This might be the most competitive conference in a sport ever. Has anyone noticed that there are only three teams that aren't likely to make the playoffs in the west? (Seattle, Minnesota, and Memphis). And these are not the awful celler dweller teams - they might actually be competitive in the east. Ok, so maybe Portland is a fluke. But look up and down this conference: SA New Orleans Houston Dallas Denver Utah Phoenix Sac Clippers Lakers Golden State That's 11 teams - good teams! And three aren't going to make it. Care to pick which three?
Sacramento and Denver will definitely miss the playoffs. Denver could have one of the worst three records in the league. They are in disarray and simply do not have the talent to compete night in and night out with the top echelon teams. Any team lead by Carmelo Anthony (Martin was the emotional leader when they made playoffs) and Ron Artest will not make the playoffs. The third team to miss the playoffs will come between Golden State, New Orleans and the Lakers. My vote goes to New Orleans. Chris Paul is phenomenal, but last year the sneaked up on people. There's no element of surprise this year, teams will be well prepared when they play New Orleans and they will be geared to slow down Paul. Outside of Paul, they don't have a whole lot. The team that could sneak up on people this year could be Golden State. Totally new offensive system and most teams will not be prepared to defend them. Golden State will get the 7th or 8th spot. They will challenge the Lakers. 1)San Antonio 2)Clippers 3)Rockets 4)Dallas 5)Utah 6)Phoenix 7)Golden State 8)Lakers
N.O. has Peja and Mason don't forget. They aren't a bad team at all. And Sactown played very well after acquiring artest - so I think both those teams will compete for a playoff spot.
I have to say Denver is not going to make it this year because with Kenyon out indefinitely it can not simply handle all the big men at the west Kings will be a marginal pick. Althgouh Kings have decent players, they dont have a superstar that can unite every talent on the team ( in comparison with the days of C-webb). Mike Bibby can ball, Brad Miller sure can shoot those jumpers and pass, Artest can D and Kev-Mart can play, but no one can lead. Also depth is another big issue after Brad Miller is out, the team only has Loren Woods which stands above 7 ft. The Kings even try to use the smallest front court duo Kenny Thomas and Shareef, standing and only 6-7 and 6-9. The 3rd team..I dunno...better not be rox
Here are the West vs East records when facing each other over the years. 02/03: West 250 - East 170 for a .595 winning % for the West 03/04: West 266 - East 154 for a .633 winning % for the West Expansion and Re-alignment of League 04/05: West 256 - East 194 for a .569 winning % for the West 05/06: West 252 - East 198 for a .560 winning % for the West So far this year 2006: West 17 - East 10 for a .630 winning % for the West Basically, the East as an overall conference has been a joke over the last decade. Even in the Bulls years, the West was a stronger conference. Free Agency, stupid trades, and stupid drafts have put the overall talent towards the West. So it's kind of unfair that a the few good teams in the East over the years (like Miami, Detroit) have essentially coasted in their conferences and up until the conference finals. Expansion threw a crappy Charlotte team into the East and moved a playoff team (New Orleans) to the West, where they became bottom dwellers the next year...I wonder why. It got so bad at one point that no one even watched the NBA Finals. Remember the Lakers and Spurs wins over the Nets? I don't. Everyone watched the Western Conference Finals those years...it set records for highs, and NBA Finals set tv ratings records for lows. At least nowadays, the top teams in the East match the top of the West, so Finals is competitive, but that still doesn't make up for the rest of the craptacular LEast. Gawd the East sucks so hard. They just need to abolish conferences when it comes to the playoffs. Also, that's another reason why I like LeBron, Wade, Arenas, and somewhat the new rules. While I totally think the new rules are unfair to post players, those 3 guys above totally benefit from the new rules, and they already are very, very, very good players. They're good for the League overall, and they're damn important to maintaining some semblance of competitive balance. Without those 3, the Eastern Conference would be gutter trash...it's already close to it.
1) San Antonio 2) Utah 3) LA Clippers 4) Phoenix 5) Houston 6) Dallas 7) LA Lakers 8) up for grabs. but it looks like those 7, in whatever order, will make the playoffs.
They looked like complete garbage in the 4th quarter today. What is going on with all the 4th quarter collapses? That had to be Chris Paul's worst game of the year. He was uninspired, sloppy and careless. On the subject, Denver could implode, with or without K-Mart. I'm still not sold on the Hornets. For the Kings to make the playoffs, both Bibby and Artest are going to have to play decent. Right now they are not a good team. I have no opinion on the Warriors until I see a couple of games. Right now, my 3 come from those 4 teams.
denver, utah, and kings. Denver lost k-mart, and it will cost them. nene could be injured anytime soon so they are also in a risk for losing another big man. and they don't have any tall big man. their tallest player is 6 foot 11 inches. if you don't have any 7 footers doesn't that tell you soemthing? Utah's best players have always been injured. mark my words, boozer and ak47 are going to be injured again. especialy the way boozer been playing, hes been working hard, and expect him to wear his body down more, Like other people said, this team has no star player, 1st option, etc. they have the right role players, 2nd strings, etc, but dont' have that star player they need.
Well I belive in this Rockets team and I also think the Suns have tremendes upside, but IMHO the Spurs should be the favorite RIGHT NOW since they seem to be healthy at the moment.
I think they will feel sorry for picking up Peja for $64 m. Battier's better, he play hard on defense, hustle, 3 points shooting, and cheaper.
the season's just beginning...as we get deeper into the season...those "competitive" teams will tire out, some will get injured so it'll all narrow down in due course...
1) San Antonio 2) Houston 3) LA Clippers 4) Utah 5) Lakers 6) Dallass 7) Sacramento 8) Phoenix NO, Den, and GS will miss the playoffs. Of these 3 teams, NO's has the best chance of squeezing into the playoffs, either past Sac or PHX. If NO makes it into the playoffs, I can definitely see PHX not making the playoffs this year. As much as I love watching them play, the reason for their success last year was that their role players played with alot of aggression. Barbosa, Diaw, Bell, and Tim Thomas stepped up big time for them last year. This year, Barbosa has been the only role player to step their game up. Diaw, Bell, and Rose have played really hesitant and have not been looking for their own shot.
Well, with Golden State wrapping up a win vs Toronto, The West now holds a 25 to 10 edge vs The LEast as of the end of tonight's games (11/14).
Thugleavy with 20 pts and 7 boards. Should have traded for him before Nelly disocvered this gem of a player.
You guys are not going to believe this. Charlotte revenges for us today by killing Spur in OT. They beat both Cleveland and Spur, but somehow they are still a bad team.
