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

[Chuck Everett]

Pelicans with a legit shot to be the worst team in the West.

[Zelaznyrules]

Warriors
Clippers
Jazz
Rockets
Blazers
Spurs
Thunder
Wolves

Nuggets
Grizzlies
Mavericks
Suns
Lakers
Kings
Pelicans

Edited: 10/23

[cjx]

2016-17 Western Conference Predictions

1. Houston Rockets 55-27
2. Golden State Warriors 52-30
3. Utah Jazz 48-34
4. San Antonio Spurs 47-35
5. Portland Trail Blazers 46-36
6. Minnesota Timberwolves 45-37
7. Los Angeles Clippers 44-38
8. New Orleans Pelicans 43-39

Playoffs
Rd 1
Houston def New Orleans 4-3
Golden State def LA Clippers 4-2
Utah def Minnesota 4-3
Portland def San Antonio 4-2 (for the 2nd yr in a row, Lamarcus is reminded that leaving Rip City was a mistake)

Rd 2
Portland def Houston 4-2
Golden State def Utah 4-2

Conf Finals
Golden State def Portland 4-2 (GSW meets Orlando in the Finals)

[DROB27]

Warriors
Clippers
Jazz
Rockets
Blazers
Thunder
Grizzlies
Spurs

Mavericks
TWolves
Nuggets
Lakers
Kings
Suns
Pelicans

Spurs at 8? Huh??

[Zelaznyrules]

Spurs at 8? Huh??

Too high?

[Impuniti]

Spurs at 8? Huh??

Too high?

[DROB27]

Spurs at 8? Huh??

Too high?

You must be high if you think that

[Waynearchetype]

Portland at 2? I'd be shocked if they're in the top 6 tbh

I'm a Portland fan, so I'm biased, but here is my take:

Portland didn't over-succeed last season. They gambled on signing a bunch of young middling players, in the hopes that a few of them were young enough that they'd show improvement. They succeeded in that and saw improvements out of many of the players they signed. The roster is still mid-twenties as far as average age goes, so it is possible we see not only further improvement, but the roster meshing better as this is the second year many of them are now playing together. If you ignore the money spent (which i think everyone can agree was overspending), the additions they made are greater than the subtractions, so they should at least improve over their previous 5th seed.

The big thing is that many of them are still young enough to further improve. Harkless turned a corner near the end of last year, Crabbe is a great young shooter, and Vonleh has looked tremendous this preseason. They might lack stars, but they make up for it in depth. They might not have many above average starters, but many of their bench players would be passable starters on other teams, or could be considered premier bench players.

I think their ceiling right now is similar to the Atlanta Hawks of a few years ago. Killers in the regular season from their depth and versatility, but won't make much noise in the playoffs after rotations shorten and that advantage goes away. They'll be able to handle regular season injuries without much of a step backwards (barring an injury to Lillard). I'm not sure 2 is realistic(depends on how SAS's culture adapts to Duncan leaving), but I think top 4 is probable.

For many of these same reasons, I can see and understand the huge range in which people think they will fall. Things go right? Great regular season team. Young players getting content? Might even miss playoffs.

[Ballerhogger]

Warriors
Clippers
Spurs
Houston
Top 4 teams
Bottom 4
Thunder
Portland
Minnesota
Jazz or Suns

[Green89]

I say the Rockets and Thunder are the 2 playoff teams from last year that drop out this year. Who takes their place? I'll say Minny and Utah. Grizzlies should be a bubble team, but I don't think the other bottom teams are strong enough to bump them out.

[ken6199]

RealGM prediction:


nba.com GM poll:


Takeouts:
Top 3 no questions, and they lead the rest of the pack by miles.
We highly think of Portland and Utah (#4, #5), GMs have them lower (#5, #6)
We are being harsh on OKC compared to GMs, (#7 vs #4)

[xNewYorkMadex]

1. Golden State 67 W
2. Clippers 58 W
3. Spurs 55 W
4. Grizzlies 49 W
5. Thunder 48 W
6. Jazz 47 W
7. T'Wolves 45 W
8. Blazers 44 W
9. Rockets
10. Nuggets
11. Mavs
12. Pelicans
13. Kings
14. Lakers
15. Suns

Final predictions. Really tough to leave out the Blazers. Jazz/T'Wolves/Blazers will all be very close. Wont be surprised to see one of them have a solid record and lose out on the playoffs based on a tiebreaker.

[ken6199]

Results updated up to 8/1/2016


Original document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzaygCX5b1zHTEh2NGY2SWdJSlk/view?usp=sharing
It's a very quick and dirty analysis based on the data I have. All suggestions are welcome, especially on plotting!!

Results updated up to 9/4/2016


No ranking changes with the added vote. Only thing noticeable is the variance of T'wolves picked up by more than 0.5, because a few of the new votes had them on 3/4/10/12 seeds.

Results updated up to 10/20/2016


Two noticeable changes:
- POR finally dropped below UTA
- HOU average ranking rose quite a bit, thanks to their red hot pre-season shooting(?)

Quick reminder:
- The voting cutoff time is 10/25 0:00 ET, the day before the regular season tip off.

[gaspar]

1. GSW
2. LAC
3. SAS
4. OKC
5. HOU
6. POR
7. MEM
8. MIN
9. UTA
10. DAL
11. DEN
12. PHX
13. SAC
14. LAL
15. NOP

*edited

[Chuck Everett]

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

[crazybranman360]

1. Warriors
2. Spurs
3. Clippers
4. Jazz
5. Blazers
6. Houston
7. Grizzlies
8. Thunder
----------------
9. Mavericks
10. Pelicans
11. Timberwolves
12. Nuggets
13. Kings
14. Phoenix
15. Lakers

[psimanic1]

1. Warriors
2. LAC
3. Spurs
4. Thunder
5. Rockets
6. Utah
7. Portland
8. Denver

9. Memphis
10. Minessota
11. Mavs
12. Pelicans
13. Suns
14. Kings
15. Lakers

[laika]

1.GS
2.SAS
3.UTA
4.LAC
5.POR
6.MIN
7.HOU
8.OKC
9.MEM
10.DEN
11.DAL
12.PHX
13.NO
14.SAC
15.LAL

[MrBaynes]

1) Golden State
2) San Antonio
3) Los Angeles Clippers
4) Utah
5) Oklahoma City
6) Portland
7) Houston
8) Denver

9) Memphis
10) Dallas
11) Sacramento
12) Minny
13) New Orleans
14) Los Angeles
15) Phoenix

[DreDay]

1) Golden State
2) Los Angeles Clippers
3) San Antonio
4) Houston
5) Utah
6) Portland
7) Oklahoma City
8) Denver

9) Minnesota
10) Dallas
11) Memphis
12) Sacramento
13) New Orleans
14) Los Angeles Lakers
15) Phoenix