Stephen A. Smith Officially Chooses the Warriors to Win the NBA Championship
The host of ESPN’s “First Take” said on today’s show that he believes the 6-1 Golden State Warriors are going all the way this season and bringing the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to the Bay Area.
The biggest reason for the TV personality choosing the Dubs to win it all was because of the eventual return of Klay Thompson and James Wiseman. If those two come back healthy and are contributing at the level that fans are expecting them to, then there's no stopping the Warriors. He spoke on this a couple of weeks ago.
And last week, Stephen A. Smith also said that he believes the only thing that could stop the Warriors from winning it all is the return of Kyrie Irving to Brooklyn with Kevin Durant and James Harden.
Smith cites the Warriors’ ability to hit shots and make free throws as reasons he likes them over everybody else in the league (unless Kyrie ends up getting the vaccine or if New York changes the state mandate). With Jordan Poole moving into a pivotal role for this team and Curry playing at an MVP level, it has become extremely difficult to stop those two from scoring at a high rate.
Another reason for this championship mindset has to do with the deep bench at Steve Kerr’s disposal. The recent success of Gary Payton II, Damion Lee stepping up in his third season with Golden State, the pickups of Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica panning out, Andre Iguodala going back to his old ways and being the “glue guy” for the second unit. Everything is clicking for those guys.
High expectations from the national media for the Warriors this season. Can they live up to it?
Follow Arden Cravalho on Twitter @a_cravalho.