also be nice if he could protect the rim off drives since ideally you want your all-NBA big not exerting himself too much on defense since he needs to be the center of your offense. We already have this in Al Horford.
3. One extra condition: both of your big guys must be at least competent switching off screens. With four players who can handle the ball at a high level (Steph, Klay, Draymond, KD), and four potential screeners, (Klay, Draymond, KD, random big), the Warriors will be able to find a Kevin Love on the floor and force him into a pick and roll, no matter who you hide him on. Thankfully both Horford and Cousins/Davis are good at this.
4. Now on the the backcourt. The first prerequisite here is that you need three elite-level perimeter defenders to put on Steph, Klay, and KD. If even one of them is loose you are doomed. Thankfully we are sort-of almost there with Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, and Jae Crowder. Avery Bradley in particular is a proven first-team-all-defense Steph Killer. You want him on the team.
The problem is that Jae Crowder may not be long enough to hang with KD. Jae can fight bigger players in the post because he's strong enough, but it's a lot harder for him when those same bigger players can just shoot over him at the three point line. I see three players with both the lengths and the quicks to defend KD from the small forward position: Paul George, Lebron James, and Kawhi Leonard. Obviously there's no way we get the other two, and even George is unlikely barring serious cap shenanigans in 2018 because we've expended our trade assets to get Cousins/Davis. A realistic alternative is getting Gordon Hayward in 2017 FA and then hope that he develops elite defense, which he's shown the ability to do from time to time.
5. Here's another problem: you need 1.5~2 actual ball handlers among your perimeter players. We know that Avery Bradley can't do this at all, so all of the pick-and-roll initiation is going to have to come from the other two. We also can't acquire any more superstars because at this point we're capped out/have no assets due to getting Cousins/Davis and George/Hayward. This is where we're going to need some internal development from Marcus Smart: we need him to develop the ability to be the primary ball handler so he can start at the point guard position.
Oh, by the way, all your perimeter players also have to shoot threes because if they don't the Warriors will just hide a post-helper on them to go double team your big in the post. Alternatively, a perimeter player who's not a three-point threat could develop an elite isolation game to get by any slower defenders hidden on them. So Marcus Smart is going to have to pick up one of those. By doing so, he's probably transformed himself into a top-30 NBA player. Let's call this improved version Final Form Marcus Smart. He is our starting PG.
So that leaves us with a starting five of:
PG Final Form Marcus Smart
SG Avery Bradley
SF Gordon Hayward who learns how to play defense (acquired in 2017 free agency)
PF Al Horford
C Demarcus Cousins/Anthony Davis (acquired via trade)
This team doesn't quite have the star power of Golden State, but it is laser-honed to attack their biggest weakness and will be immaculately coached by President Brad Stevens. It is also a team that we could potentially build within the next year or two.
But it also shows how razor-thin the margins are if we want to actually build a team to fight Golden State. That team is a freaking monster, and Danny is going to have to make an educated decision as to whether it's worth it to even try.
Topic: Thought Exercise: a realistic Celtics team that could beat GSW (Read 2776 times)