West 1. San Antonio 60-22 2 LA Lakers 59-23 3. Sacramento 57-25 4. Dallas 56-26 5. Minnnesota 53-29 6. Houston 49-33 7 Pheonix 47-35 8. Portland 45-39
I think Seattle may slip in there, and Phoenix may not be as good as last year... unless Amare continues to improve (teams will learn how to defend him if his skills are the same as last year). Otherwise, not bad predictions... the two teams that could shake this up big time... Minnesota and Houston. Minnesota could be the best team in the West if they put it all together...
agreed! nice post! but i can see seattle and portland battling for the 8th seed or phoenix battling with portland and seattle for seeding place coz lets face it, the roster moves phoenix may this offseason made them worse. plus, when im watchin the preseason of the lakers, i saw some chemistry with the new comers payton and malone to the rest of the team. so, ill give them half way through the season before they really know and feel each other. so, before the playoff i can see the lakers on top but i still do agree san antonio finishing 1st too.. so, this would be an interesting season especially for our beloved rockets coz at last, playoffs is here once again!
Dallas Sacramento San Antonio Lakers Minnnesota Houston Phoenix Portland I expect something big to happen to the rox during the season.
Lakers Timberwolves Spurs Mavs Kings Any of these teams can win 60 games and win a championship, the west has never been this dee or this good, but for right now these are my rankings Rockets Suns These two teams would make a push for the finals if the were on the East coast they still both have a shot at 50 wins Nugetts TrailBlazers Sonics Carmelo wins ROY and they might have enough to squeeze into the playoffs
1. San Antonio 2. Dallas 3. Los Aneles Lakers 4. Minesota 5. Phoenix 6. Kings 7. Houston 8 Portland or Seattle Rocks will have a little rough ride, but I think they'll be okey!!
I think Memphis will surprise alot of people this year. Spurs Kings Lakers Mavs Twolves Suns Blazers Grizz Unfortunately, my hopes for a playoff season for the Rox are dwindling.
Predictions for the West- (at least the Rockets) Van Gundy and Francis become tight. Yao and Steve play video games to decide who is the "one" Cato becomes a fan favorite. Patrick Ewing is arrested at a "club" Nachbar has a breakout game and gets to go on Sports Sunday Cynthia Cooper dates Cuttino The Rockets fall from the 7th seed to the 8th seed after losing 3 of their last 4 games do to Yao's getting fatigued, Eddie getting arrested and Steve's sitting out a one game suspension for a locker room fight. Just Kidding, Hpe we make the playoffs, I predict 8th seed
I'm suprised people are putting the Blazers that low, while they won't be one of the top 4 teams, they also won't be the 8th seed. They've got a veteran squad, and this should be a breakout year for Randolph who will be starting up front w/ Rwall. Wells should also finally have the season hes capable of, I'd like to say the same for Wallace but he probably will not, most likely he will put up 18 and 8 again. Though he did look in midseason form in his preason game but that was of course against our defense, so I'll won't put too much stock in that. Stoudamire should not be the starting pg anymore, McInnis would do a better job than him distributing and playing solid defense. There will probably be some sort of trade made because they can't have Anderson coming off the bench, hes too good for that and Woods needs some to time to develop and blossom. As for the Rockets right now I think they'd be lucky to squeeze into the 8th seed. But I do believe that something in them will snap during the season, and that they will play like they are capable of, so I see us possibly ending up 5th or 6th.
Somehow I have a feeling this is what will happen too. I REALLY wish what's happening in the preseason is merely JVG testing lineups and plays. And hopefully when Adrian and Piatkowski start playing, they'll make a big difference from what's going on now.
Apparently those of you who DO NOT THINK THE LAKERS ARE GOING TO WIN IT ALL believe that Kobe is going to prison and Malone, Payton, and Shaq will all go down with season-ending injuries. Otherwise, the L.A. "All-Star" team wins going away. The Rockets? Way too early to tell.
1. Spurs 2. Kings 3. Lakers 4. Twolves 5. Mavs 6. Blazers 7. Sonics 8. Rockets (homer advantage) 9. Suns
1. Spurs (Still have Duncan) 2. Mavericks (Still have the big 3) 3. T-wolves (Garnett finally has some help) 4. Lakers (Still have Shaq, Kobe, hopefully they'll have their problems) 5. Kings (C-Webb is out until Dec.) 6. Portland (They always seem to be good) 7. Rockets (Steve and Yao lead this team to be GREAT) 8. Suns (Depends on Stoudamire)
Portland is just worse than last year, no other way to put it. They're just not as good a team. They subtracted KEY talent and added NOTHING. Sabonis, Pippen, and Daniels all gone. Patterson, Stoudamire, and Wallace still there. (Chemistry problems) How could they POSSIBLY improve with the same coach but less talented team? Portland will definitely not be in the top 5, but they will challenge us and the Suns for 6th spot. Here's their team: Davis/Boumtje Boumtje Wallace/Randolph Anderson/Patterson/Woods Wells/Anderson Stoudamire/McInnis The only advantage they have over us is at PF, and maybe SF (depending on how effective JJ will be). We have a MAJOR advantage at C, probably tied at SG, advantage at PG, and an equal bench. They're pretty much at our talent level, but they have offcourt issues and we don't.
