“2nd best team in the West” is pushing it, but I think it’s a mistake to imagine (as a lot seem to be) that all next year’s team is doing is adding a fragile Klay to the disasters that were 2019-20 and the first half of 2020-21. The team was really good over the last third of last season, with Grandpa Wanamaker gone and Poole blowing up in his stead; Baby Wiseman not being force-fed minutes with zero training camp; Juan Toscano-Anderson playing the old Andre 2.0 / Draymond 1B role to perfection; and Wiggins putting up .568 true shooting while being one of the best wing defenders in the league.
In sum: Curry has re-emerged as a top 3-ish NBA player and has a shiny new extension; Draymond is looking healthy and spry in Saitama; and Poole, Wiggins, JTA, Lee, and Looney are five positive rotation players that were all question marks to one degree or another at this time last season. Then — on a team whose biggest weakness the last couple seasons was shooting — you add not one but three absolutely deadly snipers in Klay, Otto Porter Jr., and Bjelica, and it starts to get pretty interesting, imo. And that’s before we get into what can reasonably be expected from the three blue-chip youngsters.
I’d say more like #5 seed O/U than #2 (behind PHO, UTA, DEN at minimum) but I’m still hopeful, depending somewhat on what happens with roster spots #14 and 15.
Edit: throw in Iguodala, haha. Not sure how much he has in the tank at 37, but on a vet min I can’t complain.
I'm jaded for two reasons. First, Warriors Twitter went into the offseason expecting them to "go for it now" by moving picks and young guys for big-name veterans who would help Curry, Klay and Dray win as many games as possible until they retire. Instead, the Warriors filled in a few gaps with interesting role players and drafted two very young guys who, if they stick around, can in theory grow into a new "big three" with Wiseman. I think Warriors Twitter poisoned me against this approach.
Second, Kerr's disastrous handling Wiseman last year makes me wonder if he can work the young guys into the rotation without turning the whole team upside-down. He wouldn't do it with Wiseman, and now you're asking him to give THREE young guys reasonable minutes without screwing up the whole team. Not going to be easy.
As you said, the best-case scenario is that Klay returns close to 100%, Kerr learns from his mistakes and figures out how to work the young guys in, the young guys are all good, they get good injury luck, Curry continues Currying for another year, Draymond staves off a drop-off, and they're back close to the top of the standings and can give anyone a run for their money in the playoffs.
But if any of those things doesn't happen, then you're back to being a good-not-great team being carried by a superstar.
On the plus side, no one who finished below them in the standings (Hou, OKC, Min, Sac, NO, SA) has improved in a way that makes me think they are going to get passed.