Steve Kerr: For the 2017-18 Warriors, ‘the Biggest Challenge Is…'

The Warriors won the championship in 2015.

The Warriors lost in the NBA Finals in 2016.

The Warriors won the title in 2017.

The Warriors are the overwhelming favorites to win it again in 2018.

"The biggest challenge is complacency," Steve Kerr told Marcus Thompson of The Athletic. "We've been to the Finals three years in a row. And for our core group, I guess that would be four or five guys - Shaun and Andre, Steph, Klay, Draymond -- that's a long haul and you just cannot lose your edge in this league.

"You know, defensively we'll be keeping a close eye on our numbers and our intensity and our fundamentals. We're not going to let them slide. And yet, human nature is to let your guard down a little bit with success.

"So, we have to be aware of that, the coaching staff, and we can't disregard that ... that's the balance we've got to find."

Golden State posted the second best defensive rating last season (101.1), fourth best in 2015-16 (100.9) and was No. 1 in 2014-15 (98.2).

[REWIND: Steve Kerr: 'Greedy' Warriors 'will definitely be better next year']

Nick Young, Omri Casspi and rookie Jordan Bell are the newcomers.

Ian Clark, James Michael McAdoo and Matt Barnes are gone.

Otherwise, everybody else is back.

It's understandable why people like Jeff Van Gundy believe "this season is over. We're gonna play it out, and the Warriors are gonna win."

But Golden State will have some competition, including from themselves.

"We always talk about our balance between being a little crazy and disciplined. It sounds like an oxymoron, but we need to keep our edge; pace ourselves, too," Kerr explained to The Athletic. "And how do you do that? That's our job as a staff, to try to navigate that."

Drew Shiller is the co-host of Warriors Outsiders and a Web Producer at NBC Sports Bay Area. Follow him on Twitter @DrewShiller

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