NBA Predictions for 2018–2019

Which teams can really challenge the Warriors?

Before I get to my picks for this season, I want to provide a little background on the presumptive favorite, the Golden State Warriors.

While the Warriors are going to be the favorites for the next couple of years, they have little of the depth they had during their first three runs to the NBA Finals. Draymond Green’s poor shooting and unpredictable on-court outbursts have allowed teams to play off him to focus on Curry, Durant and Thompson. With the team no longer threatening teams from the four core positions, Andre Igoudala becomes the last key piece of the puzzle. He has to stay healthy in the playoffs, and he has to maintain his current level of defense even though he will be 36 by the time the 2020 NBA playoffs arrive.

We saw how Andre Igoudala’s injury was enough to tip the scale in favor of Houston, but the Chris Paul injury allowed the Warriors to escape. Players like Looney and Bell are keys to their small ball defense, but Houston could ignore them as outside shooting threats.

Players like Javale McGee and Nick Young were unplayable in the series, while playing the always solid Livingston 30+ minutes was their last resort.

The first question, of course, is how well Cousins recovers from his injury, and…