didn't see it posted yet by Marty Burns Inside the NBA cnnsi.com It's still early, but the Western Conference has been mostly quiet this summer as several teams wait for mid-tier free agents to make up their minds. Among the top contenders, only the Rockets have been particularly active. Otherwise the biggest shakeups have occurred at the bottom of the standings, where Minnesota, Portland and Seattle have radically altered their lineups. Here's one man's view of the West race, as of right now, with the caveat that there are more moves (albeit relatively minor ones) in the pipeline for several teams: 1. SPURS: They haven't added much new blood this offseason, instead re-signing Fabricio Oberto, Jacque Vaughn and Matt Bonner. Then again, the defending champs don't need to make major changes. As long as Tony Parker doesn't decide to run off somewhere with his new bride Eva, they should be just fine. 2. MAVS: They also haven't shaken things up after winning a league-best 67 games a year ago. They re-signed Jerry Stackhouse and Devean George, and will hope the bitter finishes of the past two postseasons can give them the edge they need to get over the top. 3. SUNS: After dangling Shawn Marion and Amaré Stoudemire in an effort to land Garnett, they ultimately are left with the core intact while adding Grant Hill via free agency. Of course, keeping this team together might prove to be a good idea. Steve Nash probably has at least one more MVP-type campaign left in those 33-year-old legs. 4. JAZZ: Coming off that terrific run to the conference finals, they didn't want to do anything to break the mojo. It's still possible they could look to deal Andrei Kirilenko, especially after losing out on free agent Morris Peterson (who signed with the Hornets), but most likely they will keep it together and hope another Morris (Almond) can fill their need for outside shooting. 5. ROCKETS: New GM Daryl Morey has added solid pieces in veterans Steve Francis and Mike James and Argentine power forward Luis Scola, who was acquired in a trade with the Spurs. If Bonzi Wells doesn't go AWOL again, new coach Rick Adelman should have some more depth to go with Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. 6. NUGGETS: They made their splash last winter by acquiring Allen Iverson from the Sixers. Their only significant move this summer has been to sign point guard Chucky Atkins, who replaces the departed Steve Blake. With Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Marcus Camby, Nenê and a healthy Kenyon Martin, it should be enough to keep them in the Western mix. 7. WARRIORS: It's tempting to rate them higher after the way they tore through the West down the stretch and slayed the Mavs in the playoffs. But Baron Davis is injury-prone, Matt Barnes and Mickael Pietrus remain unsigned, and they might miss Jason Richardson (traded to Charlotte) more than they think. They better hope that Italian sharpshooter Marco Belinelli doesn't play like a rookie. 8. LAKERS: Despite Kobe Bryant's pleas, they have not yet been able to do anything major to get him the help he needs. Derek Fisher is only going to help so much. Bryant and a healthy Lamar Odom should be enough to get them to the playoffs, but it's hard to imagine them doing much better as presently constituted. 9. HORNETS: Despite a wave of injuries, they came on strong late last season and still almost made the playoffs. GM Jeff Bower then went out and signed Peterson to fill their hole at shooting guard, giving Chris Paul another weapon to go with Peja Stojakovic, Bobby Jackson, David West and Tyson Chandler. But can they stay healthy? 10. CLIPPERS: Which team are they? The feisty Cinderella who won 47 games two years ago, or the lackadaisical outfit that backslid to a 40-42 mark a year ago? Hard-working Elton Brand will give them a chance to return to the postseason, but their only significant addition has been No. 14 pick Al Thornton. 11. GRIZZLIES: They added one of the big catches in the free-agent market in power forward Darko Milicic. He should join with Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay and Mike Miller to get them back to respectability after a dismal 2006-07 campaign. But young point guards Mike Conley Jr. and Kyle Lowry will have to learn on the fly. 12. KINGS: Despite trade rumors involving Mike Bibby and Ron Artest, they have stood pat so far. GM Geoff Petrie did fill their need for more size by adding free-agent center Mikki Moore and 7-foot first-round pick Spencer Hawes, but coach Reggie Theus still faces a tough job in his first season. 13. BLAZERS: Top pick Greg Oden hasn't been their only significant addition. New GM Kevin Pritchard also stockpiled two other first-round picks in Rudy Fernandez and Petteri Kopenen, as well as veterans Blake, James Jones and Channing Frye (the last in a trade for Zach Randolph). 14. SONICS: Like their Pacific rivals, they too have gone into full rebuilding mode behind top rookies Kevin Durant (No. 2 overall) and Jeff Green (No. 5). New GM Sam Presti also traded for veterans Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Kurt Thomas to replace the departed Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis and help ease the kids' transition. 15. WOLVES: With the KG era officially over, they can get on with the rebuilding. Al Jefferson and Juwan Howard (acquired in a trade with the Rockets) take over at power forward, while top rookie Corey Brewer joins a whole bunch of young players who figure to need a lot of time to grow.
we barely lost to the Utah j*zz, they added nothing except a draft pick, we added like 8 better players and a coach. I'd think we would be ahead of them by now in peoples minds...
The mavs will be worse, they didn't get the calls in the playoffs like they did the regular season. Dirk shoots jumpers in the playoffs and doesn't post up nor go to the basket. Their guards are overrated baron davis detsroyed them by himself. They have no post up game which is vital for playoff basketball and they didn't make any changes to get better. The spurs aren't going to get a fix all the way to the finals again + they are not marketable and people aint buying that act anymore. The suns maybe dangerous but they still have no post up game for playoff basketball and their chemistry maybe a issue. The jazz aren't beating the rockets this season.
I doesn't make sense to me either. These people are blind. None of the four teams ranked above us has added any major parts, except for Suns who added Hill, while we have added 3 major players. The writer of the article doesn't even mention how adding 3 major parts is better than none...
Jazz get better simply because consistency is a good trait in itself. Their core is still getting better, their potential isn't realized yet (they are improving). They are Wester Conference finalists. Look at how much better they've been getting over the years. Rockets add an aging Francis whom a couple of teams didn't want. Scola who is a proven European power forward, but will be very green in the NBA. Brooks who needs to overcome height and the fact he is going to be a rookie. Wells and James had disappointing season last year. I love the moves the Rockets made. But they all involve things falling together the right way. Francis has to get reenergized. Scola must not be pushed around. Brooks must utilize his speed to take advantage of defenders. James must accept that healthy competition is good and not go into his lonesome cocoon. And Wells, must stop pounting because he missed out on a 5 year 35 million dollar contract in favor for a 2 year 5 million dollar deal. Right now, the Jazz have a lot of stuff going for them. The Rockets were winners this offseason. They should be concered with winning during the season. Holes which were prevelent with the Rockets have been plugged up. With that, a 5th ranking is very well, considering it is based soley on Yao, McGrady, and Battier. A conservative ranking in my opinion. Which has a high statistical possibility of getting better as the season rolls on and the new pieces integrate positively.
I really thinking rankings are stupid and rarely are they correct..if they want to hate on the rockets then let them do it...i know when the rockets have a 59-60 win season this year all those haters will be silenced (actaully i doubt it) but i want the Rockets to prove to everyone so bad how they are not a fluke and they will get it done this year...Dallas will fall off trust me on that..and jazz cant hang with us either...S.A is getting older i think we can hold them and phx..well they always choke come playoffs tiime
these rankings are obviously meaningless but we had a better record than utah last season and improved significantly more than they did in the offseason. we also (knock on wood) should get yao ming for a significant more amount of time in the coming year.
last year (without all of our upgrades) are in the west finals vs San Antonio if either Yao was 100% pre injury Yao or if either Head or Howard gave us anything off the bench.
Actually, the article makes perfect sense. The writer (Marty Burns), like all other sports writers, is afraid to rank the Spurs, Mavs, Suns or Jazz below the Rockets. It's a safe assessment on his part and he won't catch flak from the fans for those other teams. So, it makes perfect sense for him to write this. It's completely wrong and stupid, but it's quite clear why he's done so.
I have no real problem with the rankings. The teams should at least be in camp before we can see if they are going to gel and how good they will be. Utah is better than us until we prove other wise.
THen why have offseason rankings if no team can surpass any team until "proving" it? Just use the same rankings from the end of the past season, whatever they are. Pointless.
But you can also make the case that the Spurs, Mavs and Suns were heads and shoulders better than us last year. I don't have it in front of me... but didn't they kill us last year? They have better talent than us. And while we have better talent that the Jazz... they are a better team. I am happy with five as a preseason ranking.
I think Burns is too high on the Nuggets. I don't like the Chucky Atkins addition, and I guess I've never liked anything at all about the Denver system (sans Camby). I can't see them as a better squad than the Lakers, although Denver could have an inflated record because they are a poor matchup for teams without strong, powerful forwards. I don't see them doing much damage though. I also think he's sleeping on the Kings and Grizzlies. I see both as potential darkhorses, because of the addition of offensive minded forwards (Mikki Moore and Darko respectively). I don't have much beef with the Rockets ranking. Could be nice to be above Utah, since we played them so close and have made more improvements than they have made this offseason. Hopefully after this season, writers won't be afraid to ride the Rockets bandwagon. Clearly, Burns doesn't want to look stupid by defacing any of the big 3 (SA, Dallas, Phoenix), we'll have to prove that we have a new style of play and a deeper talent pool to draw from. Hopefully, we will prove we can hang with, and outplay the big boys.
who cares about standings based on one guy's perspective? need to stop treating these columnist's opinions as gospel. Rockets will be strong this year. No need to rank them. Let them show it on the court.
An "aging" Steve Francis? The guy is only 30 years old. Who cares about the Jazz, I'll take my chances with the Rockets.
I'm okay with these standings because, as wonderful as these moves have been, he's right to be cautious about giving us a spot over the Jazz until we can exhibit that skill. That first month will be rough too, but we'll be a 55+ win team and the Jazz will cower at our feet.
I wouldn't say that Phoenix has better talent then us, especially since they lost Kurt Thomas and we added Scola, Francis, James and Wells. We have a better frontline then Phoenix and are deeper. And the Rockets backcourt more then matches up with theirs.
all of u are so hard-headed. theres no way we are better than the jazz until we prove it. we added a league renown cancer in steve francis and we expect to win the title now? give me a break.
