OKC Thunder vs. Golden State Warriors, 2019-20 team preview

Depth:

Clearly the loss of Durant stung but as mentioned above it’s the loss of Iggy and Livingston that hurts more. Hints of the Warriors’ depth eroding began last season but now they are on equal ground with all their opponents and need to rebuild their reserve unit.

Several players were added and the Warriors are taking a few risks on reclamation projects hoping their system and development team will have success where others failed.

in addition, the team hopes returning players like Kevon Looney and Alfonzo McKinnie who are familiar with the system can take on bigger roles.

Relying on multiple players to take big leaps:

It’s one thing to put faith in D’Angelo Russell who already demonstrated he can raise his level to that of an All-Star. However, Golden State is counting on many of the offseason roster additions to take big leaps.

G-Leaguer Allan Smailagic impressed the Warriors so much they hid him away in the G-League (and kept him from working out with teams during the draft process) in order to grab him on draft night. His ability to stretch the floor and also succeed in the paint are qualities the club is counting on.

Likewise, reclamation projects like Swiss Army knife potential Omari Spellman, high flying wing Glenn Robinson and guard Alec Burks are players the Dubs hope will rediscover early signs of prowess. Additionally, the Dubs are banking on last season’s rookie Jacob Evans and big man Willie  Cauley-Stein to step into roles that easily fit into the Dubs system.

For the Warriors to be a legit threat at least two or more of these players will need to raise their levels of performance. In the end, that might be expecting too much.