RealGM

ouch.... I was having this conversation with a GD fLaker fan today...and it truely sucked...

The obvious best .... fLos Angeles NOrleans
The Apparent second tier... Houston, Utah, SanAnt
The up and comers ... Portland (just wait till the end of the yr), Memphis (loads of young talent) ,
The Down and Outers ... Dallas, PHNX (yes phnx as solid points can be made reflecting our regression over the past 2+ yrs)
The Who Knows ??? .., Denver (great swap for Billups) , GoldST
The Who Cares... Clips, Minnysota, OK City, SacTown


and the sad thing is... as our boat is still rocking and realing, the Laker Train has been put squarely back on its tracks.

dallas will be dealing very soon, wat can yall offer for howard, dirk, terry... mostly terry since yall need a spark off the bench

We're gonna be the 5th seeds, behind NO/LA/Utah/Rox. Unless Denver with Billups bypasses us.

I had us down as 6th seeds behind SanAN this offseason, but with the Manu/Parker injuries I don't see how they can finish ahead of us anymore so long as we stay healthy.

If we are going to rate now, then this is the way I'm to seed the west
Lakers
Hornets
Rockets
Jazz
Suns
Nuggets
Mavericks
Spurs ( I've learned never to count out the Spurs.)

At the end of the season it will be like this:
Lakers
Hornets
Suns
Rockets
Nuggets
Jazz
Spurs
Mavericks

I'll wait till after the trade deadline for making predictions.

If San Antonio is higher than us right now just because they beat us in the playoffs, then I don't see why they're not higher than the Hornets too.

Right now

LAL
NOR
UTA
HOU
SA
PHX
DEN
POR
DAL
GS

Come the playoffs - not the seeds, but how I'd rank them in terms of top to bottom
LAL
NOR
SA - Parker + Manu back. Mason's legit. I wouldn't want them
UTA
PHX
HOU
DAL
DEN
POR

I can't split DAL/POR/DEN so one of them misses out