Warriors missed the playoffs Curry's first 3 years and were 1-2 in playoffs series the next 2 years before beginning their dynasty. Meanwhile, the Raptors made the playoffs 5 out of 6 years during the Derozen-Lowrey era and have gone 4-5 in playoff series.
GSW isn't really that interesting to me tbh. They were bad for a few years and found a unique piece in Curry.
Player and team both developed a skillset/play style match that saw him truly elevate to the new type offensive juggernaut over the expected 3-5 year period.
GSW was ahead of the curve on 3 and D basketball and position-less basketball where Draymond Green has made them so much better.
They added max contracts in free agency a couple times and made basketball very, very simple. We will outscore you.
They've kinda had everything go right and thus are where they are.
CLE had one thing go right. LBJ went back.
Toronto is a good team but they aren't beating LeBron.
Not much different than Utah being really good under Malone/Stockton but never getting over the hump.
IF LeBron goes West they likely go to the Finals. If he doesn't, they gotta re-work the roster some to prepare for LeBron and stop worrying as much about the 1 seed.
