Golden State Warriors: 10 Steps To Winning A Championship

8. Rounding Out The Roster

The Warriors were a very good team last year, and obviously the upgrade at head coach made a huge difference this year. But last year’s Dubs were nowhere near as deep as this year’s rendition, and depth was a big difference all season long — especially in the NBA Finals against a shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers team.

Some of Golden State’s depth came in free agency. The Warriors signed Shaun Livingston to be a pseudo backup point guard in July and added a seemingly washed up Leandro Barbosa in September (he was coming off a fractured hand that ended his 2013-14 season with the Phoenix Suns).

But the other half of the equation had to do with players just getting healthy. For one, the newly signed Livingston had to rush to get healthy before the season started due to arthroscopic toe surgery that sidelined him for 6-8 weeks. Then there was Festus Ezeli, who missed the entire 2013-14 season because of a knee injury.

Ezeli only played 46 games this season, but he was healthy at the end of the season and provided the Dubs with a serviceable backup big who could put away easy looks at the basket, hold his own on the glass and provide a resistance in the paint by deterring or blocking opponents at the rim — especially in the Finals, when Andrew Bogut proved to be unplayable.

Between that group of useful reserves and former All-Stars like Andre Iguodala and David Lee coming off the bench, not to mention the way Kerr empowered Marreese Speights simply by believing in him, it’s no wonder the Dubs had such an advantage with their depth this year.

Next: No. 7