Warriors Roll to 5-2 Start

The Warriors are off to one of their better starts in recent years, and with good health, they have the talent in their starting 5 to keep it up all year long.

Much like with the Giants, we do a lot of our in-depth Warriors stuff over at The Warriors Rundown, but we'll do plenty of GSW hoops talk here as well. I just wanted to touch on a few things, cause this team looks pretty darn good through the first 2 weeks. The big thing that I'm noticing, is that they're doing it without big contributions from their bench. Gone are the days when Anthony Morrow would come in and give you 20 off the bench, or Kellenna Azubuike would come in and really give opponents match-up nightmares. They were counting on Brandan Wright stepping up and being a big part of this rotation, and he looked a little better in the win over Toronto, but he's been obsolete for the most part. The biggest weakness right now though is the lack of a true back-up point guard. Instead of having C.J. Watson, Keith Smart has been relegated to the services of Rodney Carney (7 ppg, 3 rpg, 1 apg) and Jeremy Lin (don't even want to post his low numbers) as the main backup's to Curry and Monta. The Warriors also haven't gotten much out of last years breakout player, Reggie Williams. After averaging 15 points and 4.5 boards per game in his rookie year, he's gotten off to a horrendously slow start so far. When he's playing good, it allows Smart the chance to rest Ellis or Curry, otherwise the W's are at a bid disadvantage with both of them resting together.

Now, as far as the starters, they're really doing their job, especially Dorrell Wright, Monta Ellis and the injured Stephen Curry. Wright is having a breakout year, and is showing his wide array of abilities now that he's not completely overshadowed by Dwayne Wade. He's averaging over 16 points, 4.4 boards and 2.7 assists per night so far, and I think the Warriors have found themselves their small forward of the future. He's a tremendous 3-point shooter, is very athletic and is a lanky 6'9" so he got great reach on defense. The one area that I'd like to see him improve on a bit is rebounding. With his height and length alone, he should be grabbing 6-8 boards a night. If he can manage that, with his shooting and defense, he's going to be a very good player. He kind of reminds me of a hybrid between Rashard Lewis (length and shooting) and Caron Butler (aggressive, active defensively). The one guy who has yet to really breakout in the Warriors starting lineup is newcomer David Lee, but I think we could be in store for something Wednesday night when he visits his old stomping grounds. Lee's been solid, averaging a double-double, but he isn't scoring at the rate he did while in New York.... This Warrior starting looks solid, good enough to go to the playoffs for sure, but I just don't know that they have the depth at this point.