Official West Conference Prediction Thread - updated 10/25/16

[Denmark]

GSW
SAS
LAC
POR
MEM
OKC
UTA
MIN
DAL
HOU
PHX
NOP
SAC
DEN
LAL

[GooniesNeverDie]

Warriors
Spurs
Clippers
Jazz
Grizzlies
Thunder
Rockets
Kings
Blazers
T-Wolves
Mavs
Pelicans
Nuggets
Suns
Lakers

[saintEscaton]

Yeah I'll wager that Houston finishes ahead of OKC because Harden has proven to carry that team singlehandedly, Capella will fill in nicely/ D12 was an afterthought. Dunno if Portland is ready to make that big of a jump, unless the top is that weak record wise, Turner is a nice signing but they lost Henderson. I think the Pelicans/Nuggets will be gunning for the 8th seed and we're gunna be near the bottom giving major burn to the youngins with an unestablished coach learning the ropes

[rallydurham]

Gsw
Spurs
Clips
Blazers
Mavs
Jazz
Okc
Grizzly
Twolives
Rockets
Nugs
Pelicans
Kings
Sunset
Lakers

[KnightofHyrule]

REGULAR SEASON
1. Golden State Warriors 67 Wins (Pacific)
2. San Antonio Spurs 63 Wins (Southwest)
3. Los Angeles Clippers 55 Wins
4. Portland Trail Blazers 47 Wins (Northwest)
5. Dallas Mavericks 44 Wins
6. Utah Jazz 42 Wins
7. Memphis Grizzlies 42 Wins (Lost 'Head to Head' tiebreaker with Jazz)
8. Oklahoma City Thunder 40 Wins
=================================
9. Minnesota Timberwolves 39 Wins
10. New Orleans Pelicans 39 Wins (Lost 'Head to Head' Tiebreaker with Timberwolves)
11. Houston Rockets 37 Wins
12. Denver Nuggets 34 Wins
13. Phoenix Suns 25 Wins
14. Los Angeles Lakers 21 Wins
15. Sacramento Kings 15 Wins


WESTERN CONFERENCE 1ST ROUND
Golden State Warriors def. Oklahoma City Thunder 4-0
San Antonio Spurs def. Memphis Grizzlies (AGAIN?!) 4-1
Los Angeles Cippers def. Utah Jazz 4-1
Portland Trailblazers def. Dallas Mavericks 4-2

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS
Golden State Warriors def. Portland Trailblazers 4-0
Los Angeles Clippers def. San Antonio Spurs 4-2

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Golden State Warriors def. Los Angeles Clippers 4-0

By the Rules....
GSW
SAS
LAC
POR
DAL
MEM
UTA
OKC
MIN
NOP
HOU
DEN
PHX
LAL
SAC

[SouthernFried]

Playoffs (Projected wins in parentheses):

1- Clippers (65). I fully expect the Dubs and Spurs to treat the regular season as an extended scrimmage, especially with the fatigue shown as the Playoffs went on.
2- Spurs (62). With the upgrade landing on Gasol and Dedmon, they won't regress nearly as much as people will think.
3- Warriors (58). The depth they lost won't be negligible. They're one injury away from 2013 Bulls/2015 Thunder territory.
4- Blazers (53). Dame and CJ will continue to show strides in bettering their skills, with Ezeli providing much needed help at 5. Losing Crabbe will stunt the team's growth, though.
5- Thunder (46). Let's be real, they were the odds-on fave to win it all next year pre-Decision 2.0, with the Dipo upgrade as well as Adams making huge strides. I don't see them missing Durant much.
6- Grizzlies (43). Landing Parsons and a fresh new coach will do wonders for this team
7- Rockets (41). Losing Howard was a lateral move for us. The gifts he brought with defense was out-weighed by external chemistry issues that had largely nothing to do with his actual skills.
8- Jazz (39). Exum and Gobert take further strides...and with the leadership of the "Wise Elders" Hill and JJ, I expect the Jazz to hit on amazing luck this year on their goals.

Lottery:
9- T-Wolves (38). I know people are high on them, but they made no improvements in the off-season, especially with the Butler deal falling apart. With Wade landing in Chi-Town, I bet they're kicking themselves for not leaping to that opportunity.
10- Suns (36). People underestimate just how fantastic their rookies will be. Also, the addition of quality vets from the 7SOL Glory Years will do well to add a touch of chemistry and maturity to this squad.
11- Mavs (35). Full of questions here. Will HB and Bogut add championship experience and be the missing links to a return to contention? Can Dirk turn back the clock?
12- Pelicans (33). AD will be healthy, but the team's depth was gutted, and Gentry's leadership always had question marks attached to it.
13- Lakers (30). D'AR is a candidate for MIP. I think his struggles from last year stemmed from the immense pressure to succeed being picked 2nd as well as being a point guard in a PG-heavy league.
14- Kings (27). With the stench of Karl finally exiting the building, I assume Boogie's production will hit new heights. However, this teams still seems to be full of knuckleheads, including those in the front office.
15- Nuggets (11). No real leadership or improvement prospects in this team. A shame, as Gallo & J. Murray's talents will be utterly wasted on this squad. Harry Giles here we come.

[YourBuddy]

T-Wolves (38). I know people are high on them, but they made no improvements in the off-season, especially with the Butler deal falling apart. With Wade landing in Chi-Town, I bet they're kicking themselves for not leaping to that opportunity.

Made no improvements? Are you saying the Kris Dunn isn't an improvement over Andre Miller? or Cole Aldrich isn't an improvement over Adriean Payne? Hiring Thibs to replace Smitch? Those are significant improvements.

No idea what Wade has to do with any hypothetical regret the Wolves would have over not trading for Butler.

[SouthernFried]

T-Wolves (38). I know people are high on them, but they made no improvements in the off-season, especially with the Butler deal falling apart. With Wade landing in Chi-Town, I bet they're kicking themselves for not leaping to that opportunity.

Made no improvements? Are you saying the Kris Dunn isn't an improvement over Andre Miller? or Cole Aldrich isn't an improvement over Adriean Payne? Hiring Thibs to replace Smitch? Those are significant improvements.

No idea what Wade has to do with any hypothetical regret the Wolves would have over not trading for Butler.

Obviously, with the Wade addition, any incentive the Bulls may have had to deal Butler would be significantly reduced. Layden and Thibs had their chance during Draft Night, but blew it. GarPax were offering him for peanuts.

[fatlever]

1. Golden State
2. San Antonio
3. LA Clippers
4. Utah
5. Portland
6. Oklahoma City
7. Memphis
8. Dallas

9. New Orleans
10. Minnesota
11. Houston
12. Denver
13. LA Lakers
14. Sacramento
15. Phoenix

[YourBuddy]

T-Wolves (38). I know people are high on them, but they made no improvements in the off-season, especially with the Butler deal falling apart. With Wade landing in Chi-Town, I bet they're kicking themselves for not leaping to that opportunity.

Made no improvements? Are you saying the Kris Dunn isn't an improvement over Andre Miller? or Cole Aldrich isn't an improvement over Adriean Payne? Hiring Thibs to replace Smitch? Those are significant improvements.

No idea what Wade has to do with any hypothetical regret the Wolves would have over not trading for Butler.

Obviously, with the Wade addition, any incentive the Bulls may have had to deal Butler would be significantly reduced. Layden and Thibs had their chance during Draft Night, but blew it. GarPax were offering him for peanuts.

I'm going to trust Thibs to know what players he wants, over some guy on the internet who doesn't think Kris Dunn and Cole Aldrich are better than Andre Miller and Adriean Payne.

[ken6199]

Playoffs (Projected wins in parentheses):
3- Warriors (58). The depth they lost won't be negligible. They're one injury away from 2013 Bulls/2015 Thunder territory.

We have a winner here.

[inquisitive]

1. Golden State
2. San Antonio
3. LA Clippers
4. Memphis
5. Portland
6. Houston
7.Oklahoma City
8. Utah
9. Dallas
10. Denver
11. New Orleans
12. Minnesota
13. LA Lakers
14. Sacramento
15. Phoenix

[baldur]

Playoffs (Projected wins in parentheses):

3- Warriors (58). The depth they lost won't be negligible. They're one injury away from 2013 Bulls/2015 Thunder territory.

They have resigned with james mcadoo and ian clark. Instead of ezeli, varejao, bogut, speights. They have got rookie jones, pachulia and david west now. iguodala and livingston are still there. I dont think they will miss varejao or speights. now they only need a 3rd center and sg/sf

[bleu]

1. Golden State
2. San Antonio
3. Houston
4. Utah
5. Oklahoma City
6. LA Clippers
7. Memphis
8. Portland

9. Denver
10. Minnesota
11. New Orleans
12. Dallas
13. LA Lakers
14. Phoenix
15. Sacramento

[sophie23]

1 gsw
2 sas
3 lac
4 portland
5 houston
6 jazz
7 memphis
8 dallas
9 minesotta
10 thunder
11 Denver
12 new orleans
13 lal
14 suns
15 sacramento

[wojoaderge]

1.Warriors
2.Spurs
3.Clippers
4.T-Wolves
5.Grizzlies
6.Pelicans
7.Blazers
8.Mavs
9.Thunder
10.Jazz
11.Rockets
12.Kings
13.Nuggets
14.Suns
15.Lakers

[cammac]

GSW 63 wins
LAC 58 wins
SAS 54 wins
Utah 48 wins
Portland 47 wins
Memphis 44 wins
OKC 43 wins
Minny 42 wins
Rest don't matter

[illionaire]

1.Warriors
2.Spurs
3.Clippers
4.Grizzlies
5.Blazers
6.Thunder
7.Jazz
8.T-Wolves


9.Mavs
10.Rockets
11.Pelicans
12.Kings
13.Suns
14.Nuggets
15.Lakers

[Chuck Everett]

This dude really wrote that the Nuggets are going to win 11 games. I don't even know what to say.

[Catchall]

GSW (67 wins, controlling people's minutes; losing Bogut and Ezelie hurts their defense and rebounding, but they'll score the ball at the highest level in the league for sure.)

Spurs (58 wins, but seriously, I'm not sure about their backcourt with Parker's decline, or their defense with Gasol at the 5)

Clippers (Boy, their bench is thin and age/injuries makes them vulnerable, but I'll project 55 wins anyway.)

Jazz (54 wins; I'm a bit of a Jazz homer, but they're adding 3 quality veterans, plus Exum and Burks, to a team that always had a solid starting rotation and guys like Hood and Lyles making strides; watch out for Gobert if he's really close to 250 lbs now.)

Blazers (49 wins; Lillard, CJ and long, athletic defenders could break 50 wins optimistically...yeah a bit optimistic.)

Grizzlies (49 wins; Gasol, Conley and Parsons can make the offense work more or less; defense not as spry as it used to be with aging rotation players.)

Rockets (45 wins; chemistry can't be as bad as it was last year, and Nene and Capella should be able to rebound and defend just enough while Harden and Andersen put up shot after shot.)

Mavericks (43 wins; Bogut and Barnes fill out the rotation just enough around Dirk and the guard committee for Rick Carlisle to pull out .500+ like last year.)

Pelicans (38 wins; Davis is a top-10 player and I like Hield, but they seriously need to improve that roster.)

Kings (38 wins; there's some talent on that roster and Joerger will put it to use. No Rondo, and the future of Gay is in question. Expect a trade or two to fix their PG situation and move out one of their bigs. )

Thunder (37 wins; what makes you think Westbrook is going to stay healthy all season, or not get traded?)

T'wolves (37 wins; adding Thibideau and getting more development out of KAT, Wiggins and Lavine nets +8 more wins...at least.)

Nuggets (37 wins; continued development of Mudiay, Harris and Nokic adds 4 - 6 wins.)

Suns (31 wins; a little more experience and better health could get them up over 30 wins.)

Lakers (25 wins; not as bad as last year, but not 10 games better either.)