What I'm most interested in is why people seem to think that picking up 35 year old David West is a good thing? He's terrible defensively and most of his offense is shooting long 2's...yet he can't hit 3's.
I really think the Pelicans are going to take a major step this year. Anthony Davis is good enough to get them a top 4 seed. As for the Rockets, who knows. Need D-Mo to continue his progress and hope Dwight can be healthy for a full season.
1. Golden State 2. San Antonio 3. Oklahoma City Thunder 4. Houston Rockets (assuming we bring everyone back) 5. Memphis Grizzlies 6. Los Angeles Clippers 7. New Orleans Pelicans 8. Utah Jazz
1. Golden State: core has been together 3-4 years now, the machine will keep humming 2. Houston Rockets: assuming full health, we are primed for sustained success 3. Oklahoma City Thunder: if they re-sign Kanter, OKC has an absolutely lethal offense 4. San Antonio: need to time gel + rest those old bones; will be force in playoffs 5. Los Angeles Clippers: depth is shoddy but Pierce+Stephenson is passable 6. Memphis Grizzlies: ZBo is old; like incremental offseason moves; no O 7. New Orleans Pelicans: FEAR THE BROW 8. Utah Jazz: Stifle Tower is about to make this team legit
I have Houston barely making the play-offs as of today it's early in the off season and right now we do not have Josh Smith signed. While it's safe to assume he will stay in Houston it's not official ask the Mavs about that. Our point guard position situation has not been addressed yet and Beverley is not he answer. Our biggest strength was our depth but other teams like the Clippers are closing the gap on that. Morey may need to cut his vacation short and start doing some PRODUCTIVE work.
Not making any drastic moves IS our biggest / best move this offseason. That has a big reason to do with why Golden State went from a team we dominated, to a team that dominated us. Or when the Blazers came out blazing 2-3 years back because they were a well-oiled machine where everyone knew their role. Or Grizzlies last year before injuries. Or the Pacers that one year. Or the Clippers. FINALLY, no more of this "Oh hi nice to meet you! I'm happy to play with you. Wow our first practice together. Hey I like to catch the ball here, where you would like to be when I no-look pass? Oh you're injured? Okay well in 2 months we can have our 3rd practice together. Hey and did you get a chance to meet our newest rotation guy? Well maybe you should shift this way, because coach tells me he likes to cut that way, but I haven't had a chance to actually practice or run this in a game with him. Anyways nice to meet you all" We got to the Western Conference Finals without our starting PF or PG. We earned 2nd seed without one of our superstars for half of the regular season, and we clinched the SW Division at its toughest historically. We did all this with no less than seventeen thousand different line-ups. Roster Consistency is our Michael Jordan genetically spliced with JJ Watt Holy Mother Touch Down of a Free Agent signing this off season. It's not exciting to Fantasy Basketball or to the GARM, but it is truly the biggest thing we could have done. Ranking I think is the same as how last year ended: King of the Hill in the West: Golden State Contenders who have a chance to dethrone the King: #1 Rockets, #2 Clippers, #3 Grizzlies, #4 Spurs Everyone else is a mess, especially the Thunder.
1.ROCKETS..... nuff said 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.PELICANS.... love "The Brow" Everyone else sucks!!!! #CubanCrying#TooFunny#Can'tStopLaughing ....... ....... .......]
I know everyone is loving the Spurs, but I'm not sold on them. Duncan is old. Ginobili is old. Parker is getting old. They had to sacrifice some of their depth in order to sign Aldridge. Offensively, LMA Duncan and David West are old very similar players. Who are they going to have play Center? I know everyone says Duncan, but that sounds like a good way to wear out/injure a 39 year old. They don't have a rim protector/shot blocker. Duncan, West and Aldridge are all ok or good rebounders, but none of them are great. Like any year there are major offseason acquisitions, we will have to wait and see how those players fit together. Even though lots of guys on ESPN are ready to crown them the new champions. Mike Wilbon and Jason Whitlock on PTI said 'I don't know how you will beat them' Picking the top order of the Western Conference is a crapshoot. A couple of games will probably be the difference between the #1 and #5 seeds. An injury to a key player or a crucial game or a missed call or anything can be the difference in some of the seeding.
That's without accounting for how much better some of our young guys may be. D-Mo, Jones, Capela, McDaniels, Johnson. I'm not sure if all of those guys will still be on our team, but at least one of them should take a big leap forward this season.
There's going to be a ton of shocked people when the Spurs are not near the top of the standings at the end of the season. They have almost no bench defense whatsoever, they are going to be terrible in transition, they are fully reliant on very old players, and some of those old guys will be rested fairly often. When it comes to the end of the season standings, they will be aiming for somewhere in the middle.
I've seen a lot of people say things like this, what makes you think the Clippers would be ahead of the Rockets?
Realistically, we are 5th-6th, tied with Memphis. Clippers got better. Memphis got better as well. Spurs, Warriors, Thunder, and Clippers are better than us. With the roster as it stands, We are unlikely to win a 7 game series against those 4. Spurs, Warriors, and Clippers are well rounded team (Clippers filled a massive hole at the 3 spot). Thunder mostly because of the Durant-WB-Ibaka combo when healthy. Just keepin' it real!
Slotting teams never made much sense to me because the actual order depends so much on little idiosyncratic things. I like thinking of teams in tiers instead: Tier 1: Warriors, Spurs Tier 2: Clippers, Rockets, Thunder Tier 3: Grizzlies, Pelicans, Suns
