Pacific Division

  1. L.A. Lakers X
  2. Phoenix Suns X
  3. L.A. Clippers
  4. Golden State Warriors
  5. Sacramento Kings

Southwest Division

  1. San Antonio Spurs X
  2. New Orleans Hornets X
  3. Dallas Mavericks X
  4. Memphis Grizzlies
  5. Houston Rockets

Northwest Division

  1. Portland Trailblazers X
  2. Denver Nuggets X
  3. Oklahoma City Thunder X
  4. Utah Jazz
  5. Minnesota Timberwolves

(X = playoff team)

Pacific Division

L.A. Lakers:

Unfortunately the Lakers appear to be the class if the West again this.  Some of the other teams made some moves which I think will make the conference more competitive at the top this year, but the Lakers still look like the best.  They essentially traded Trevor Ariza for Ron Artest which didn’t make a ton of sense to me.  At this point in their careers Ariza is the better defender, understands his role better and doesn’t fire up a ton of stupid shots.  With that said, Artest is more capable of taking over a game on offense in stretches if Kobe gets hurt or is in foul trouble.  I guess overall, I don’t see the change affecting their win/loss totals.  What Artest does give them is entertainment.  You add the leagues craziest player to a team that already has the league’s biggest douche bag (need I mention who that is?), it will be interesting how it all plays out.  Also in the picture is Lamar Odom’s new wife, the Kardashian sister who got the short end of the stick in the family genes department and we have the makings for one hell of a circus.  At the heart of this though, Kobe is still great and Pau Gasol is still one of the best big men in the game.  It will be interesting to see if Andrew Bynum can stay healthy for a full season and become the guy he has shown he can be at times.  This is one of the weaker divisions in the league; expect the Lakers to run away with it.  Hopefully when I write this preview in a couple of years I’ll be able skip putting an X next to the Lakers.  I really am tired of seeing their fans so damn happy.

Phoenix Suns:

Honestly I don’t think the Suns are all that great.  They’ll sneak in to the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed and lose in the first round.  A lot of this is going to depend on what they decide to do with Amare Stoudemire.  He’s a free agent at the end of the year and there is a lot of talk about them trying to get something for him now instead of resigning him.  If they do keep him, there is no guarantee that he’ll be healthy for the full season.  They need him at top form to be anything close to what they were a couple years ago.  Steve Nash is getting is old but is still one of the better points guards in the league, at least offensively.  Jason Richardson is underrated and still has a lot left in the tank.  I’m not sure what their plan at center is.  I am assuming it will be mostly split between Channing Frye and Side Show Bob look-alike Robyn Lopez.  I love Frye from his college days at Arizona and I think he can be decent if given enough minutes.  Lopez has some good defensive skills but his twin sister over in New Jersey is a much better overall player.  I see Robyn as more of a role-playing game player than basketball player.  Can’t you just see him sitting in his room talking about elves and dragons in that voice that makes him sound like a stupid version of Corky Thatcher?  Anyway, we’ll see how Steve Kerr does role playing as a GM again this year.  He hasn’t done a good job at all so far and you’d have to think that this may be a do or die year for him.  Personally I think they need to blow it up.  Trade Nash, Amare and Grant Hill to contenders and try to get some young talent or cap space in return.  The city of Phoenix has a love affair with Nash that I can understand to a point but he isn’t going to be worth a whole lot for a whole lot longer.  Sell him while he’s s till a little overrated. 

L.A. Clippers:

Congratulations Donald Sterling, you may no longer be considered the worst owner in the NBA.  Your franchise actually has some hope, thanks to some luck in winning the draft lottery and Blake Griffin last summer.  With that said, I don’t think they are quite a playoff team yet.  They’ll most likely finish 10th in the West right behind the Jazz.  They have the makings of a solid team.  Some good vets mixed with some up and coming youngsters but they need to redistribute the depth a little bit and you still have to be scarred of injuries.  Baron Davis was injured and awful last year after bolting from the Warriors and if the Clips or going to contend they need Baron to play and play like an All-Star.  Macus Camby is like the big man version of Baron.  When healthy and motivated he’s one of the best in the business; it’s just not always the case.  I love their second year shooting guard Eric Gordon.  He came on huge in the second half last year and can light it up from outside.  For his sake, I really hope Coach Mike Dunleavy starts Griffin instead of Kaman.  Dunleavy has not made the best decisions during his tenure as the Clips Coach and GM and starting Kaman would be another bad one.  Getting a small forward for Kaman would be their best case scenario.  I think they do have a shot to contend for that eighth seed in the West, but they’re probably a year away.  They did pull off the trade of the summer getting rid of a fat ass with a fat contact in Zach Randolph.  They are going to be roughly 16 million under the salary cap next season when the free agent class is loaded.  I doubt they’ll be able to lure the likes of Lebron or Wade but why not someone the likes of Joe Johnson or Rudy Gay?  They would be able to sign one of those guys and then some.  So Clipper fans, for once in your lives you have something to look forward to.  The future for the clippers is as bright as a sun shiny day in Santa Monica or a Helicopter spotlight in Compton depending on how you look at it.  This of course is all depending on if Sterling and Dunleavy don’t fuck it up.  Keep your fingers crossed Paz.

Golden State Warriors:

As a Warrior fan, it truly pains me to write this.  I was cautiously optimistic about the Warriors shortly after the draft.  Getting Stephen Curry was exciting.  I wasn’t sure how he and Monta Ellis were going to defend any backcourts with size; but if the coach isn’t concerned with defense why should I be?  The team is actually loaded with young talent.  I wasn’t expecting a miraculous playoff run, but steady improvement shouldn’t be out of the question.  I knew though in the back of my head trouble was likely around the corner.  Chris Cohan may be the worst owner in sports.  Don Nelson who used to be considered a crazy genius is now just considered crazy and maybe a little disinterested.  Speaking of crazy, the team captain is Stephen Jackson.  Yeah, this isn’t going to end well, or start well for that matter and there is plenty of blame to go around.  First off, after signing a big contract extension Captain Jack tells the media that he wants to be traded.  Well sorry Captain, that extension you signed makes you next to impossible to trade.  Since it has become apparent to him that Warriors will unlikely be able to trade him, Jackson had a blowup in an exhibition game which led the team to suspend him and strip him of his captain duties.  He has put them in an awful position.  As overrated as he is, he is still a good player and one that the Warriors need to win games.  Management was scared that he was going to become a cancer so they gave him the extension he demanded and he became a cancer anyway.  Stupid.  In other bad news, they lost promising young big man Brandan Wright for the season with an injury.  Still there is promise on the roster.  Anthony Randolph is poised to breakout this season.  That is if Nellie gives him enough play time.  Anthony Morrow showed that he can be a great scorer in NBA and it will be fun to see his improvement. 

Who am I kidding?  I don’t care how much promise there is on the roster, the Warriors continue to be one of the worst franchises in all of sports.  Do us all a favor Cohan, sell the team.  Sell it now.  There are rumors that he may be in trouble with the IRS over something.  God, I hope this is true.  I hope he is thrown in jail and is forced to sell the team to pay off his legal bills.  Then I hope after all of that money he spends on his defense he is still found guilty and rots in whatever country club jail they toss him in.  There were reports that Larry Ellison (yeah the Oracle guy) may be interested in buying the team.  Please Larry, do it.  He would be like Mark Cuban part 2.  He’s the fourth richest person in the world, this would be amazing.  There were also reports that a group of investors wanted to buy the team and put a downtown arena in San Francisco.  How great would it be to not have to take the BART over to Oakland to watch Warrior games?  You could actually go out before and after the game by the arena without wearing a bullet proof vest.  Please mysterious investors, buy the fucking team.  Cohan has been running the Warriors in to the ground for years.  He should be thrown in jail for that alone.  Sorry for the rant.  Until he sells, we’re stuck with him and his band of misfits.  At least for this season there will be a team worse than the Warriors in the Pacific.

Sacramento Kings:

Not a whole lot to get excited about in Sacramento this year.  They’ll be pretty terrible again.  They drafted a shooting guard, Tyreke Evans to play point guard.  He did run the point in college last year and did a good job, but I don’t see him keeping up with all of those quicker guards night in and night out in the NBA.  He’ll be a good player in time and if he gets a better outside shot, maybe a great one, but it’s going to take time.  Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson are solid young guys up front, but I don’t expect a whole lot from them yet.  It will help the Kings if Kevin Martin can stay healthy this year; he’s one of the better shooters in the league.  Overall this is a rebuilding team with a few pieces and a long way to go.

 

Southwest Division

San Antonio Spurs:

I can’t wait for the day where these guys will stop contending for titles.  They bore the hell out of me but they are always just so damn solid at every facet of the game that you have to respect what they do.  It will make them more watchable for me this year now that they have Arizona Wildcat Richard Jefferson starting at small forward for them.  I also think he’ll help the team quite a bit, especially when Manu Ginobili gets his inevitable injury.  Signing Antonio McDyess and drafting DeJuan Blair should take a little bit of the load off of Tim Duncan and give him more rest.  This is imperative because while Duncan is still great, he’s getting old, wearing down and they need him healthy in the playoffs to make a run.  The guy that makes them go will be Tony Parker Longoria.   H gets to the rim when he wants, has a nice midrange game and shoots high percentages.  Chasing him around for an entire game must be one of the toughest jobs for any defender in the league.  If the Spurs are healthy they will compete for not just the West, but the NBA title.

New Orleans Hornets:

The Hornets let me down last year.  I picked them to win the West and lose to Cleveland in the Finals.  I also picked Chris Paul to win the MVP.  I wasn’t so far off there.  With the year he had, he easily could have won it.  He is the best point guard in the.    Deron Williams drinking near beers and not having sex over there in Utah has an argument, but that argument is only that he’s kinda close.  More on him when I sleepwalk my way through writing about the Jazz.  Paul isn’t just a one man show.  David West has been a consistent scorer and solid rebounder for a few years now.  He’s an All-Star in the hardest sport to make an All-Star team.  The Hornets also traded Tyson Chandler for Emeka Okafor.  Two years ago I thought Chandler was on his way to becoming great, but it became apparent that while he is a very good defender he’ll never be much on offense.  Okafor is an improvement here.  The questions are at the 2 and the 3.  Julian Wright should get a shot to start this year pushing Peja Stojakovic to the bench.  Coming out of Kansas many thought Wright had All-Star potential.  I don’t know if anyone feels that way now; but he’s long, athletic and all they got.  I still don’t know who will be at the 2.  James Posey and Morris Peterson will likely get the bulk of the minutes there.  The Hornets have a decent team that will make the playoffs and go as far as Paul can carry them.

Dallas Mavericks:

With the addition of Shaw Marion this Mavericks team looks like it would have been really good three years ago.  Now, I think they’re a decent playoff team who may sneak in to the second round, but I doubt it.  Expect another 6th Man of the Year type campaign from the great Jason Terry and to hear something stupid come out of the mouth of Josh Howard.  Erick Dampier is useless at center, but his contract does expire at the end of the year so the Mavs could trade him or make an upgrade in the off season.  Dirk is still a top 10 player and will be enough to offset other shortcomings the team may have.  I guess the big wildcard here is how much Jason Kidd has left in the tank.  If he can be at least as good as he was last year the team will do fine; but if he starts showing that he’s done the Mavericks could be scratching and clawing to get that 8th seed and it still won’t be enough.

Memphis Grizzlies:

The Grizzlies can compete with the Warriors as the worst run team in the NBA.  They make bad trades and questionable signings… that’s just what they do.   While all of that is the case, they do have a chance to be a little better than last year.  Getting Zach Randolph was pretty stupid from a salary cap perspective but he will improve the inside scoring.  Rudy Gay, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol and OJ Mayo should all be a year better which will improve the team as well.  I am excited to see what Conley does this year.  He’s the only pass first guy on the team, so I am expecting some high assist numbers from him.  I love Allen Iverson, but this signing didn’t make too much sense.  I guess they did it to sell some tickets, but basketball wise I don’t see how he fits.  The team is loaded with scorers already; they don’t have anyone else to do the other things.

I hope Iverson accepts a role as a teacher and spark off the bench, but I am not so sure that will happen.  Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved Iverson and think he can still play.  In fact, I think he outplays expectations this year.  I am sad to see what has happened to his career though.  For a little while it was looking like he was going to be without a job this season.  Since he has come in to the league, no one has played harder or been more misunderstood.  He has such a bad and undeserving reputation.  To make it out of what he made it out of and to do what he’s done is amazing.  He does a ton of work with kids that no one ever hears about.  The only reason I know it is because I have always followed his career.  The Grizzlies won’t be much of team this year; I just hope that it works out ok for the Answer. 

Houston Rockets:

Yao is out for the season and his career is in jeopardy.  The reports are that Tracy McGrady is doing great with his new trainer in Chicago and will supposedly be coming back strong at some point in November.  I’ll believe that when I see it.  Even if he does come back at full strength, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be the same player he was even two years ago.  There isn’t a lot going right in Houston right now.  McGrady’s big 23 million dollar contract is up at the end of this year and Yao’s is done at the end of next year.  I guess they have that to look forward to.  Even still, most people I read project them to do better than I do.  I think Ariza is an overall upgrade over Artest, but on team that will struggle to score; I don’t know if it’s an upgrade in the right areas.  Scola and Aaron Brooks should have nice years playing bigger minutes and Carl Landry could breakout; but none of them are going to carry you to contention.  Anything short of a miraculous comeback from T-Mac and the Rockets look to be picking towards the top of the lottery in June.  I am excited to see Chase Budinger play though.  He looked good in summer ball and the preseason.  Look for a lot of teams to regret passing up on athletic rookie from Arizona.

Northwest Division

Portland Trailblazers:

The Blazers are poised to be the team with the best chance in the NBA right now to turn in to a dynasty.  They’re young, talented, seasoned and the key guys are all locked up.  Would they be looking even better right now if they drafted Kevin Durant instead of Greg Oden?  Sure.  Is Greg Oden a bust?  The jury is out on that one still, but I think he’ll be good.  Probably never great, but solid.  This is the year he needs to take a bigger step forward and stay healthy.  Brandon Roy is beginning to look like a superstar and LeMarcus Aldridge has a chance to be an All-Star this year.  The addition of Andre Miller should free up Roy to spend more time scoring and less time trying to get everyone else involved.  They are pretty deep at every position and backup combo guard Rudy Fernandez could be in the mix for 6th Man of the Year.  Unfortunately it looks like Jerryd Bayless will spend his second year riding the pine.  It’s his fault for not spending another year at Arizona last year; but I have hope that when he does get his chance he’ll take advantage of it.  Blazer fans should be excited; they’ll be a playoff team for years.

Denver Nuggets:

The Nuggets were good last year and I wouldn’t expect them to fall off at all.  The issue is that other teams have gotten better and they didn’t do anything to improve.  Basically I am saying that I would be shocked to see them as the 2 seed in the playoffs again.  The starting five is really good.  Nene and Kenyon Martin up front, J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony on the wings and they’ll have a full season of Chauncey Billups running the point.  Getting Ty Lawson so late in the first round should be a big help allowing Billups a little more rest as he starts getting older.  Anthony should have a huge year.  The big concern is going to be keeping Nene and Martin healthy.  If they go down, the Nuggets are going to have a hard time defending anyone down low or getting any rebounds.  They’ll have a good shot to play in the second round of the playoffs, but I would be shocked to see them in the Western Conference Finals again.

Oklahoma City Thunder:

This is going to be one of the most exciting teams in the NBA to watch this season.  I may have overshot by a year, but I do think they sneak in to the playoffs as the 8 seed.  I mentioned earlier that the Balzers have the best chance of becoming a dynasty.  The Thunder are the team that probably has the second best chance.  Both teams have owners that are desperate to win and crafty GMs that have not made many mistakes.  You can’t talk about the Thunder without starting with Kevin Durant.  Durant has future MVP and 12 time All-Star written all over him.  This is the season he steps in with the group of Lebron, Paul, Wade and Kobe as one of the top players in the league.  Aside from the center position, the rest of the lineup is very potent too.  They’re all young and still learning, but on certain nights will blow teams away.  Point guard Russell Westbrook was amazing as a rookie last season and will get even better this year.  James Harden is a rookie and will take his lumps, but is exactly what the Thunder needed to add in the draft at the 2 guard.  Coming from Arizona State, you can question his intelligence, but you can’t question his ability to shoot or get to the rack.  At power forward, Jeff Green is as steady as they come and will get better.  His defense will need to improve, but he moves and shoots great for a big man.  He may be more of a small forward, but he’ll end up working out fine at the 4.  The bench and the center spot are filled with questions and could be what keeps the Thunder from making it to the playoffs this season.  A round in the playoffs would be good experience for the kids, but if it doesn’t happen for them this year, they’ll be there for a long time after.  The Thunder are loaded with talent, cap space and draft picks already; so even with being stuck in one of the worst cities in the NBA, they are in a can’t miss situation.

Utah Jazz:

While I may have overshot with the Thunder, I may be undershooting with the Jazz.  I just see this Boozer situation causing too many problems.  He’s a free agent at the end of the season and it doesn’t look like he will be staying there next season.  His contract is expiring, but it will be hard for them to get anything great for him because of what he makes this season.  So if they trade him, the team will likely get worse.  If they keep him, who knows how he’ll play.  He comes across to me as one of the most heartless and disinterested players in the league.  He is a good player, but I wouldn’t want to have to count on him.  Deron Williams is probably the second best point guard in the league and has one of the most well manicured beards.  I just see this team scrubbing out; I don’t know what it is.  Williams and maybe power forward Paul Millsap are the only guys on the team I would really be excited about having.  Jerry Sloan is a great coach, but I don’t see him being able to stop this team from fading. 

Minnesota Timberwolves:

Things were starting to look a little better until we found out Kevin Love is going to be hurt for six to eight weeks.  They really botched the draft taking two point guards with their two high lottery picks.  They got what they deserved when Rubio decided to stay in Spain.  They saved a little bit of face signing Ramon Sessions.  Sessions is a good point guard who can slide over to the 2 at times so he and rookie Johnny Flynn can play together.  This is important because the Wolves have very little going for them on the wings.  The most important thing for the Wolves this season though will be the health of the Al Jefferson.  I have heard some rumblings that his Achilles was bothering him, but new coach Kurt Rambis (yeah, that guy) said that Jefferson will be ready for opening day.  This is an All-Star caliber player who they will need in the lineup to win anything at all.  We’ll see how it goes out there, but I am not optimistic.