The Give and Go: Warriors or Raptors?

Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images

The Give and Go is a quick back and forth between Paul Mitchell and Chris St. Jean about a relevant subject in the NBA at that moment.

Chris:

Simple this week.  Raptors (6-1) and Warriors (5-1) have been two of the hottest teams out of the gate.  Which has a better chance of holding on for the number 1 seed in their respective conference?

Paul:

Toronto. The Golden State Warriors are probably the better team, and if Steve Kerr's club were to switch conferences for the season, they'd have a better shot at the Eastern Conference's number one seed than even the Toronto Raptors. The Western Conference is the tougher path to legitimacy, with competition on a seemingly-nightly basis from every team besides the Los Angeles Lakers, and the West's top tier of the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers (with the Oklahoma City Thunder possibly re-joining that group with the return of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook) constitute the best teams in the entire league. In the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls are still struggling to adjust to new teammates and old injuries, and will require the rest of the regular season to come together as a team and trust one another. In a few months, the Bulls and Cavs could be as good as we predicted this preseason but chemistry will come with time, while the Toronto Raptors have already experienced growing pains in their run as the #3 seed last season, after trading Rudy Gay.

The Raptors flourished in Gay's absence in 2013-14, winning the Atlantic Division and finishing in the top ten in offensive and defensive efficiency, as a team. A seven-game series defeat to the veteran-laden Brooklyn Nets ended the season on a bit of a disappointing note, but Kyle Lowry's layup attempt would have won the series in the final seconds of Game 7, had Pierce not recovered in time to block the shot. The playoff crowds and... enthusiasm from general manager Masai Ujiri in the playoffs denote the support from the community and their team ambassadors, and the #WetheNorth hashtag is one of the coolest NBA/”A Game of Thrones” mixes in recent memory. In the offseason the organization committed to their core, re-signing Kyle Lowry and head coach Dwayne Casey, and supplemented it with the additions of James Johnson, Lou Williams, and Lucas Nogueira.

The Toronto Raptors are 6-1 so far this season, but their notable wins consist of games against the Bradley Beal-less Washington Wizards and the Atlanta Hawks, with the loss coming to the Miami Heat. Their in-conference battles against Cleveland, Chicago, and Washington will ramp up in intensity as their opponents get healthy and get right, but for now the Toronto Raptors are a team that plays offense and defense at an above-average level and features strong coaching and continuity. There are enough young players on the roster to possibly improve during the season (DeMar DeRozan, Terrence Ross, Jonas Valanciunas), and some quality veterans (Lowry, Amir Johnson, Lou) around to take the games seriously and even win a couple in crunch-time. Injuries or improvements from other teams in the East could prevent the Raptors from taking the top seed, but they're currently the most complete team in the conference, and the #1 spot is entirely realistic.

Agree, Chris? Or can the Golden State Warriors leap five teams from last season to finish with the best record in the Western Conference? It comes down to injuries and competition, to me, but there aren't many teams in the league as talented as the 2014-15 Warriors, and is it crazy to think they could out-Spurs the Spurs this season? (By that I mean play top-six ball on both sides of the court and prove that ball movement and three-point shooting can actually win a title.)

Chris:

It’s definitely true there is far less competition in the East for that number one seed, but here’s my defense for the Golden State Warriors.  First, I’ll knock Toronto, which you already did for me. As you pointed out they haven’t played the toughest schedule.  They’ve played only three games on the road thus far, a loss to Miami, a struggle with Boston, and then a win against a bad Orlando team.  They’ll be good at home, but let’s see how they do on a west coast trip.

As for the Warriors, they’ve currently played only two home games and their 5-1 record includes wins in Sacramento (not your typical Kings team thus far), in Portland, home against the Clippers, and in Houston (sure, no Dwight Howard).  They’ve also managed to play at the fastest pace in the league while still managing to have the best defensive rating.  They may be playing defense better than they ever did under Mark Jackson.  Offensively, they’re playing a more aesthetically pleasing style of basketball, although the results aren’t quite there.  That just makes me think they are going to improve offensively as the season goes on. All this talk about turnovers.  Well they play at the fastest pace and are moving the ball more (8th in passes per game and 4th in assists per game compared to 30th and 8th last season via NBA.com Sport VU stats).  Pace and more passes leads to more turnovers (example: Steve Nash).  You know what doesn’t lead to a turnover? Isolation plays leading to 20-footers.  Luckily there’s less of that this year for the Warriors.

Thompson is getting to the free throw line (6.6 FTA compared to 2.3 last season).  That's the exact way Demar DeRozan was able to improve so much last season.  Combine that with Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes supplanting David Lee and Iguodala in the starting lineup (somehow making both units better), the Shaun Livingston upgrade over Jordan Crawford, and Festus Ezeli not being Jermaine O’Neal, and I am almost ready to rest my case...almost.

My next argument.  The Warriors’ best player (Steph Curry) is better than Toronto’s (whether it’s Lowry or DeRozan).  We all know that in the NBA, having the best player means a lot.  Things will be difficult for Toronto this season when the team struggles.  Who will carry them then?  Those nights Curry will drop unspeakable 3’s from all over the court to carry the Warriors to a victory.  I don’t think Golden State is close to playing their best basketball yet.  

Lastly, there is the Western Conference playoff picture.  Currently, the Warriors are battling with Memphis and Houston for the top spot, not San Antonio and the Clippers as we expected, and we’ll get to the poor OKC Thunder.  I like Golden State’s chances if they are battling Memphis (who struggles so mightily to score) and Houston (who relies so much on two players being healthy).  The Clippers have an obvious weakness on the perimeter (worse than we thought) and here’s my sneaky Spurs suspicion: Why are the Spurs going to fight for a number 1 seed that may lead them into a first round match-up with that poor Oklahoma City Thunder team that gets two of the best players in the world back in December?  My guess is the Spurs are smart enough to know that the #2 seed may be the place to be this year.  They'll continue to 'rest' players and coast to the 2 seed.

Of course, this all assumes that Andrew Bogut stays healthy...