The free agency altered the conference from the west, but not enough to seriously threaten the warriors

There has been much talk of the Golden State Warriors who have agreed to an agreement with DeMarcus Cousins ​​since the deal was concluded Monday night.

Here are some truths about the transaction. First, it comes out of a ripped Achilles, and will not be available until the New Year at the earliest. Second, Cousins ​​did not really have an overwhelming number of offers to choose from. Third, Cousins ​​does not fulfill the greatest need of Golden State, and one who has almost caught up with the Warriors last season: the lack of depth required behind Andre Iguodala on the wing.

So, no, for all the noise created by Cousins ​​when signing with Golden State, she did not single the Warriors of the NBA title next season (outside of any external perception, anyway). But with the approach of the early days of the free agency, Golden State has seen its way to a third consecutive championship facility.

This is a path that has been paved by events beyond their control.

Houston Rockets loses versatile striker Trevor Ariza in a surprise raid by the Phoenix Suns in the opening hours of the free agency. Next, it is the Los Angeles Lakers who surround LeBron James with the NBA equivalent of a Bozo the Clown car by signing Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo.

The result is a conference of the West which, as a whole, is deeper than ever. up to 10 teams – the Warriors, Rockets, Lakers, Thunder Oklahoma City, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans – capable of winning 50 games.

None of them However, they seem to be a serious threat to shoot down the Warriors, and prevent them from reaching a fifth consecutive NBA Finals.

This is likely to surprise the average basketball fan as Chris Paul returns to the finals. Rockets on a four-year deal, $ 160 million on the opening day of the free agency and James moved from east to west, becoming a ubiquitous threat a few hundred miles south of the Bay area.

But Houston hopes a potential repeat of Ariza stunned the basketball world by signing a one – year $ 15 million contract for the opening hours of the free agency with the Suns . The move simultaneously used all of Phoenix's ceiling space – which had to be tagged for a playmaker, something the Suns still did not – while shooting Ariza away from the Rockets.

Houston could have paid Ariza – He owned all his bird rights, which meant that it could match any offer, even though it was well in excess of the salary cap . But with Paul's agreement costing Houston about $ 40 million a year for the next four years, and with Clint Capela still on the market waiting for a big day as a restricted free agent, the Rockets could not bear the idea of ​​exceeding $ 250 million. pays to match the money that Ariza received from Phoenix, which would be the stratosphere that Houston would have had if she had done it.

Tillman Fertitta, who bought the team last season, put a good chunk of his fortune into the purchase. Clearly riding a quarter of a billion dollars to run this year's team was going to be a bridge too far.

Maybe the Rockets will be able to keep Luc Mbah a Moute, who remains a free agent and a key piece. last year – the one who missed almost all the western finals after dislocating his shoulder twice. But even if Houston does, Ariza is arguably the best "3-D-D" player in the NBA, as far as role players with these characteristics are concerned.

Losing Ariza was lost in the middle of the madness It is one of the most important transactions – from the point of view of the controversy over the general title – which has already occurred.

The other was the Lakers mishandling their list once they hired him. No, this is not a criticism of the Lakers for failing to perform a Kawhi Leonard exchange. Frankly, it still seemed unlikely that the Spurs would exchange their star against the Lakers. Remember what their coach, Gregg Popovich, said about the trade that sent Pau Gasol (who ironically plays for San Antonio) to the Lakers ten years ago

"What they did in Memphis is incomprehensible, "said Popovich. the weather. "There should be a trade committee that can scratch all the trades that make no sense. I would just have been on a trade committee that oversees the NBA trades. I would like to elect to this committee.I would have voted no to the LA trade. "

No, it is the Lakers following their signature of James with four signatures – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Stephenson, McGee and Rondo – who are at best questionable, with what James needs to succeed

To be fair, Caldwell-Pope is exactly the kind of player – a defensive stop at the shooting guard who is at least a pbadable shooter, and who comes of a career better 38.9% of the range of 3 points – that suits James next. The fact that he is represented by the same agency as James does no harm, either.

The other signatures, however, have no meaning. Stephenson and Rondo both need the ball in their hands – rather than James' hand – and both are not good enough shooters to be adequate off-ball options. McGee, meanwhile, has been working alongside the four future Golden State Hall of Fame over the past two years. It remains to be seen if it can even be effective remotely in any other situation.

The other contenders in the West are even further behind. If the Spurs keep Leonard, they will probably be among the first four seeds of the West. But even if they do, his support team is not good enough to stop Golden State. Ditto for Thunder, who are naturally delighted to have convinced Paul George to stay in the free agency, but who lacks depth around George, Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams to give Golden State a real test. The rest of the West teams competing for a playoff spot is even further away.

In fact, the best challenge to Golden State will come, despite all the talk of conference imbalance, from anyone representing the East Conference in the NBA Finals next year. The healthy versions of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward should allow the Boston Celtics to go from start to finish, even with Golden State. The Philadelphia 76ers, on the other hand, feel like Leonard's most likely business destination – and a triumvirate of Leonard-Ben Simmons-Joel Embiid would be incredibly hard to stop.

One or the other of these options would take until next June to materialize. And while people have indicated that Cousins ​​is the reason why the Golden State track will be easier next season, it's actually the decisions made by other teams that have increased the odds of Golden State to leave with another title