Irving, Hayward, Horford, Smart, Jalen Brown, Tatum....
We have seen these almost super teams that lack key areas of depth.
There are too many ways to abuse that team with your offense. Larkin/Rozier can handle back-up point with Smart ok...maybe...the front court depth us very bad. They are going small ball, but a few teams out there have built up to counter that and abuse them inside.
I could see the interior game have a small resurgence, and at least make the Warriors think about preparing for that, getting a real center again.
I'm not a big Irving fan, so that is a big part of it. I don't think Irving/Hayward are compatible players, they are redundant and weaken you defensively.
Horford is an injury waiting to happen, so extra stress on front court, lack of depth, extra jobs for him I see him breaking. Tatum is a rookie, so efficiency of him and Smart is not good.
you can put good players that score together but do they have efficiency? It takes time to find the right players that compliment their core, we have seen core overhauls struggle for at least 1/2 to 1.5 seasons to gel, and start to get efficient through chemistry. So they will have to battle that too.
The Raptors, Washington, Miami and a surprise or two will all keep them to a 3-7 seed.
Also...I see them imploding at some point with personalities. You have the hard nosed work ethic crowd that was there led by Horford, Smart, Crowder, Thomas, Bradley. 3 of those guys are gone. Now you have the ego maniac I'm the light of the world kyrie Irving, doing things his own way despite having the best coach,
who now has his coaching baby. Butler is so tight nit of a school...Hayward is like son to him, is white, and is going to bring that dynmic of a coaches son to the team. A team with petulance, and the other half old school earn it mentality.
Given that there problem is clearly getting bullied, as Horford is a tweener, Kyrie is a bitch, Hayward is like Laettner crossed with Blake Griffin. and no front court depth. So the big tough guys are going to get pissed at this collection of Duke guards and Hayward soft. (Irving/Tatum)
I don't see things going easy for them at all, particularly just because they can't control the lane or the rim and are going to be bullied.