The Wild-Wild West: a focus on Houston, Dallas, Denver and Seattle

Seattle will be out of it after this season (they have too many FAs). Minny needs to start over. Denver will be the power in that division.

 

With some work, we'll be challenging for the division title (and top 3 seeds) in the near future. McGrady is already a top 5 player in the league, and Duncan is approaching that magic number (30). As good as the Spurs are, they aren't contenders w/o him, and he's got an injury history that suggests he may not have Malone-like longevity.
Dallas is bursting at the seams with talent, but their roster is constantly fluid and have yet to establish themselves as championship-caliber.
I don't fear the Nuggets, good and scrappy as they are, since they don't have an elite player (no, Carmelo is not an elite player - at least not yet).

Keep the faith. If Yao develops consistency (I'm not talking about developing his holy grail of aggressiveness and competitiveness), we'll be nasty.

Evan

 

I don't agree with this assessment at all. There is absolutely no reason that we shouldn't contend for the top seed in the Western Conference in the very near future if Rockets management puts the right players around McGrady and Yao. Seattle will likely fall apart in the offseason. Denver is deep but they have very little star power. Phoenix is depending on an aging Steve Nash. Dallas has a great team too, but who knows if they'll even keep that team together. The Mavs are constantly making drastic alterations. Further, I don't think they're head and shoulders above is right now. That series wasn't unwinnable, and I expect we'll be a better team next season that will be more athletic and better able to counter what they put on the floor. The Spurs are great, but if you'd have told me before the season that the Phoenix Suns would have the best record in the West, I'd have directed you to the nearest head shrink. If Phoenix can do it, why not us? We even make more sense. I really think we're just a few of the right players away from being the best team in the league.

 

There's no way you can say what will happen in the "next few years." At the end of LAST season, the Lakers had Shaq and Kobe, we had Stevie and Cat, and the Suns had nada. A lot can happen, even in the course of a year.

The good news is that it's hard to imagine the Rockets going backwards. Their nucleus is strong and should get stronger.

 

Yeah, I'd take TMac + Yao over KMart + Carmello any day of the week.

 

Amen.

 

After the Rockets' 6-11 start, they finished the regular season with a 45-20 record. If you take that winning percentage and prorate it over the entire year, it equates to 56-57 wins. The problem is that won't guarantee a top 4 seed next season if Phoenix, San Antonio, and Dallas all hold serve.

This team will have to shoot for 58-60 wins if the goal is homecourt in the first round. Certainly doable if they play better at home and don't get off to a slow start.

 

The only thing we know is we will "butt heads" with several teams for a top 4 seed every year. We don't know who yet. It's possible the Golden State Warriors will be a contender next year or the year after. To slot us below the Spurs, on par with some teams, and above others and say:

is crazy. Nobody saw the Lakers and Timberwolves crashing to the ground and nobody saw the Suns and Sonics rise from the ashes. Nostradamus died a long time ago.

Now to your opinion: I disagree. Besides the Spurs, no other team in the West has as promising a nucleus "for the next few years" as we do. Denver has serious leadership problems (from a player standpoint) and tell me this: Just who is their best player "for the next few years?" I wouldn't trade Yao or T-Mac for 'Melo or K-Mart. If the Sonics keep both Ray Allen and Nate McMillan, their upside is limited to a couple of years because Ray Allen is getting old. I do like them very much in the short term. With their smalls and their bench, they are one decent big man from being a major title contender. I think Dallas may have problems keeping all their players happy. We also have to see how Dirk improves. I was very surprised how he wilted against T-Mac. I actually thought of them as equally talented before the playoffs started. [Go ahead and kick me, but I was impressed by Dirk's regular season]. Clearly the Dampier contract was a huge mistake and he's almost untradeable. I still can't believe they gave him $73 million/7 yrs. The guy is 30 years old!

The Rox are as poised as anyone to take another step, and predicting our western conference playoff seeding 2 years or more in advance is a futile exercise.

 

I don't agree. I don't have a propensity to be impatient and I think you have us progressing too slowly. The strives we made this year ... in only one year ... along with a lot of free agents who will want to come here .... have me very optimistic.

With a good off-season, we should realisitically be contending for top seed this coming season, although 4th seems more reasonable (i.e SA). The following season we 'should' be 1, but I would hold out the possibility that another top team could potentially make some good moves and bump us to 2.


4th for a few years .... way way too pessimistic.

 

It's a reason why the spurs are always contending for title, their GM stays competitive. If a team in the West makes a trade that puts that team in title contending status, the spurs are going to make a trade to counteract what they just did.