10 keys to the Warriors repeating as NBA champions

Despite the fact that training camps are opening up around the NBA, it still seems like the Golden State Warriors just won the title. Such is the nature of the beast for a basketball season that pretty much spans the entire calendar year now.

Fresh off their first title in 40 years, the Warriors are looking to repeat as champions. And while they will face stiff competition in an improved Western Conference that's loaded with star talent, Steve Kerr's squad has to be considered the odds-on favorites.

Here are 10 keys to the Warriors repeating as NBA champs.

1. Home-court advantage

It's not a secret that the Warriors were dominating at home last season. The defending champs went 39-2 at Oracle Arena during the regular season, winning 28 of those games by double digits. Their only losses came by 13 points to the San Antonio Spurs in the first two weeks of the regular season and an overtime defeat at the hands of the Chicago Bulls in January.

As was expected, the playoffs were a different story. Golden State matched its loss total from the regular season, going 9-2 at Oracle during its championship run. Steve Kerr and Co., however, did win five of those nine games by double digits. That's a 48-4 home record for those of you counting. That also means, postseason included, the Warriors lost only two home games to Western Conference Playoff teams.

Needless to say, this is going to be a huge key as the Warriors look to repeat. There are some pretty big home-court advantages out west, the Oklahoma Thunder being right in line behind Golden State. Losing out on the No. 1 seed would take away one of the biggest advantages the Warriors had during their historical run last season.

2. Continue to remain healthy

Be it rest or injury, Warriors starters missed a combined 27 games last year. And outside of Andrew Bogut missing his usual time, most of those games were an attempt by Kerr to keep his team fresh for the stretch run. It's also one of the primary reasons Golden State didn't win 70 games last year. To compare other top-end Western Conference teams, Oklahoma City saw its starting five miss well over a 100 combined games to injury. In Houston, the Rockets starting five combined to miss nearly 90 games.

For the Warriors, last season was an exception to the rule. We all know about Bogut's injury history. He hasn't played as much as 70 games in a single season since the 2007-08 campaign. And while he did sit out 15 games last season, a few of those were to rest his aging 7-foot frame. The most interesting thing here is that Stephen Curry played in the most game of his career. Remember, the reigning NBA MVP had dealt with multiple ankle issues earlier in his tenure with the Warriors — issues that almost derailed his career.

Golden State remains one of the deepest teams in the Association, but it needs to remain relatively healthy throughout the season in order to repeat. Fans in Northern California hope last year wasn't an outlier for a team that is usually among the most injury-prone in the NBA.

3. Figure out the best possible rotation at center

The key to Golden State's success will be two-fold. First off, it needs to keep an injury-plagued and aging center in Andrew Bogut fresh for an inevitable playoff run. Sure Steve Kerr went with matchups in the NBA Finals, but there's no reason for an All-Star caliber center to play an average of 12 minutes per game in the franchise's biggest series in history. No one can say that Bogut was anywhere near 100 percent for that series.

Despite missing 15 games last season, most of which were healthy scratches, Bogut seemed to wear down towards the latter part of the year and in the playoffs. More rest will be needed during the regular season this year.

That's where Festus Ezeli comes into play. The fourth-year center from Vanderbilt played a minor role during the regular season, averaging 4.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 11 minutes of action per game.

Though, he did show spurts in the playoffs. Ezeli put up 10 points and six rebounds in a Game 3 win over the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals. He followed that up by tallying 12 points and nine boards in the Warriors series-clinching Game 6 win. And while the big man played a minor role in the Finals, he did accumulate at least five points and five boards twice in that series.

With Ezeli prepared to emerge as a force on both ends of the court and Bogut needing rest, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a lot more of the former throughout the regular season. Golden State's plan here should be to rest Bogut 25-30 times throughout the year and limit his minutes to about 25 per game. That's helped by the addition of Jason Thompson, who can play a small-ball five at times — a role the Warriors plan to use him in.

4. Don't be loyal to aging veterans

As you saw in the extensive blurb above, Bogut definitely comes into play here. However, Andre Iguodala is also someone to check in on. The 2015 NBA Finals MVP has been joking about his sixth-man role all offseason — something most of us have taken with a grain of salt. And Iggy did average a career-low 26.9 minutes per game last season.

With the emergence of Harrison Barnes as a potential big four with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the soon-to-be free agent needs to see the court more this season. Despite putting up career highs in points (10.1) and rebounds (5.5), Barnes saw less than 29 minutes of action per game. Considering he shot 48 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range, it's safe to assume that Barnes should be seeing closer to the 32 that the current big three saw last year. This could mean a reduced role for Iguodala. That could also come up big in the playoffs with Iggy even more rested than we saw last summer.

One thing the Warriors won't lack here is depth. After signing Ben Gordon immediately prior to training camp, this team is suddenly loaded in the backcourt. Gordon will ultimately battle with holdover Brandon Rush for a minor part in the rotation. But considering his three-point prowess (36 percent with Orlando last season) and previous success scoring, he could challenge Leandro Barbosa for playing time at the two behind Klay Thompson. Golden State needs to be able to make that move if it becomes obvious that Gordon is a better option than Barbosa.

5. Play with the mentality of a champion

The Warriors need to make sure they don't let up after winning the title this past June. Even more so than in the team's historical run last season, other squads are going to be gunning for the Warriors more than ever now. This means that the Dubs will have the bullseye squarely on their back.

In finishing last year with a combined record of 83-20, Golden State showed that it had the knock-out punch needed to overcome its opponent's best nights. This season, the Warriors will face a ton of those nights. It's how they respond that will dictate whether they win 55 games and fail to earn the top seed or win 60-plus games and have home-court throughout the playoffs.

6. Find the happy medium between handing games to opponents and resting stars

The Warriors are not going to win 67 games this season. I think we can pretty much throw that one out the window. In fact, with the improvements we have seen from the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State will likely find itself in the battle for the top seed. This may force Kerr to play his stars at a higher clip than during a 2014-15 season that saw the Warriors pretty much pull away in the Western Conference by the All-Star break.

Bogut and Iguodala will definitely get their rest throughout the season, as they should. Ezeli and Barnes can put up 40-minute games with those two key rotational players in street clothes. It's about how Kerr manages the rest of the roster that will be key here. The Warriors would have likely won 70 regular season games if they had not rested pretty much their entire starting five a few times throughout last year. That's not going to be up for debate in 2015-16 with other squads primed to challenge for the conference's top spot. It's now all about maintaining a fresh team without giving games away.

7. Luke Walton must fill in admirably for Alvin Gentry

Kerr will be the first to tell you that Gentry and his quarter century of NBA coaching experience came in handy last season. As a head coach without any previous bench experience in the NBA, Kerr relied on the current New Orleans Pelicans head man a big deal. With Gentry moving on to bigger and better things, Kerr is going to have to find another assistant to rely on.

Walton came to the Warriors with Kerr last year. At 35 and only a couple years removed from playing in the NBA, he's seen as an extension of the Warriors roster. This means that he can act as a buffer between Kerr, who played in a different era, and the core players on this squad. We saw it work well last year, but with an added role, it will be important to see how Walton responds. As of now, he has to be seen as one of the hottest young head coaching candidates in the Association.

8. Maintain a deep bench

Even after trading David Lee away, Golden State enters the 2015-16 campaign a deeper overall unit than we saw last year. That's a scary proposition for opposing Western Conference teams.

Depending on whether Brandon Rush rebounds from a dismal 2014-15 season and if Ben Gordon actually plays a big role on the team this year, the Warriors could actually have a rotation that goes 14 deep. This rotation will obviously depend on the team's plan on any given night, but it's something that is nice to have. Figuring out how to get role players involved without impacting the overall product on the court will be key here.

9. Progression from youngsters

We seem to forget that Harrison Barnes (23) and Draymond Green (25) are still pretty young players in the grand scheme of things. And while both took major steps forward last season, neither has reached his prime yet. Both should continue to improve as they gain experience in the NBA and in Kerr's system.

However, the biggest question here is un-drafted second-year player James Michael McAdoo. The former North Carolina standout — a central focus of the Warriors Summer League squad — has been extremely impressive in limited regular season action. In the four games that saw him put up 10-plus minutes as a rookie, he averaged 11.8 points and 5.5 rebounds.

Drawing rave reviews from the organization, it will be interesting to see if McAdoo gains an important role in the rotation this season.

10. Get off to a strong start

The Warriors' first five games will be against teams that earned a playoff spot last year, including two of the first three against the up-and-coming Pelicans. After that, it gets a tad easier for the defending champs. A total of 18 of their next 20 games are against squads that failed to finish over .500 last year.

Golden State started last season by winning 20 of its first 22. It's reasonable to expect this team could do somewhere near the same damage early on this year before a difficult slates of games for the remainder of the campaign. This will tell us what we need to know heading into a Finals rematch with the Cavaliers on Christmas Day.

Check out Vincent's other work on eDraft.com and follow him on Twitter @VincentFrankNFL.