In all honesty, after watching the Lakers get embarassed in the WCF.... 1. Rockets 2. Hornets 3. Spurs 4. Lakers 5. Blazers 6. Suns 7. Mavericks 8. Nuggets I'm not convinced that Bynum is the answer to their problem. Kobe is Kobe, and he's still the best player on any given court should he be on a court. Gasol is soft, and was exposed...big time. He's a great offensive player, but no. Bynum...hasn't played in a year. And so far, hasn't really proven anything. Bynum/Gasol/Kobe vs T-Mac/Yao/Artest? Sorry. Not close.
1. Rockets 2. Lakers 3. Hornets 4. Spurs 5. Jazz 6. Suns 7. Blazers 8. Mavericks I think 1,2 and 3 could go in any order. All 3 will probably win 60+. I think we have definetely taken a step ahead of LA because of our defensive prowess and toughness, and they dont have a PG to kill us like the jazz or Hornets. We're looking at a team that 55-27and won 22 in a row last year. You just basically added Yao Ming, Ron Artest and Brent barry and gave up nothing. And you still have the entire MLE and Shane Batteier and Rafer to trade to address the PG issue. We're in amazing shape.
As I believe, the Lakers, Hornets and Rockets are the teams in the west now. And when you look at it, the Lakers will add Bynum to their team, the Hornets have added Posey and the Rockets have added Artest. We've seen nothing with Artest in a Rockets uniform, without Bynum, the Lakers made the finals. Therefore, the Lakers should be the favourites in the west, the Artest deal moves the Rockets ahead of San Antonio but because the Lakers are adding a starting center who will bring an inside presence that isn't soft, it means they have improved just as much as the Rockets but they have proven themselves while the Rockets are what they normally are, good on paper. Therefore, I see it like this. 1. Lakers - Made the finals and will be adding a potentially all star center in Bynum. 2. Hornets - They have added depth with Posey, something they needed to contend with the other teams. If they had Posey last year, they make it past San Antonio. 3. Rockets - Artest and health is what is needed, I would suggest not playing Tmac and Yao in every game, if they miss games because Adelman chooses to is alot better then missing games because of injury. 4. Jazz - Will only get the 4th seed because of the stupid division rule, won't have home court advantage. They haven't done anything special this offseason except sign Deron Williams to an extention. 5. Spurs - A year older, will still be around and will be a pest to whoever they face in the first round, once they get to the second round, their time is up. Age caught up with them last year and being another year older is going to be too much for them. 6. Phoenix - They blew their team up and unless everything gels with the new coach and players. See them as a first round exit again, Shaq is going to have to turn upto training camp in top condition and I think there's more chance of hell freezing over then that. Amare should carry them but with no major changes happening, they will struggle in the playoffs because of defense. 7. Mavericks - They will scrape into the playoffs, they haven't improved and only look to be on the decline. Dirk is there only decent player, Kidd is too old and Josh Howard has lost whatever it is he had a couple years ago. 8. Blazers - Portland will get the 8th best record in the west. The other challengers in Denver and Golden State have blown up their teams. Denver have become this summers Phoenix Suns, trading away an important player for nothing like the Suns did with Kurt Thomas last summer. Until we see Artest on the court with Tmac and Yao, it is hard to judge how good they can be. But the Lakers have proven themselves without a true center and this is why I see them as the top team in the west. The regular season might change that but going into preseason, I find it hard to not put the Lakers as the favourites to return to the finals.
i'll do my rankings in april. too much is riding on yao/tracy/artest's health. we have to be one of the top 3 at least on paper. but with one of the big 3 out for significant time, or god forbid, the playoffs. it's useless.
Noway Lakers is #1. Rockets should have beaten them even without Yao. They are overated. Last season Rockets should be #1 in the west if Yao had been healthy full season. Now add Ron, Rockets should win 65+.
Rockets will play offense game with Jazz. Adding Ron, Rockets will simply outscore Jazz. For last few seasons, Rockets can't handle Jazz's two big men who can score from inside and outside. Rockets inside defense was ruined and couldn't score Jazz. Not anymore.
I think the top 5 teams in the conference are the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Hornets, and Jazz. They will get 5 of the top 6 seeds. I can see a game or two separating the top 5 teams again, so who knows how exactly it'll shake out. The Lakers will win the Pacific division. They get Bynum back, and I just don't see anyone else in their division stepping up. Phoenix and Golden State might make the playoffs, but only as a low seed. The Lakers will likely contend for the best record in the West again, and I can see them falling anywhere from 1 - 4 in the seedings. The Jazz will likely win the Northwest division and get a top 4 seed. I think Portland could be crazy good this year, but I think they're still 1 year away from challenging for a top record in the Western Conference and a Pacific Division title. The Nuggets are a joke. The Jazz always seem to plug along and get a ton of victories. Is that enough for home court in the first round? Is it enough for a top 3 seed? I don't think so, but I think it's foolish to think they can't rise that high. They were only 3 games out of the #1 spot last year, and only 1 game back from us from taking home court (the same as 2007). The Southwest division will be a 3-way dogfight. Obviously the Artest trade makes us really good, and we still have the MLE, and trade bait. We could still get a lot better. Health is a huge question for the Rockets. The Hornets are only a year older. West and Paul will be as good if not better. I think everyone who counts the Spurs out is insane. Duncan might be getting older, but he doesn't rely on his quickness for his game. He'll be a beast again, and Parker is still pretty young. Manu wasn't healthy for the playoffs and the end of the season last year, and they still made it to the WCF. 2 of these teams wind up in the top 4, and the other will be the 5 seed. I liked the game-to-grame grind it out mentality of the Rockets last year. Obviously we won the 22 in a row, and I feel good about our ability to wear teams down and rack up regular season victories next year. I'm going to say Rockets win the Southwest, and the Spurs barely edge out the Hornets. Assuming the Lakers, Jazz, Rockets, Spurs, and Hornets get the top 5 spots, who gets the last 3 spots? It's down to the Mavs, Suns, Warriors, Blazers, and Nuggets. I think the Nuggets are definitely out. They gave away Camby, and their defense was already atrocious. I see them fading hard early, Karl getting fired, AI pouting, and at least one of theirs stars gets traded. I think the Blazers are in. They are going to be a good team and possibly a great team. The Mavs will probably get in as well. They might not go far in the playoffs, but they'll play hard enough under Carlisle to win a lot of regular season games. That's down to the Warriors and Suns for the last spot left. I want to say the Suns here. The Warriors lost Davis, and I just don't think they'll have that swagger anymore. Captain Jack needs to be the third man on the totem pole, and without Richardson and Davis, I can't see him leading that team to the playoffs. However, I could see things unraveling for Phoenix. If Shaq breaks down or even worse if Nash get hurt, that team will fizzle. I think they're already going to have an identity crisis with Porter as coach and Kerr's meddling, Shaq will be a handful for a young rookie coach, and Stoudemire will have his pouting fits. I'll say the Suns eek in, but I would not be surprised at all to see them in the lottery. I'll go with the following seeding: 1) Rockets 2) Lakers 3) Spurs 4) Jazz 5) Hornets (home court over Jazz) 6) Blazers 7) Mavs 8) Suns
I don't really care what seed we get, but playing Jazz sometimes in the playoffs will be sweet sweet revenge.
I was at a Kings' game last year, anybody who watched it up close and personal would know Artest is a strong, solid guy with speed who is not afraid to hustle. During one play he dived for the ball, stepped out of the bound, fell onto my lap, almost crushed my camera, yet he bounced up in a blink. He's the final piece of Houston.
Yah i am really excited when i heard the news that Ron Artest is heading to Houston. However, i am still not convinced that Artest will lead us to a first place finish in the WC. The following is my predictions for the upcoming season. 1 - Lakers 2 - Hornets 3 - Rockets 4 - Spurs 5 - Jazz 6 - Suns 7 - TrailBlazers 8 - Mavs If we play the suns in the first round, i have nothing to fear about. Shaq is not as good as he once was. Yao will have no problem owning the big cactus. Battier will be given the assignment to mark Nash. While Artest can share time with Hayes and Scola to guard Stoudemire.
Off all the teams you mentioned, I expect Hornets & Spurs put up some fight, the rest can roll along but no legitimate threat
Top 3 teams: Houston, New Orleans, LA Lakers. IMO, they are interchangeable at 1-3. 4. Utah 5. San Antonio 6. Phoenix 7. Portland 8. Dallas
Western Conference 1) Houston Rockets 2) LA Lakers 3) New Orleans Hornets 4) Utah Jazz 5) San Antonio Spurs 6) Phoenix Suns 7) Dallas Mavericks 8) Portland Trail Blazers
