Western Conference Rankings

1. Lost Angeles Lakers- While I’m skeptical of the Ron Artest signing, I don’t think anybody can match their front-court depth with Odom, Bynum, and Gasol. Having arguably the best player in the NBA doesn’t’ hurt either. The Lakers are the best team in the West.
2. San Antonio Spurs- The Spurs are the only legitimate challenge to the Lakers. While Denver, Utah, New Orleans and the Hornets all have good teams, all of them lack the talent and experience of the Spurs and Lakers. One of the best things about the Spurs is they seem to make the perfect moves in the off-season. Adding Dejaun Blair and Richard Jefferson for peanuts was amazing. Additionally, Richard Jefferson is an all-star level talent, but has the ego of a role-player. The main concern for the Spurs is injury, given the age of its players, their competition in international play in the off-season, and the teams lengthy playoffs runs.
3.Denver Nuggets- While the Spurs and Lakers improved their team, the Nuggets made no major additions. They’ll benefit from another year with Billups running the show and Carmello Anthony continuing to develop, but this team isn’t in the same echelon as the Lakers and Spurs.
4. Utah Jazz- Boozers back and they wish he was gone. The Jazz had a great amount of talent, but they’ve never shown an ability to get that talent to fully manifest into a championship team.
5. Portland Trailblazers- While Steve Blake did a good job in Portland and Andre Miller is a clear upgrade, the problem in Portland is the coaching staff. Nate McMillan makes this team play slower than it’s comfortable. Andre Miller, like Steve Blake, will struggle with wanting to push the ball more than McMillan is comfortable doing. The Trailblazers will continue to improve, they have too much young talent not to. However, they’re still not in the same league as LA or San Antonio, and they don’t have the talent of either the Nuggets or Jazz. I don’t expect Greg Oden to progress that much. He was dominated in Team USA tryouts by both Javale McGee and Brook Lopez.
6. New Orleans Hornets- Okafur is a better player than Tyson Chandler. However, the Hornets still are suffering from the inexcusable contract they gave Stokakovic. When it expires after the 2011 season, they’ll be able to make some moves. Until then, they’re stuck in a holding pattern. The problem is they’re not holding at a great level.
7. Oklahoma City Thunder- The first pick that probably raises some eyebrows. This is a really good team. Westbrook-Harden-Durant-Green is an extremely talent young line-up. Kevin Durant is emerging a great team leader. They have a great GM who is shaping the team to be a juggernaut, not just a contender.
8 Dallas Mavericks- I don’t understand the Maverick’s off-season. They had an aging team which wasn’t a serious threat to win the NBA championship. They added Shawn Marion, a guy whose numbers have nosedived since he was taken out of the Phoenix Sun’s system. The truth about Marion is that he was great as a PF. He could take advantage of his speed and shooting against clumsier natural PFs. However, when he’s played SF, he’s struggled. The problem is that Dallas already has Dirk Nowitzki, who does everything Shawn Marion does better. Marion will instead play the SF position, where his numbers will be abysmal and his locker room presence will be cancerous. Whoever picked them as Western Champions at ESPN should be shot.
9. Phoenix Suns- Steve Kerr took two seasons to finish destroying the team. The Shaq trade and Terry Porter hire were disasters. Robert Sarver has helped by selling away picks rather than developing any talent. The Phoenix Suns are a tragic story in the NBA. The final act will happen next season, when Amare leaves them, and they fall further into the lottery.
10. Houston Rockets- While the Suns’ wounds are self-inflict, the Rockets have suffered from pure back luck. With Yao out for the whole year, the Rockets lack a viable option to play against the larger front-line teams. I think the skill of the Rocket’s coaching staff combined with the defense intensity of its players will make them a far better team than people are anticipating. With McGrady’s 23 million coming off the books next year, the Rockets are posed to make a quick turnaround with a few solid additions in the off-season.
11. Los Angeles Clippers- While I think the world of Blake Griffin, it should be remember that Lebron James couldn’t get his team into the playoffs during the first season. While Baron Davis has expressed regret for his inability to gel with the current coaching staff, Davis has never been able to stay on any coach‘s good side and their coaching staff alienates players with better temperaments. Eric Gordon will develop and I believe the Clippers will have a great insight-outside punch for the future. However, this team is a combination of two types of players: players whose egos are bigger than their talent amd players whose potential is bigger than the current abilities.
12. Sacramento Kings- Geoff Petrie is a great GM and the slow rebuilding process begins in earnest in Sacramento. While I think Tyreke Evans will develop into a top caliber player, I’m unsure if he’ll ever be a pure PG. Spencer Hawes remains overrated, and not a viable answer at center. I think next year this team will be in the playoff hunt. This season, however, I think they’ll still be terrible.
13. Golden State Warriors- Every year I want to see more Nellie ball, the problem is that Don Nelson’s management style is so self-destructive that his basketball philosophy is punished as a result. While Jamaal Crawford wasn’t a top tier player, he’s better than what they got in return for him. The team is loaded with petite guards. 6’3’’ Acie Law, 5’11 Speedy Claxton, 6’3’’ Monta Ellis, and 6’3 Stephen Curry. The team is also still punished by oversized contracts to Corey Magette and Stephen Jackson so I wouldn‘t expect much change this season. On the plus side, Anthony Morrow and Anthony Randolph are both developing into solid players. If this team can get some salary cap relief, I think they could form the nucleus of a solid team. However, given how devalued its talent is and how odorous the contracts it has on its book, I find it highly unlikely they’ll be any progress in the foreseeable future.
14. Minnesota Timberwolves- While I actually really like their coaching staff, I just think the talent is not there. The front court has a glut of over skilled, but undersized Pfs- Love, Songalia, Gomes. Al Jefferson also would fit better at the PF slot than guarding other Centers, which will be even more apparent as he returns from injury. The addition of Ramon Session is nice, but given how electrifying Johnny Flynn played during the preseason, I don’t really understand the move. The team doesn’t need to win now, why invest the money in Session when Flynn (or Rubio) is your long-term answer at PG? Losing Mike Miller and Randy Foye for a band of misfits from the Wizards and a wasted 5th round pick (at least for this year) is idiomatic of the Timberwolves this whole off-season.
15. Memphis Grizzlies- If you’re wondering why Allen Iverson is hesitant to sign here despite a lack of other offers, the overall talent of this team, combine with the vast inferiority of its management is most likely the reason. Even with Iverson, I’m not sure I move them up.