The Golden State Warriors had to sacrifice a lot to put themselves in position to acquire Kevin Durant.
It meant Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes had to go, as well as key role players off the bench like Festus Ezeli, Leandro Barbosa, Marreese Speights, Brandon Rush and Jason Thompson.
There's no denying the starters for the Warriors will be off the charts this season, but the bench and depth in general has already been in question.
Andre Iguodala would like to refute those claims.
“I think our second unit will be better, actually,” Iguodala said Wednesday.
Head coach Steve Kerr echoed Iguodala's sentiment.
“I think a couple people have either said or written that our bench is going to be not necessarily suspect but weaker than last year,” Kerr said. “We’ve got every reason to believe we can play the same way, with strength in numbers and play a lot of people.”
Some new and old players will have to step up this season for the Warriors' bench to remain productive, let alone improve.
Iguodala and Shaun Livingston will be back and then the next three likely getting consistent minutes will be David West, Ian Clark and Anderson Varejao. Rookie Patrick McCaw could become a factor as well as James Michael-McAdoo or Kevon Looney.
There are some unknowns in that group, but guys like West and Varejao are pretty proven.
It should also be noted that Kerr will have a much easier time slotting one of his Big 4 with the bench unit. Most speculate either Durant or Klay Thompson will play a lot of minutes with bench players.
You really start nitpicking when you're looking for weaknesses in this Warriors team. And Iguodala may ultimately be right and prove a lot of people wrong if the bench becomes a strength this season.
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