2015 NBA champions Golden State Warriors during their victory parade and rally. (Photo : Getty Images)
The NBA's official website recently released the results of their annual GM survey and it was evident that the defending champions Golden State Warriors have not earned the respect of most of the league's general managers as they were ranked third to win the title this season behind the reloaded Cleveland Cavaliers and the much-improved San Antonio Spurs.
CSN Bay Area reported that only 17.9 percent of the league's GMs believe that Steph Curry and the Warriors will repeat as NBA champions in 2015-2016. Cleveland got the highest percentage of votes with 53.6 while San Antonio came in second with 25.0.
In other words, most of the NBA's head honchos think that this season will feature a second Cavs vs Spurs finale, which seems like an utter disrespect for the Warriors and what they had done last season.
Despite leading the league in the overall regular season win-loss record and most of the offensive and defensive team statistics last season, Golden State is still being underappreciated and will come into the new season as the clear underdogs despite the fact that they are the reigning title holders.
ESPN noted that the 17.9 percent rating the Warriors got was "the lowest percentage for a defending champion in the 13-year history of the survey."
Some people, particularly Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, had even branded the team as "lucky" to win the title last June because of key injuries to their opponents and the providence of playoff bracketing.
Reigning league MVP Curry also got a dose of disrespect as only 7.1 percent of the GMs believe that he will repeat as the NBA's best player this coming season. LeBron James got the highest nod with 39.3.
