I don't know how this is possible, but I think the West will be even stronger next year. With the Clippers getting BD and Portland getting back Oden and drafting Bayless, the West just added two more teams to the playoff hunt. 1. Lakers 2. Rockets 3. Suns 4. Blazers 5. Hornets 6. Jazz 7. Spurs 8. Mavs 9. Denver 10. Clippers All of these teams could win 50+ games. This is the pecking order I have for the West as of right now. To pick the teams that will actually make the playoffs out of these 10 is like trying to pin the tail on the donkey. I think that Denver and the Clippers will be the two teams left out in the cold. I also think there is 7 teams that could win the #1 seed as well, yes I said SEVEN. What is your pecking order?
I don't think the Lakers is the top WCF team next season (depending on what happened this summer). They will be in the top five but not the top spots. Anyway, it's still early to know as the deadline for FA signing is not over yet. Odom may leave, we could sign new FA and a lot activities are still going on.
We haven't made it past the 1st round in 10 years. The spurs might get magette and you think we are second in the west? Right now I can't put this team in the top 4.
i know you'll get plenty of folks saying you have the Rox ranked to high with the current lineup, but i agree with you completely. we have a very strong team.....just too many injuries to overcome. hope we can break that trend. i fear the spurs more than i do the lakers.
I think the Lakers are the clear #1. Adding Bynum is gonna be a huge addition. I'd give the Spurs the numbers 2 spot, they desperately needed offense and they'll get it with Maggette. After that I have no clue how the rest of the West shakes up. I think the Rockets with a healthy Yao could be a Top 4 seed.
These kind of evaluations should be made after the dust settles and we know who has what. Free agency has just started and there will probably be trades too.
It's a bit excitable to put the Blazers as 4th best team. Let's just assume all teams are injury free the whole season: 1. Spurs 2. Rockets 3. Lakers 4. Hornets 5. Mavs 6. Jazz 7. Suns 8. Blazers The Blazers will be big improvers no doubt - but they've got to win another 10-15 games to sneak into the top 4. If we're uninjured then no doubt we're #2 in the West. Of course it's crazy to say "Ming, McGrady and no-injury" in the same sentence... Lakers rode Ginoblis injury to win that series, so I still rank them after the Spurs (who I am assuming will end up with Maggette for the purposes of this analysis). Most likely I'm waaaaaay off the mark...
If we had Yao all of this season, we would've at least made the WCF. If we have Yao all of next season, we will make at least the WCF. We are close. I see next season going something like... 1) Spurs 2) Rockets 3) Lakers 4) Hornets 5) Suns 6) Jazz 7) Blazers 8) Mavericks
I agree with you. It is really early to make a prediction like I did. I think we have the talent and coaching to be at the top, but we will need to stay healthy and some luck. The Blazers are very very young but if they can keep everyone together and stay healthy, they have dynasty written all over them.
hold up a minuet............just hold up...........it's too damm early to talk about how teams in the west are going to stack it's to early. i'm so pumped up right about now can't the nba just start the season already!
Ive seen vegas odd for next season and they had us at about #6 to #8. I saw a prediciton somewhere forgot the site, it placed us at #5. Hard to say, I would say I am not going to worry too much about the regular season, next year. Just as long as the team makes the playoffs and stay (or be) healthy.
1. Lakers- they are getting bynum back, only reason they are still on top 2. Spurs- the 3 are going to be healthy, and determined this year 3. Suns- You will see some results with Shaq in that lineup this year. He still has some fuel. 4. Mavs- Jason Kidd will fit in with this team much better after an offseason of practice. 5. Hornets- they have the MVP Chris Paul 6. Utah- Great team, just not a superstar who can get them over the hump 7. Houston- Most Potential in the west, question is can we stay healthy. 8. Blazers 9. Denver 10. Clippers
Did you write the list that way so this thread can get 5 stars or something? Hey, you know I'd love to say that we're the 2nd best team in the WC. But the "2nd best team" getting beaten by "6th best team" in 6 games doesn't sound very logical does it?!
1. Lakers - defending champs and get Bynum although I don't think it's as huge of a boost as people think 2. Spurs - had lots of injuries last year which is rare for them 3. New Orleans - were young last year and just got a year older 4. Houston - Scola will be performing for a whole season which is worth a couple wins and we were here last year anyways 5. Phoenix - have an entire offseason to figure out how to use Shaq, Amare, and Nash together 6. Utah - home court advantage is big and Deron + Boozer is one of the top 1-2 punches 7. Blazers - Bayless will be a rookie PG so I don't expect much but getting a dominant defensive center is worth quite a few wins plus a very veyr young team is now one year older 8. Clippers - Won 40 two years ago with a healthy Brand and now get Baron 9. Mavs - Dirk hit his peak two years ago, Kidd is on the way down, Howard will be good but very little after that and no center in a conference that has plenty of dominant ones 10. Denver - AI, Melo sure can score but defense is lacking despite shot blocker Camby, plus Karl tends to wear out his welcome after a couple years and players turn on him 11. Golden State - They will get a big FA now that Baron is off the board and have a lot of great scorers already but just not enough The WC is going to be very top heavy due to all the great teams even though there aren't many awful teams. The medicore teams are just really bad in comparison to the other teams but in the EC would be playoff contenders.
Hey if JVG says we're top 2 in the west then we're top 2 in the west. No one is better at judging talent than JVG and no one knows more about the Rockets than JVG.
