"The most dangerous team" - Former Warriors guard dishes unexpected picks for most formidable & reliable team in NBA
The Golden State Warriors have been around .500 all season long. Although Golden State won the 2022 NBA championship and reached the Western Conference semifinals last season, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are not in their prime, and the young core lacks experience to carry the load along with Steph Curry.
Former Warriors player Gilbert Arenas and Pro Football Hall of Fame player Shannon Sharpe don’t consider Golden State to be a dangerous team. When Sharpe asked Arenas if the Denver Nuggets were the most dangerous team in the league, Arenas had a very different opinion.
According to the former Warriors player, it was not the defending champions Nuggets, but the LA Clippers who were the NBA's most dangerous team.
“OK, that’s tricky," Arenas said. "The most dangerous team is the Clippers because they got one, two, three, four Hall of Famers who can score 30 at any moment. They are the most dangerous team due to the fact they have a lot of firepower.
“The most consistent team, the most reliable team, is Denver.”
Both Arenas and Sharpe agreed that Nikola Jokic was why the Nuggets were the NBA's most reliable team. Given how much of the offensive load Jokic takes and makes the players around him substantially better, it doesn’t come as a surprise. He has the highest Player Impact Estimate and leads the MVP race this season.
Gilbert Arenas diagnoses the problem with Warriors this season
The Warriors suffered one of the worst losses of the season on Sunday, losing 140-88 at the Boston Celtics. Not even one Warrior touched the 20-point mark.
To say that the team is just having a bad season isn't entirely correct. Golden State entered Sunday playing its best basketball of the season, winning 13 of 16 games.
However, only Steph Curry from the Warriors' trio, and to some extent Jonathan Kuminga, can perform at a high level. Draymond Green and Klay Thompson aren’t who they were a few years ago.
On the "Gil’s Arena" podcast in February, Arenas gave his take on the Warriors' ceiling this season:
“He (Curry) has been playing at that level all season. … He was averaging 31 all season. He took a dip when Draymond got suspended. The fact that they’re in the 10th spot (currently ninth), playing so well, tells you where their ceiling is. … We acting like Steph ain’t been doing this all season.
"It’s the rest of the motherfu**ing team, it’s the other 14 players that’s the problem.”
[31:25]
Andrew Wiggins, who is supposed to be the second man behind Curry, is having one of the worst seasons of his career. Earlier, he had taken leave from the team to attend to a family matter. Wiggins has again taken leave from the team for the same reason.
As long as the Warriors do not find another star player to play alongside Curry, they will have a hard time getting back into the contender's position.