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

[DAWill1128]

Warriors

Spurs

Clippers
Grizzlies

Blazers
Thunder

Rockets
Jazz
Mavericks
Timberwolves
Pelicans
Nuggets

Sacramento
Suns
Lakers

Clearly, it's a little early to know how things will play out, but just based on past practice, acquisitions this summer, etc ... this is my guess. I clustered the various groups and I think you could probably swap any of the teams in that cluster with each other.

Agreed.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Lol at the guy who said Clippers haven't improved over last year. Bench is way better, Griffin likely won't miss 50+ games again. The Clippers have a great shot at 2 seed+60 wins if they can stay healthy. Spurs, Thunder both take steps back, Clippers and Jazz take steps up.

[Cornbread]

1. Warriors (66-16)





2. Clippers (58-24)
3. Spurs (57-25)



4. Grizzlies (47-35)
5. Jazz (46-36)
6. Blazers (45-37)

7. Timberwolves (40-42)
8. Rockets (40-42)
9. Mavericks (40-42)

10. Nuggets (34-48)
11. Thunder (33-49)
12. Suns (32-50)
13. Pelicans (30-52)
14. Kings (25-57)
15. Lakers (23-59)

(Proportionally spaced)

[TankShow]

Warriors (67-15)
Spurs (57-25)
Clippers (56-26)
Blazers (55-27)
Grizzlies (52-30)
Mavericks (50-32)
Thunder (45-37)
Pelicans (45-37)
Jazz (45-37)
Timberwolves (42-40)
Rockets (41-41)
Kings (37-45)
Lakers (32-50)
Nuggets (26-56)
Suns (22-60)

[RexRyan]

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

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

[Little Digger]

1. Golden State
2. San Antonio
3. LAC
4. Dallas
5. Minnesota
6. Utah
7. Portland
8. Sacramento

9. Memphis
10. Denver
11. New Orleans
12. Houston
13. OKC
14. Phoenix
15. LA Lakers

[jpengland]

1. Golden State
2. San Antonio
3. Clippers
4. Utah
5. Portland
6. Dallas
7. Memphis
8. New Orleans

9. Houston
10. Minnesota
11. Denver
12. Oklahoma City
13. Suns
14. Sacramento
15. Lakers

[Stoked]

Some teams are all over the place on here.

For example my Jazz. I've seen them as high as 3rd and as low as 12th or so.

I think they finish 5th or 4th personally.

Lots of interesting teams to watch this year. Like Utah, Detroit, Minny...

[WildArkieBoy65]

Some teams are all over the place on here.

For example my Jazz. I've seen them as high as 3rd and as low as 12th or so.

I think they finish 5th or 4th personally.

Lots of interesting teams to watch this year. Like Utah, Detroit, Minny...

8th is about right for the Jazz

[larry14r]

You know the Lakers are going to be a lot better than last in the west this coming year. Either way they will be ok because them finishing last in West again gets them another top three pick.

[WestbrookGOATed]

i'm seeing all of these predictions with OKC missing the playoffs. I would hope you're assuming Westbrook gets traded. If not you're crazy.

[ken6199]

You know the Lakers are going to be a lot better than last in the west this coming year. Either way they will be ok because them finishing last in West again gets them another top three pick.

I firmly believe the Lakers will not finish dead last as they embrace their first season without Kobe. A couple of posters not only has Lakers at last, but also less than 30 wins, which is really weird because getting rid of Byron Scott alone warrants 5-10 wins.

Spoiler:

Which leads to my very serious point of getting rid of JBB warrants 5-10 wins for the Rockets.

[jpengland]

Some teams are all over the place on here.

For example my Jazz. I've seen them as high as 3rd and as low as 12th or so.

I think they finish 5th or 4th personally.

Lots of interesting teams to watch this year. Like Utah, Detroit, Minny...

8th is about right for the Jazz

You realise that they finished one game out of 8th and 4 games out of 5th last year right?

They played the entire season without even a rotation standard PG (Trey Burke, Raul Neto, Shelvin Mack) missed 20 and 21 games from Favors and Gobert and 51 games from Alec Burks (and obviously 82 games of Exum), all whilst being one of the youngest teams in the league.

They have kept their core together whilst adding George Hill, Joe Johnson and Boris Diaw, basically added Exum and have another year of growth from the young guys like Hood, Lyles (who beasted to end the season) and Burks.

[jpengland]

i'm seeing all of these predictions with OKC missing the playoffs. I would hope you're assuming Westbrook gets traded. If not you're crazy.

Pack the paint and show Westbrook some hard doubles the second he breaks inside the arc - they have zero shooters on the team. Their depth at the wing is also horrendous.

Westbrook will put up some gaudy raw numbers, but that team isn't winning many games IMO.

[bondom34]

i'm seeing all of these predictions with OKC missing the playoffs. I would hope you're assuming Westbrook gets traded. If not you're crazy.

Pack the paint and show Westbrook some hard doubles the second he breaks inside the arc - they have zero shooters on the team. Their depth at the wing is also horrendous.

Westbrook will put up some gaudy raw numbers, but that team isn't winning many games IMO.

They did 2 years ago with no Durant. And they added shooters this offseason, theres no way they miss unless there's a ton of injury or Russ is traded. I'd bet my life savings on that.

[jpengland]

i'm seeing all of these predictions with OKC missing the playoffs. I would hope you're assuming Westbrook gets traded. If not you're crazy.

Pack the paint and show Westbrook some hard doubles the second he breaks inside the arc - they have zero shooters on the team. Their depth at the wing is also horrendous.

Westbrook will put up some gaudy raw numbers, but that team isn't winning many games IMO.

They did 2 years ago with no Durant. And they added shooters this offseason, theres no way they miss unless there's a ton of injury or Russ is traded. I'd bet my life savings on that.

I just don't see it. Oladipo has really stagnated and doesn't fit with Westbrook, Kyle Singler is going to be playing 30mpg at SF. I can see teams literally just flooding the paint and forcing Westbrook into long 2s and/or forcing the ball to Kanter.

I might be wrong, but I seriously see them falling through this year - badly.

[bondom34]

Pack the paint and show Westbrook some hard doubles the second he breaks inside the arc - they have zero shooters on the team. Their depth at the wing is also horrendous.

Westbrook will put up some gaudy raw numbers, but that team isn't winning many games IMO.

They did 2 years ago with no Durant. And they added shooters this offseason, theres no way they miss unless there's a ton of injury or Russ is traded. I'd bet my life savings on that.

I just don't see it. Oladipo has really stagnated and doesn't fit with Westbrook, Kyle Singler is going to be playing 30mpg at SF. I can see teams literally just flooding the paint and forcing Westbrook into long 2s and/or forcing the ball to Kanter.

I might be wrong, but I seriously see them falling through this year - badly.

I'd again bet everything that's wrong. Because Oladipo is taking over for Dion Waiters and provides better defense. And Singler won't play, he's still benched, Roberson will start, Morrow back him up, and Abrines is there.

Honestly I think they're 4th possibly. 8th if teams really overperform, but after GSW/LAC/SAS they're as good as or better than anyone. I don't trust Memphis's health, Utah's youth totally, Dallas's talent, or Houston's new players and defense.

[jpengland]

They did 2 years ago with no Durant. And they added shooters this offseason, theres no way they miss unless there's a ton of injury or Russ is traded. I'd bet my life savings on that.

I just don't see it. Oladipo has really stagnated and doesn't fit with Westbrook, Kyle Singler is going to be playing 30mpg at SF. I can see teams literally just flooding the paint and forcing Westbrook into long 2s and/or forcing the ball to Kanter.

I might be wrong, but I seriously see them falling through this year - badly.

I'd again bet everything that's wrong. Because Oladipo is taking over for Dion Waiters and provides better defense. And Singler won't play, he's still benched, Roberson will start, Morrow back him up, and Abrines is there.

Honestly I think they're 4th possibly. 8th if teams really overperform, but after GSW/LAC/SAS they're as good as or better than anyone. I don't trust Memphis's health, Utah's youth totally, Dallas's talent, or Houston's new players and defense.

They are definitely difficult to project - and only time will tell.

Given the way that everybody has ranked this here, if bookies predict in a similar vein you should be preparing a large bid with your life savings as you will make a killing.

[bondom34]

I just don't see it. Oladipo has really stagnated and doesn't fit with Westbrook, Kyle Singler is going to be playing 30mpg at SF. I can see teams literally just flooding the paint and forcing Westbrook into long 2s and/or forcing the ball to Kanter.

I might be wrong, but I seriously see them falling through this year - badly.

I'd again bet everything that's wrong. Because Oladipo is taking over for Dion Waiters and provides better defense. And Singler won't play, he's still benched, Roberson will start, Morrow back him up, and Abrines is there.

Honestly I think they're 4th possibly. 8th if teams really overperform, but after GSW/LAC/SAS they're as good as or better than anyone. I don't trust Memphis's health, Utah's youth totally, Dallas's talent, or Houston's new players and defense.

They are definitely difficult to project - and only time will tell.

Given the way that everybody has ranked this here, if bookies predict in a similar vein you should be preparing a large bid with your life savings as you will make a killing.

Vegas agrees with me.

Title odds:

http://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/futures/

[JellosJigglin]

You know the Lakers are going to be a lot better than last in the west this coming year. Either way they will be ok because them finishing last in West again gets them another top three pick.

I firmly believe the Lakers will not finish dead last as they embrace their first season without Kobe. A couple of posters not only has Lakers at last, but also less than 30 wins, which is really weird because getting rid of Byron Scott alone warrants 5-10 wins.

Spoiler:

Which leads to my very serious point of getting rid of JBB warrants 5-10 wins for the Rockets.

I have the Lakers around 30 wins, which is a 13 win improvement. It may not be last in the west, but will be close to it. Losing Kobe and Byron Scott is addition by subtraction. And I think Deng/Mozgov are good for at least 2 wins a piece. Russell/Randle/Clarkson have all shown improvement, not to mention Russell/Randle/Ingram all playing on the USA Select team. So 13-15 win improvement is actually a lot. If they can do that while playing a more fun brand of basketball, they'll be a more attractive free agent destination (which is their only purpose for playing this season).