With the exception of one of the greatest playoff upsets ever, the Golden State Warriors 
have been a Western Conference doormat for the better part of the last two decades. Last year, head coach Mark Jackson was introduced to the media and said the Warriors would make the playoffs. Before that, new owner Joe Lacob promised the same.
Instead of making the playoffs, the W’s may or may not have racked up the L’s on purpose to guarantee they’d keep their draft pick. They kept that pick and had a good summer in free agency and now the playoffs don’t sound so far fetched. According to Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick, Warriors forward David Lee thinks the team has the talent to make a run but he’s not making any promises.
“I think that this is a club that needs to make the playoffs this year,” said Lee, who averaged 20.1 points and 9.6 rebounds last season.
“If you look at where this team was last year with the roster and where we are this year, I think we’ve made great improvements and we’re starting to get depth at every position now. We have a starting five that can compete with just about anybody and now we’re getting the depth to back it up and be a deep team with the way we want to play. I’m very excited.”
The key for Golden State this year is the health of Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut. They’ve built a nice core of Curry, David Lee and Andrew Bogut. They re-signed Brandon Rush and signed Carl Landry, which gives them some veteran depth off the bench. Throw in the potential of first or second year players Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Charles Jenkins, Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green and that’s a nice ten man rotation to compete for the playoffs.
Making the playoffs is still a tough task this season. It means they have to nearly double their win total from last season to even get to .500 and even that’s not a guarantee to making the postseason in the West. At the very least the Warriors will be an exciting team to watch, but Warriors fans have had that for years. At some point they’re going to get antsy about turning fun and potential in to winning.
