The West is going to be a BLOODBATH this
year. There are so many good quality teams that will fight for a playoff position. There
are three ‘groups’ this year: 1-6 any of these teams could finish between these
seeds and just as easily make the NBA Finals. All 6 are elite and will stretch
any team this season. Then there are the 7-12 group any of these teams can make
the playoffs and just as easily get a great draft pick for next years star
studded rookies. Finally the 13-15 group the Tank for Wiggins group. These
teams are rebuilding still and not up to the competition in the West.
15. Phoenix Suns
The Suns cleared out their roster for a
full on tanking season this year. Allowing Scola and Dudley to leave for
Bledsoe, Caron Butler and Gerald Green. It will be interesting to see how
Bledsoe does in a starting role, he is a great athletic player and can spark an
offense. Other than that young players such as Alex Len
will be given plenty of time to prove themselves, which may annoy Goran Dragic.
But in the end there is only one thing the Suns can do this season:
#TankForWiggins.
14. Utah Jazz
The Jazz decided to let Jefferson AND
Millsap go to keep Kanter and Favors a clear indication they are looking toward
the future. Trey Burke is supposed to be a great rookie and should contend for
ROY but other than these 3 players they really don’t have much except for a few
washed up players like Biedrins and Jefferson. It will get ugly for the Jazz
this season they don’t have enough on their bench or their starting lineup.
#TankForWiggins
13. Sacramento Kings
The Kings have some nice players now. DeMarcus Cousins is a one of the best
Centers in the league, Jimmer Freddette plays well with limited minutes, Isaiah
Thomas has been great for them and Grevis Vasquez will be a good pickup and can
set up the offense. They managed to get Luc Mbah a Moute a great defensive
player and Carl Landry, this will add a lot of toughness to the team. Ben
McLemore however didn’t impress in summer league, maybe they should’ve chosen
McCollum but we will see. They have a good future if they keep their core and
an even better one if they can get number 1 draft pick next year.
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| These two will make a great duo for years to come if they stay together |
12. Portland Trailblazers
I would love to put them higher, however I
don’t know if they have enough experience or if LaMarcus Aldridge is going to
stay with them. They have a young core with Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard,
one of the best PFs Aldridge and they signed another great rookie CJ McCollum.
Wesley Matthews and Batum are also good role players. They have another future
star Thomas Robinson but for this season I don’t think they have enough
experience to really push for a playoff spot. They have enough young talent
though to improve over the next few years.
11. Dallas Mavericks
It just seems as if all of Dallas’ great
free agency plans never work out. Plan B was to sign Monta Ellis, Jose
Calderon, Dalembert, Devin Harris and Ellington. Shane Larkin is a good rookie that they got from the draft. They
made a lot of roster changes last season, which didn’t work, and I
don’t think it will work now. Dirk has declined ever since he won his title and
become a bit complacent. Monta doesn’t make teams better, he is a high volume
shot taker and its no surprise why Golden State chose Steph Curry over him.
They have overpaid Jose Calderon and to be honest the Mavs are going to
struggle this season.
10. New Orleans Pelicans
Pelicans have been busy this offseason.
They welcomed Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Anthony Morrow to the list. They
have a great starting 5 and now a great sixth man in Tyreke. They are a young
up and coming team that in 2-3 years may be a contender. They have the
defensive presence with Anthony Davis and the offense with Eric Gordon. Could
surprise a few team higher up this season.
9. Denver Nuggets
George Karl might’ve won Coach of the Year but he had to leave. He had been at Denver too long and wasn’t producing the results. Brian Shaw is an outstanding coach he worked under Phil Jackson and will impress this season. They have acquired JJ Hickson, Nate Robinson and Darrell Arthur while giving up Kosta Koufos and Iguodala to Free Agency. Iguodala is a big loss and Gallinari won’t be back for a while as he recovers from his ACL. This year in the West you need to be at your peak to compete so they will struggle to make the 7th seed but I think they will do it. They have great point guard in Ty Lawson and a monster rebounder in Faried. Chandler, JJ Hickson, Nate and JaVale McGee are all exciting players that have important roles.
8. Los Angeles Lakers
Everyone is counting out the Lakers just because
Dwight left. Dwight never meshed with the Lakers, Nash was not Nash last year.
Everyone was too focused on making Dwight happy that their own play declined.
Kobe will back for game 1, Nash is healthy and we can expect a lot more from
him. The Free Agency has been kind to them too. They signed great young players
who want to play for LA and took less money to do it! Nick Young, Jordan Farmar
and Wes Johnson are all athletic and can all contribute. They are deeper than
last year and Pau is now in his comfortable position as number 1 big on the
offense I expect him to have a big season. Lakers will be better than last year
and if they really click could even finish higher. I wouldn’t bet against the
mamba.
7. Minnesota Timberwolves
The Wolves have made great acquisitions in Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer however they lost Andre Kirilenko and Luke Ridnour. Their best player and the best PF in the game Kevin Love will come back, but he has a history of injuries. They need to sign Pekovic or there is really no chance at playoffs. He is clearly not happy and wants a bigger contract. A big part of their success depends on Ricky Rubio and will he be able to take a step forward especially with his shooting.
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| The Wolves need Kevin Love healthy! |
6. Memphis Grizzlies
If any team was going to come from 6th
seed and win a championship it would be these guys. They are the best defensive
team in the NBA. They have DPOY Marc Gasol and two defensive specialists
Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen in their starting 5. However they removed head
coach Lionel Hollins who did a fantastic job with this team and brought in
David Joerger a first time NBA coach. I am not convinced this what a good move
at all. What made me put them this low was not the coaching however, it was the
lack of offense from the starting 5. They rely too heavily on their bench to
bring scoring: Pondexter, Bayless, Koufos, Dooling, Ed Davis and new recruit
Mike Miller will be expected to contribute a lot of the offense. I don’t know
if they have enough to compete with the best offensive teams but if they land
Mo Williams their bench is definitely strong enough to compete. Mike Conley
needs to take another step forward as well if this team is to win. The offense
is questionable but defense wins championships. Will be interesting to see how
they fair.
The big players in the offseason apparently. Signing Dwight Howard to a max contract. But after that they just sat back and watched other teams chase free agents. They put all their focus on Dwight which is not the way to win a championship. Their bench is pretty solid though: Brooks, Beverly, Casspi, Camby and Asik can match it with most benches in the NBA, although Asik isn’t happy and they let Delfino go. James Harden is the 3rd best SG in the league behind Kobe and Paul George, he is a stud and makes any team better. However if Dwight had issues with Kobe (who averaged 6 assists per game) then he will have issues with Harden’s 5.8 a game too. Will Dwight even have that much of a positive effect for them? He is a player who seems to think the grass is always greener on the other side but when he gets there things never go to plan. He can’t be relied upon down the stretch of games and he has no post game. What surprises me the most about the Rockets are the media and fans saying they have a big 4. I’m sorry but Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin are important Role Players, not stars. These two especially Parsons have been so overrated coming into this season. I think they will lose first round of playoffs because the chemistry won’t be right and it won’t be a great super team like most people think it will.
4. OKC Thunder
Such a great duo in Westbrook and Durant is
wasted by most of the roster. Ibaka and Sefolosha are great defensively, other
than that they have very little. Kendrick Perkins should’ve been amnestied or
traded a long time ago, they went from Harden to Kevin Martin to no sixth man
and to make it worse Mike Miller chose Memphis because he thought they have a
better chance to win a title. The bench is non-existant: Reggie Jackson, Derek
Fisher, Jeremy Lamb, Steve Adams and Nick Collison is in no way a championship
caliber lineup. The downfall is quickly coming for OKC as I said in a previous
article, the General Manager is failing this team KD and RW can’t carry the
whole load without taking injuries. Im surprised a lot of people still have OKC
in their top 2, I was considering putting them as low as sixth and it could
very easily happen should either of their two stars be slightly off the mark.
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| These two will play a monumental task if they are to win the Championship |
3. San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs suffered such heartbreak last
season and it is really up in the air how they may respond to it. They were
literally a free throw away from a championship and to have it stolen at the 11th
hour is devastating. Their big 3 are only getting older and Ginobili looked
terrible in the Playoffs. A lot of the upcoming season relies on their health
and mental attitude. Can they put the past behind them; do they have enough in
the tank to make a championship push? Marco Bellinelli is a great signing he
was so good for the Bulls in the postseason. But they did lose DeJuan Blair and
Gary Neal and I just don’t see how the same roster can improve over last
season. They could easily drop to 6th in the West, having said that
they could win the Championship too. All depends on health and desire to win.
2. Golden State Warriors
Their starting five is arguably the best in
the league. They have the best shooter in the league Steph Curry, one of the
best defensive SF’s Andre Iguodala and the best all around center in Andrew
Bogut. Harrison Barnes will probably be their sixth man and will compete for 6th
man of the year. Mark Jackson does an incredible job and I wouldn’t be
surprised if they make the NBA finals this year however they need to get over their bad finishes to games. The only question now is whether
the new additions of Douglas and Speights can fill the void left by the departure of Landry and Jack.
1. Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers have one of the best rosters
in the league. They are strong at every position except Small Forward. Last
season they struggled with outside shooting and they have made up for it by
signing JJ Redick, Jared Dudley and Mullens as outside threats. The acquisition
of Doc Rivers as head coach will help them immensely and should see them with
the best record out West. I don’t think they can win the championship because I
the pairing of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan isn’t an elite one. However
their depth will make them a hard team to beat
Who will Earn First Seed in the West?
GRIZZLIES FTW!!!!!!! :D woo hoo!!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for not commenting earlier!! It's been quite hectic! but don't you worry! I'm back and I'm ready to comment and read and be your biggest #1 fan!! :D
-Vivian Darkbloom