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So assuming that the current roster will be more or less the team that we see next season, how do we shape up against the rest of the conference?

My spin:

1. LA - grrrrr.... I hate LA.
2. Dallas - even though they flamed out last year, there's a ton of depth on this team (Kidd, Dirk, Caron, Marion, Terry, Beaubois, Chandler, etc..)
3. OKC - Durant takes over and establishes himself as the best overall player in the game today.
4. Utah - Jefferson blends in nicely, Bell is a solid add. Not enough size yet.
5. Portland - Lots of if's ( Oden, Roy, Camby's age, Babbitt will be interesting)
6. Phoenix - will miss Amare's presence down low, but Lopez, Childress and Hedo seem to fit the running style nicely.
7. Spurs - One last run for the Spurs, will likely be disassembled after the year.
8. Houston - could easily be higher if they get anything at all from Yao.

Outside looking in -
- Denver ( Al Harrington isn't enough, too many health issues, say bye-bye to Melo at the end of the year),

-Clippers ( you want to think that they'll be competitive w/ Griffin, but it's the Clippers after all),

Memphis, Sacramento ( should be very fun to watch the Evans / Cousins experiment),

- New Orleans (Chris Paul and who else, really?), Minny and the Warriors aren't contenders at all.

Your thoughts?

The only reason I give us a disadvantage to Dallas as far as competing for the #2 spot is because it may take us a little while to blend, and then to blend once again when Okur comes out.

But honestly I see no reason why we can't be one of the top 3 teams in the West.

We can be number 2 as long as we dont lose to t-wolves what was it 3 times? im from nyc but not big on the knicks but they tend to beet you at home every year since marburys game winner

Anywhere between 2-5 honestly. I think we'll finish 2nd though as we have guys that can step in case of injuries now.

1. LAL
2. UTAH
3. DAL
4. OKC
5. POR
6. SAS
7. DEN
8. HOU

I'm very wary of OKC as a new power. Just remember the last three years worth of anointed young power teams: Jazz, Hornets, and Blazers all disappointed after their big runs. OKC had an insanely healthy year last season, the repeat of which seems highly unlikely.

LAL
Dallas
Denver
Hou
Utah
Okc
San Antonio
Lac

I just can't see Houston being in the mix.

Wow, I like the Koolaid some of you are drinking. Boozer was a beast last year, Korver set a 3 point shooting record and Wesley played better than we could ever imagine.

This year we have key players to integrate into the system. Bell didnt play last year. Okur may not come back as a player. I think we would be lucky to end up where we were last year at the number 5 spot.

1 Lakers (I hate that team)
2 Oklahoma (young team with a great leader got a year older)
3 Dallas (deep team)
4 Denver (unless we screwed with their heads
5 Portland (alot of talent that cant possibly have the injury problem they did last year.
6. Utah (if everytihing goes perfect.
7. San Antonio (Old team that is to well coached not to be in the playoffs
8. Houston (Yao sould be back, they may be better than us.

If there's such thing as a Reverse Kool-Aid, Lava drinks an awful lot of it.

Same cluster **** as last year, where one or 2 games will make the difference between 2 and 7.

The59Sound wrote:If there's such thing as a Reverse Kool-Aid, Lava drinks an awful lot of it.

It's called Haterade.

DelaneyRudd wrote:

The59Sound wrote:If there's such thing as a Reverse Kool-Aid, Lava drinks an awful lot of it.

It's called Haterade.

Wow. That really should have come to mind right away.

Lava Rock Kid wrote:8. Houston (Yao sould be back, they may be better than us.

Is there anyone besides Rockets fans who think Yao will ever be truly healthy again? I really don't think the guy has 100 games (total) left on those enormous, busted wheels of his.

For his sake I hope he completely recovers and has many healthy years ahead of him, but I wouldn't bet on it.

I'm new to the forums so not sure how all this works, but honestly I cant give an opinion till I see this team on the floor maybe 10 games or so. But here is my analysis.....

1 LA
2 HOU (pendind YAO'S health, he demands a double team.)(only concern is that brooks and yao both play so different might hurt yao)
3 DAL
4 OKC
5 UTA
6 PORT (pending health)
7 SA
8 PHX (hedo demands the ball to be an effective player, and I dont think anyone wants to take the ball out of nash's hands)

Spurs will be better than the 7th seed. They won 50 games last year and managed to add another scoring seven footer in the offseason.


1. Mavericks (62-20)
2. Lakers (58-24)
3. Jazz (53-29)
4. Spurs (50-32)
5. Suns (50-32)
6. Nuggets (50-32)
7. Blazers (50-32)
8. Hornets (45-37)


I'm thinking the Thunder will have way more injury issues this year than last.

And not make the playoffs? Jeez. Making predictions based on phantom catastrophic injury prediction.

They were the eighth seed last year, falling to 9th wouldn't be that much of a step back.

1. Lakers 60 wins
2. Utah 55 wins
3. OKC 52 wins
4. Blazers 52 wins
5. Mavs 50 wins
6. Nuggets 48 wins
7. Spurs 46 wins
8. Suns 46 wins
9. LAC 42 wins
10. Hornets 41 wins
11. Houston 41 wins
12. GSW 38 wins

the difference from the top 8 and bottom half of the west gets smaller as team parity existing and the east beats the west much more often next year.

Finals Utah vs. Heat; Time to crown King James

1. LA (duh)
2. Denver (i hope everyone knows last season's disaster was coming from the minute karl stepped down. they didn't lose any players, and added a big body, a guy who can provide offense off the bench at the 4/5, which they didn't have, and which hurt them a lot last year. this is the most improved team this offseason, easily. two seasons ago, they were pushing at LA to go to the finals. even if karl's not back, they can get a real full-time coach, and it will be much better)
3. Dallas (since they're just going to flame out during the playoffs again, it's hard to put them even this high, but I guess this is about season standings)
4. OKC (aldrich will contribue immediately. that was all they were missing before to be contenders. and now with playoff experience to boot and another year of chemistry)
5. Utah (we may have gotten slightly better playoff-wise, but it will take time for players to adjust, and there will be some iffy moments until 2011)
6. SA (seems like they're always around, and will be presumably much less injured)
7. Portland (less injured? kindda iffy. but they were looking good last season before oden + aldridge got hurt)
8. New Orleans (assuming they don't trade CP, can you imagine him not in the playoffs getting destroyed by some team or the other? I can't. rarely can a player will his team to the playoffs. CP in his prime is one of them. they don't need anyone else to be more than somewhat functional.)

9. Houston (I don't see how having Yao back won't add a couple of games to the W column. And he IS back, even if it won't be for long. Either way, it looks borderline.)
10. Phoenix (when you lose an all star, you replace him. hakeem warrick and turkoglue are not your answers. and despite reports, steve nash is getting old, even though they've got a great replacement for him now... things will be more difficult. maybe playoffs, but I'm having them on the outside for now.)
11. Memphis (they didn't do anything, so they're not moving, but they've shown enough chemistry as a group that I can see it getting better)
12. LA Clippers (I will never have this team in the playoffs, ever. Roster looks good, but they've just been a crappy team since trading away Camby.)

All you idiots not including the rockets are not basketball intelligent (kinda like millsap) anyway I understand it all depends on yao's health but if he is able to go they sky rocket to maybe 2nd def. top 4.
Yao demands a double period.