The Give and Go: 2016 Champions

LBJ: The Whole F'ing Show (Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports)

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.

Paul: Let’s keep it real simple this week, Chris: Which team wins the 2015-16 NBA Championship?

Chris: As simple as that question seems, the answer can be quite complicated. We broke down the Eastern Conference in our last podcast and came away with the Cavs as the clear favorite. To that point, I think we'd both be shocked if a Miami, Washington, or Chicago could get past the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals, nevermind match whichever powerhouse comes out of the West.

The West? What a bloodbath. We saw last season that injuries will take their toll on teams (ahem... Thunder, Blazers, Grizzlies). So, as insane as the West looks now, there may not be as many true title contenders at the end of the season.

As much as I like what Houston, San Antonio, and the Clippers did to load up this offseason, I still think we're heading for a Cleveland-Golden State rematch in the NBA Finals and I don't think that LeBron will let another opportunity slip through his fingers.

As banged up as the Cavs are right now, I think they will coast in the East, manage minutes and workload appropriately, and be as healthy as any team could be by late May. They couldn't be any more banged up than last season, that's for sure.

If either Kyrie or Kevin Love were healthy for the Cavs in the Finals, that would be a different series. The Cavs were very close to morphing themselves into a defensive juggernaut as they drove deep into the Playoffs last year.

This year, assuming a healthy roster later in the year, their versatility and depth will be leap years ahead of last season. During last preseason, Zach Lowe toyed with idea that the Cavs might have one of the greatest offenses we’ve ever seen from an efficiency standpoint. That never came to fruition, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them build towards the best offense in the league by March of 2016.

In this scenario, Golden State gets their credit for making it out of the West yet again, but LeBron gets his third ring. At the age of 31, and with a loaded roster, that sets LeBron up to make a few more runs in his early thirties. He may not be as driven as Kobe to match the six rings of MJ, but I do believe after coming so close yet again last season, and for the first time in his career dealing with physical limitations (he was uncannily healthy over the first seven years of his career), he will be motivated by the idea that the window is only open for so long.

I think it's LeBron's year, and I think the Cavs get their NBA Championship. What say you, Mitchell?

Steph Curry, stuntin' (Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle)

Paul: I can’t really disagree with your Finals equation, and your logic for picking the Cleveland Cavaliers to take the 2015-16 title, yet I still can’t shake the feeling that the Golden State Warriors are somehow being underrated entering this season.

Perhaps that’s the problem with residing in the loaded West, where every other title contender upgraded their roster over the summer, while the Warriors will return the same core that tore through the conference last season on their way to 67 wins. Trading David Lee, a former fantasy star-turned-backup big, for Gerald Wallace, and then for Jason Thompson, wasn’t quite as dramatic as signing LaMarcus Aldridge or basically stealing Ty Lawson from Denver, for example, but the Warriors’ successes should again rely in their depth, versatility, and innovative approach to the game.

Oh, and Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson, and their prolific proficiency from deep. Able to keep defenses honest from any spot on the floor, their improving ability to run high screens and find Draymond Green or Andre Iguodala rolling to the basket opens up the court and creates that vital numbers-advantage below the free-throw line. On the defensive end, the team’s wing depth allows them to close on shooters and still recover to funnel drives into Andrew Bogut, while maintaining the league’s fastest pace. As long as the Warriors can keep their infrastructure healthy - and that might include head coach Steve Kerr - they have the talent necessary to repeat as champions.

Health is the area where Golden State seemed to receive the most criticism last season, as if their avoidance of catastrophic injury was somehow something to be sorry for. The team’s early success enabled Kerr to stagger the rotation to absorb the loss of Festus Ezeli to start the season and Bogut - who started at least 65 games for the second-straight season - to close, but Curry, Thompson, Green, and Harrison Barnes combined to miss just 10 games. Their playoff opponents would be less fortunate, which somehow leads to the faint “The Warriors got lucky!” narrative that should fuel the team’s title defense this season.

I’m expecting a similar style of Golden State basketball in 2015-16, but with an added element of familiarity and aggression than last year’s version. A more confident and comfortable Steph Curry, with the perpetual green light, has the handles and quick trigger to light up any defender, and Andre Iguodala, Draymond, and Bogut love to make the extra, flashy pass (and talk a whole lot of noise in the process). The Warriors were lucky last year, just as every other Western Conference team was fortunate to be without Kevin Durant, or to avoid the San Antonio Spurs, following a first-round series loss. But few teams would take those accusations personally, and have the capacity to channel that anger into elevating their style of play and embarrass their opponents on a nightly basis. The Golden State Warriors do, to the detriment of the rest of the teams in the NBA this season.