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This April Denver Nuggets becomes first NBA team ever which miss two back-to-back playoffs by just one single win shy. On stars stacked West it is obvious that team destiny also depending on opponents. So this thread is about how other teams from our Conference prepared for the upcoming 2018-19 season.

Despite off-season not even started officially, here is my first estimations and thoughts:

65-17 / Houston: Will most probably stay on at least same high level as in previous season. Seems untouchable for Nuggets next season.
58-24 / Golden State: Current Warriors team are maybe best team ever. Untouchable for Nuggets next season.

49-33 / Portland: Seems that this Portland team peaked last season finishing 3rd on West. Tough opponent, but without new room for improvement, I hope Denver will be better ranked.
48-34 / Oklahoma: Can't see George will stay or with bad salary cap space they are going to sign some big FA name. Denver should be better next season.
48-34 / Utah: Amazing and unexpected good 2nd half of last season. With new Mitchell improvement and Gobert good health, they will be one of our biggest opponents next season.
48-34 / New Orleans: Not clear what is going to be with Cousins, but Davis rise into real NBA superstar, Holiday improved, Mirotic is a good upgrade, Rondo revives, so they will stay another tough opponent.
47-35 / San Antonio: Even if Kawhi leaves, they will trade him for something, so SAS should be better than last season, and be our another tough opponent. With Kawhi stays, probably 3rd best on the West.
47-35 / Minnesota: Great starting lineup, without injuries problems probably would finished #3 last season. Another very tough opponent from last season which will stay good this season.

46-36 / Denver: Jokic and Murray should improve once again (even Harris), and Millsap which was never before injury prone (that injury was really bad luck) should play the whole season, so our W/L record should improve again!

42-40 / L.A. Clippers: It is big mystery are they trying to create new super-team for this or for 2019-20 season. But we must see first that they will bring some SF superstar this summer (Lebron, Kawhi or George). Most probably will be still under reconstruction next season.
35-47 / L.A. Lakers: Very similar case with Clippers, but with better odds to get LeBron or/and Kawhi and create superteam. Maybe tough opponent, maybe still under reconstruction.

27-55 / Sacramento: Rebuilding team, better than last season, possible tanking.
24-58 / Dallas: Rebuilding team, better than last season, possible tanking.
22-60 / Memphis: With Conley healthy and improvement of rookie J.Jackson, they can look like PO level team, but not this season when competition on West is so tough.
21-61 / Phoenix: Rebuilding team, better than last season, possible tanking. But with just one big FA sign or trade, they can try PO place already this season.

CONCLUSION: We should finally reach playoff next season, and even have some real chances to fight for home-court advantage (#3 or #4 spot in the regular season)! But if Spurs handle well Kawhi crisis, and superteam will be created this summer in L.A., our goal should be #5 and #6 regular season place.

It would be tough to reach #3 or #4 seeds in WCF.. I believe in our guy but i think 5, 6 and 7 are our spots. Sure our guys will fight for better position going postseason. IMO major battle for those positions will be between Wolves, Pelicans, San Antonio and Jazz just like last season. I think Portland will decrease a little bit, that playoff loss is just.. devastating.

I'm going to ignore Houston and Golden State - they're out of our reach.

Portland, Oklahoma - I agree with Joker - I don't see them improving much and Denver can catch them if we add some defense and make Jokic a 32% usage guy (at least).

San Antonio is hard to beat as long as they have Pop at the helm. Sure, they have some good players but it's the system that seems to make the difference.

Utah isn't going to improve much, or so it seems. Mitchell's improvement will help them, but he needs help. Again, a team that Denver can realistically expect to catch.

New Orleans might improve a little, but they are still within reach for Denver.

Minnesota had some rough breaks last year but they always seem to under-perform compared to everyone's expectations. I still believe Denver can overcome them.

Without a doubt, Denver should be able to out-perform LAC & LAL & Sacramento & Dallas & Memphis & Phoenix.

Denver's problem last year wasn't Portland or Oklahoma or San Antonio or Utah or New Orleans or Minnesota. Denver's problem last year is they were not prepared to win the games they were expected to win. They were unable to close out games where they had a lead, even a significant lead. Denver's problem last year was Denver. As everyone ravs about Golden States' 3rd quarters, Denver's 3rd quarters tended to be less than acceptable.

I'll agree with Joker that we could reach even 3 or 4 but that's only if Malone will let Jokic run the offense and he finds an assistant coach that can teach defense (or let's one of his current assistants teach defense). He exhibits all the symptoms of a total control freak and while the players appear to like him, he seems unable to motivate them to excel. My expectation is Denver will lose games they should win and they will have hot streaks and cold streaks and will struggle to make the playoffs. Of course all of that is assuming the front office makes no more changes (at least not major ones).

Going to be tougher to secure a playoff spot imo. Dallas, Lakers, Memphis will all likely be better and I don't see any current playoff team falling off a cliff. There will be 13 teams competing for the playoffs, Sacramento and Phoenix are the only teams I see still locked in the lottery, but even they will likely continue to show improvement. Denver making the playoffs will not be easy, it's on Malone to come prepared and understand how to take advantage of the roster he has. Imo, he alone is the reason Denver has missed the playoffs two consecutive years.

When regular season was over, we realize "Yes, we are out of the playoff again, but also we are just 3 wins away from 3rd spot". And all that we achieved without Millsap playing half of the season, and with all Malone tactical mistakes in big parts of the season especially in the way how he used Jokic.

But we don't need to be now arrogant and think that 2019 playoff is already granted to us. Remember, stars quality disbalance West-East is on historic high, and latest draft where all TOP4 picks finished at the West, with good chances of LeBron coming to West this summer will not be helpful at all. And also, don't forget that except Nuggets, many other Western teams from famous 2017-18 playoff tied race should have better regular season record:
- For San Antonio best player Kawhi Leonard played just about 10 games
- For New Orleans, big star DeMarcus Cousins finished the season before the all-star break
- If no Gobert injury and prolonged Mitchell breakthrough, Utah would not be so bad in first half of the season
- Clippers are the most damaged team by injuries (Griffin, Gallinari, Beverley, Teodosic)
- Minnesota, Oklahoma, even Portland, have also some injury problems, especially at the last part of the season

With improved Murray, with no more wasting Jokic skills by wrong use, with healthy Millsap, we will be able to attack #4 spot (home court advantage in playoff) even if FO does not fix properly our SF and backup-G problem. #5 and #6 are more realistic goals, but let's not forget that TOP8 is not guaranteed. 46-36 is a respectable W-L record, but was not enough last season, and in upcoming that edge may be even higher.

It's another season where you can't take the post season for granted.
The Lakers, Memphis, and Mavericks are teams I worry will shoot up from below, and even though OKC and San Antonio are projected to lose players they can still win 40 games easily... we might be looking at a 50 win 8th seed.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: Both teams from Los Angeles acquiring a superstar this summer.

Also, despite seems they will go for another tank-job season, theoretically Phoenix can be also playoff level team overnight if they add a big star using big salary cap hole.

THE J0KER wrote:WORST CASE SCENARIO: Both teams from Los Angeles acquiring a superstar this summer.

Also, despite seems they will go for another tank-job season, theoretically Phoenix can be also playoff level team overnight if they add a big star using big salary cap hole.

They are interesting indeed. They have cap-space but they also have a lot of young players and at least one at every position. Acquiring a superstar might help this year but in the long run, it might slow things down. I like how they've been doing their rebuild. PG with Payton might be the best spot to add a superstar.

Know probably not what everyone wants to hear, but I see this team being built for the 2022-2023 season. Everyone will be 27yo or younger, prime time, established chemistry and some playoff experience

This thread will start to be very busy in the next 24 hours when free-agency officially starts. Here is a little teaser about what to watch on the West in upcoming days:

- LeBron James The Decision. Odds that he will go to the West (LA especially) seems bigger than ever
- Kawhi Leonard saga. It would be better for us if he goes to East (PHI? BOS?), but both LA teams are very interested in him
- Paul George new team. It is well known he wants to play in LA hometown, but also he willing to play together with LeBron
- Will DeMarcus Cousins stay on West
- Phoenix mystery. With great assets and big cap space, they can add a big name (FA or via trade) and compete seriously. Or will wait for another year
- Dallas is a franchise (and their owner) well known for big FA moves and blockbuster trades. Or they will spend another year in a rebuilding process
- How many superteams will be created this summer in LA? 0, 1, 2?
- Will Spurs use Kawhi trade to stay a super-competitive playoff team, or will invest in their future
- Is Oklahoma dead project
- Will Utah just start from where they finished this season or will make some bold FA move
- How Pelicans will solve DMC exit
- With no cap space to re-sign Nurkic or get any other notable player, will Portland be in danger for a playoff, or they will find a way to stay competitive
- Will Memphis find a way to get rid of Parsons contract and be once again competitive

once upon a time in the west (big stars which re-sign)




So Oklahoma is still not a dead project, and as expected, Rockets still remain untouchable for us.

At least Paul will be paid $40M+ when he's 37yo and slowing down.

Other West side stories from around Jully 1st midnight:

skywalker33 wrote:At least Paul will be paid $40M+ when he's 37yo and slowing down.

Maybe I should unpin Houston from untouchable WC teams and leave GSW alone? Rockets just lose Ariza and have no cap space to fight for Capela if they suddenly not find some magic way to get rid of Ryan Anderson. Together with E.Gordon, Capela and Ariza were theirs by far best players after Harden and Paul.

As expected...


But at this point at least seems that the other team from LA will not turn into Superteam this summer

SO FAR WESTERN CHECKPOINT:

65-17 / Houston: Superteam, but worse than last season
58-24 / Golden State: GOAT team
49-33 / Portland: declined, big cap space problem
48-34 / Oklahoma: worse, but survived as Playoff contenders
48-34 / Utah: not worse for sure, still not clear Favors status
48-34 / New Orleans: no news, except that Cousins status will be clarified soon
47-35 / San Antonio: still confused Leonard status
47-35 / Minnesota: if Butler accept max offer, very similar team, but with more experience in playing together
42-40 / L.A. Clippers: Under construction, not PO contender this season
35-47 / L.A. Lakers: Superteam in the making
27-55 / Sacramento: Rebuilding team, another tank-job season
24-58 / Dallas: Much stronger, but it is too early to be PO competitive already this season
22-60 / Memphis: Another tank-job season
21-61 / Phoenix: At this point seems that they will buy or trade for one big name, and be legit PO contender

46-36 / Denver: will be stronger with projected Murray improvement, Millsap better health, and no more wrong use of Jokic skills

Right now there are 11 Western teams able to compete for 2019 playoff

THE J0KER wrote:As expected...

Read on Twitter

Yeah, not a shocker, but I'm a little surprised just because I don't believe he makes them a true contender - not all by himself. They still have to do a little more and that's very possible for them to do.

NuggetsWY wrote:

THE J0KER wrote:As expected...

Read on Twitter

Yeah, not a shocker, but I'm a little surprised just because I don't believe he makes them a true contender - not all by himself. They still have to do a little more and that's very possible for them to do.

Of course, but we all know that the by far biggest step and challenge to built LA superteam is to bring LeBron.

If they solved such biggest problem, despite it is just the first step, no doubt to me that many other useful pieces will be added.
I'm pretty sure now that 2018-19 LBJ-Lakers will be no worse than peak-LBJ-Miami or peak-LBJ-Cleveland!

THE J0KER wrote:

NuggetsWY wrote:

THE J0KER wrote:As expected...

Read on Twitter

Yeah, not a shocker, but I'm a little surprised just because I don't believe he makes them a true contender - not all by himself. They still have to do a little more and that's very possible for them to do.

Of course, but we all know that the by far biggest step and challenge to built LA superteam is to bring LeBron.

If they solved such biggest problem, despite it is just the first step, no doubt to me that many other useful pieces will be added.
I'm pretty sure now that 2018-19 LBJ-Lakers will be no worse than peak-LBJ-Miami or peak-LBJ-Cleveland!

Well, perhaps, but we shall have to wait and see. LeBron is definitely the biggest step and he takes them into the playoffs without a doubt. I'm just not convinced they are ready to challenge the Warriors or Rockets in a seven-game series.

Lakers will miss the play offs , Lebron will get exposed, finally playing in the best conference, no more cake walks for him.

Mickey8 wrote:Lakers will miss the play offs , Lebron will get exposed, finally playing in the best conference, no more cake walks for him.

I am trying to figure out what they hell they are thinking with their signings, their signings are bad shooters and iffy at defense, and do not seem to fit with the style that Lebron has always played. even if they trade Ingram and ball to get Kawhi It could get ugly in a hurry in LA this season and they will have limited ways to improve.