1. Rockets- Shocks the world 2. Lakers- Can't be lower than this 3. Nuggets- You guys are severely underrating them 4. Spurs- May be old but they are good. Plus Splitter is a great addition 5. Thunder- Improving with experience 6. Mavericks- Poised for another first round exit. As usual 7. Trailblazers- Not a great offseason, will be around where they were last year 8. j*zz or Clippers or Kings or Suns
i hate to do this,but i will sig bet anyone the rox wont finish higher than 4th. I just don't see it.
Lakers Mavs Nuggets Blazers Thunder Spurs Jazz Suns Clippers Rockets Memphis Hornets Warriors Kings Timberwolves
1. Lakers - king of the Western hill for now 2. Mavs - can be scary good if all their pieces mesh. Big IF. 3. Nuggets - Karl and co. will have something to prove 4. Jazz - depends on how much Jefferson can give them 5 Spurs - Wear and tear will keep them from homecourt 6. Rockets - it will take Yao some time to get back to full health 7. Thunder - if Spurs falter, could move up to 5 or 6 8. Blazers - with GM turmoil, a bad trade could have them falling
Maybe. 1. Lakers 57 wins 2. Mavericks 55 wins 3. Denver 53 wins 4. Jazz 53 wins 5. Houston 52 wins 6. Portland 52 wins 7. San Antonio 51 wins 8. Thunder 50 wins 9. Pheonix 48 wins 10. New Orleans 46 wins 11. Kings 40 wins 12. Clippers 38 wins 13. Grizzlies 36 wins 14. Timberwolves 20 wins 15. Golden State 18 wins Open series would be Jazz vs Houston...again...
Then again it's really hard to say because any one of these teams could surprise us quite a bit. Phoenix New Orleans Kings Clippers Hell, maybe even the Grizzlies.
1. Lakers (defending champions) 2. Mavs (stacked, deep, Kidd is old but Dirk isn't that old) 3. Denver (still have Melo and Billups) 4. Thunder (the young only get better with time) 5. Spurs (Duncan is old but there's Splitter now and Parker is only 28) 6. Rockets (8 if Yao is unhealthy) 7. Blazers (we'll see how much chemistry they have as Roy can't carry them) 8. Jazz (Deron will carry Millsap with him but he's no Boozer)
1. Lakers - Defending Champs 2. Rockets - The Yao/Martin expirement is going to pay huge dividends. If Yao stays on the court I think we will truly see how BEASTLY Kevin Martin can be. I honestly think he's a top 4-5 SG after Kobe, Wade, and Roy... the best left include Joe Johnson, Iggy and Kevin Martin. Martin is going to have a special year. 3. Mavs - Nice pieces everywhere. Will have great regular season w/ dissapointing ending as always. 4. Jazz - Jefferson will be really good for them. Any team that plays tough D, Rebounds, shoot the 3 well and is run by D. Williams will be in the hunt. 5 Blazers - A healthy Brandon Roy will take you far. Combine that with a very deep team with good balance of youth/veterans and an underrated coach. 6. Thunder - So much talent and their playoff experience is going to help A LOT. 7. Spurs - Too old. Not enough depth. Has beens. 8. Nuggets - They need something fresh. Same old story here. Their chance was 2 years ago when Melo was on fire and the whole team was clicking on all cylindars. 9. I think the Suns and GASP... Wait for it..... CLIPPERS can take the last 2 spots because I really think the Spurs and Nuggets are going to fade this year.
1. Lakers 2. Thunder 3. Mavs 4. Nuggets 5. Rockets 6. Spurs 7. Blazers 8. Jazz _______________________ 9. Suns 10. Clippers 11. Grizzlies 12. Hornets 13. Warriors 14. Kings 15. Wolves
We should have been...but then they threw away a 15 point odd lead in the 2nd half of game 82 to Dallas to cost us the #2 spot.
1. Lakers 2. Mavs 3. Thunder 4. Nuggets 5. Houston 6. Blazers 7. Utah 8. Spurs or Suns 9. Spurs or Suns 10. Grizzlies 11. Hornets 12. Clippers 13. Warriors 14. Kings 15. Wolves The scary part is, on paper[B\] the top thirteen teams look good unlike the East where I have trouble picking out which bottom feeder is going to get the 8th seed.
We can be anywhere from 4th seed to 10th seed. It all depends on Yao's healthy. Realistically, I would say 7 or 8.
As a Rockets fan, I can't bring myself to do a list right now. I just have a bad feeling about Yao. Hope I'm wrong.
1. Lakers - the team to beat, kobe and jackson are back with steve blake at the point is an upgrade. 2. Mavs - team is pretty stacked this year. looking good on paper as usual, but can they finally stop underachieving? 3. Thunder - very young and talented team who are going to keep getting better each year. 4. Blazers - Still a very talented team and will stay at the top of the western conference if they can stay out of injury trouble. 5. Rockets - Assuming we acquire a back up center to play behind yao and our core stays healthy we should be at 50+ wins. 6. Nuggets - given that carmelo comes back to the team they still have the veteran leadership in chauncey billups and good coaching in george karl. 7. Spurs - lot's of old veterans, but they aren't useless yet. pops knows how to handle his players and they'll be ready for the playoffs. 8. Hornets - paul and west will carry this team, but they probably won't make the playoffs. 9. Grizzlies - young and talented, but don't have their stuff together yet. 10. Suns - nash... 11.Jazz - no boozer. 12. Kings - LANDRY! oh and that evans guy. whiteside should be a nice surprise 13. Clippers - HEALTH! 14. Wolves - meh 15. Warriors - meh 15. Wolves
