Your top 8 predictions

[SlimShady83]

Where do you think everyone in the west will fall ???

Wow Westbrook too the Rockets...

Best back court in the game ???

New rankings for me...



1) Rockets - MDA good at regular season and with RUss/James wow
2) Lakers
3) Clippers
4) Jazz
5) GSW
6) Denver
7) Portland
8) NO

I think NO will just scrape in there

EDIT: I took out spurs and put Portland

Man the west is tough this year

Who am I missing?

[TylersLakers]

1) Utah
2) Nuggets
3) Lakers
4) Clippers
5) Houston
6) Portland
7) Sacramento
8) Golden State

[SlimShady83]

1) Utah
2) Nuggets
3) Lakers
4) Clippers
5) Houston
6) Portland
7) Sacramento
8) Golden State

Utah and nuggets 1 and 2 ? interesting. I like both, but think west is way too tough for them.

[JVL]

1) Nuggets
2) Rockets
3) Warriors
4) Clippers
5) Lakers
6) Jazz
7) Blazers
8) Kings

[stan francisco]

1) Nuggets
2) Lakers
3) Clippers
4) Jazz
5) Warriors
6) Blazers
7) Rockets
8) Pelicans

Rockets have no defensive brain power left in the organization now with CP3 gone. Westbrook and Harden both don’t play defense. If one of them is out for even a few weeks, they’ll drop in the ranks quickly.

I think the Queens will implode and that the league and the fans will finally realize what Lonzo and Ingram are made of. Lonzo’s defense will change how defense is played at the point, steals Jrue’s job.

Edit: I kicked out the Rockets because that chemistry just isn’t gonna work on the court.

Lol, and I forgot all about the Spurs.

1) Nuggets
2) Lakers
3) Clippers
4) Jazz
5) Warriors
6) Spurs
7) Blazers
8) Pelicans

[SlimShady83]

Rockets have no defensive brain power left in the organization now with CP3 gone. Westbrook and Harden both don’t play defense. If one of them is out for even a few weeks, they’ll drop in the ranks quickly.

True on the defensive part, but this is regular season MDA is a good coach and will do wonders for both Harden/Russ etc

If not #1 they'll be top 3 for sure

Not sure why you all putting Nuggets #1 they're good but not that good.

[TylersLakers]

Rockets have no defensive brain power left in the organization now with CP3 gone. Westbrook and Harden both don’t play defense. If one of them is out for even a few weeks, they’ll drop in the ranks quickly.

True on the defensive part, but this is regular season MDA is a good coach and will do wonders for both Harden/Russ etc

If not #1 they'll be top 3 for sure

Not sure why you all putting Nuggets #1 they're good but not that good.

I think teams like Utah and Denver will care more about the regular season. I don't expect them to go far in the playoffs but I think they'll be good regular season teams.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Clippers
Jazz
Lakers
GS
Nuggets
Rockets
Blazers
NO

[tamaraw08]

1) Utah
2) Nuggets
3) Lakers
4) Clippers
5) Houston
6) Portland
7) Sacramento
8) Golden State

Utah and nuggets 1 and 2 ? interesting. I like both, but think west is way too tough for them.

They will up there bec of defense and familiarity esp with the Nuggets. I see them as 1, Utah, 2.
3. Lakers
4. Clips- bec of load management and PG's late start bec of surgery.
5. Portland.
6. I see Dallas sneaking in there with the more matured Doncic then it's a toss up now and who cares really. Spurs, GSW,Twolves,

[tv24lakers]

This offseason is by far the most volatile in terms of star player movements. Insane & incredibly entertaining! Brilliant job NBA for keeping buzz on the league through the offseason. Certainly looking forward to the coming season.
Russell Westbrook transitioning to the Rockets is reminiscent of KD joining the Warriors in regards to a single team possessing two recent MVP winners.

Just prior to the Westbrook trade I had projected the following rankings:
1. Denver
2. Clippers
3. Jazz
4. Portland
5. GSW
6. Lakers
7. Rockets
8. Spurs

With the trade now I think they just leaped 5 spots on my board to #2; the new order:
1. Denver
2. Rockets
3. Clippers
4. Jazz
5. Portland
6. GSW
7. Lakers
8. Spurs

[Beethoven]

1 Lakers
2 Clippers
3 Rockets
4 Denver
5 GSW
6 Jazz
7 Portland
8 Spurs

[Kilroy]

1. GSW
2. Lakers
3. Denver
4. Clippers
5. Rockets
6. Utah
7. Portland
8. Spurs

I think GSW is going to come out ready to prove they're still on top and they've always been an exceptional regular season team anyway. Just when they start to hit the wall, they'll get Klay back.

I think we're going to win a ton of games this season without trying too hard... I don't think we'll be trying for top spot, but at the end of the day, we'll be right there.

I think 3-7 is going to be a dog-fight all season and will only be separated by a few games when it's over... So any of those teams could be in any of those spots... But I think there'll be a huge drop off for the 8th seed, and the Spurs will probably sneak in... Although Dallas could shock a few teams too.

[Penberthy]

1. Lakers
2. Clippers
3. Rockets
4. Warriors
5. Nuggets
6. Jazz
7. Blazers
8. Pelicans

[eseigs]

Realistically, the only change that I see in the overall top 8 is swapping in LAL for OKC. The past 2 seasons, the 8th seed has won 47 and 48 games, and I don't see any other team from last year's bottom 7 making the jump to that threshold. Trying to guess the final seedings is honestly as hard as getting the final four right every March - this year there's no team that stands head and shoulders above the rest (thinking 73-9 GSW, 65-17 HOU). With that being said, I'm using a little bit of oddsmakers win totals for each team and my own opinions for these rankings:

Rank - Team - Current Win Total (PointsBet) - Last Years Win Total
1. DEN - 51.5 - 54
2. UTA - 53.5 - 50
3. HOU - 52.5 - 53
4. LAC - 56.5 - 48
5. LAL - 51.5 - 37
6. GSW - 47.5 - 57
7. SAS - 45.5 - 48
8. POR - 45.5 - 48

Teams like Denver and Utah are built for the regular season. Jokic will have another MVP caliber year, and Utah is extremely deep.

Harden single handedly carried the Rockets to a 53 win total last year and I don't doubt that he and Westbrook will be a good regular season team, even if I have extreme reservations of their ability to win a 7 game playoff series.

Clippers and Lakers will both lose games to load management but have good enough rosters (and stars) to still win more games than the Warriors, Spurs, and Blazers.

I predict the Blazers to fall the most, because both the Clippers and the Lakers getting stronger means losing more division games which will have more of an impact on the standings than most will anticipate.

Other than that, as an NBA fan in general, this is as stacked as the West has been in years and next season will be extremely exciting to watch. As a Lakers fan, I think this team can contend next year and I just want to see us in the damn playoffs again!!!

[Landsberger]

Teams that were close last year and didn't have many changes are Portland and Denver. You'd think that they won't need time to gel etc. and could get out to good starts. My guess is that the Clippers will find that their true no-name team from last year where everyone was somewhat equal will be a whole lot different this year. Everything will go through 2 guys where last year it was a committee. I don't think PG and Kawhi are just adds to that team. I think they will lose a lot of what allowed them to sneak up on the West last year. It's going to take us a month to settle in as well. Houston with those 2 ball dominant "stand and watch me" guys will not work IMHO. As much as I dislike Paul he's a better fit for Harden. I think this team could implode. Utah added a lot of good stuff and they were already tough. I think GS will find that without Durant they will be a 3 or nothing team. They lost depth and defense while gaining a ball dominant guard that can score but little else. My guess is that Russell doesn't finish the year with them.... but who they get for him will be the key to their season. Also keep in mind that Curry is a year older and he'll need to chuck a lot more 3's this year and will probably wear down as they just won't have another consistent scorer other than Russell and they essentially play the same position.

I still say if we can stay healthy and we play to our strengths and not attempt to be cute offensively we have as much diversity, scoring and potentially defense than anyone. Health will be the key.

Denver
Lakers
Portland
Utah
GS
Clippers
Houston
SA

I also believe 5-7 games may separate the top 5

[Ball so hard]

1) Utah
2) Nuggets
3) Lakers
4) Clippers
5) Houston
6) Portland
7) Sacramento
8) Golden State

Agree with this. Surprised some think the Warriors will finish ahead of us. Warriors probably has a better shot of missing the playoffs than finishing as a top 1-2 seed.

[lazybatman]

I agree with all of you who think Utah, Nugs are likely gonna finish the regular season at the top.

I figure Lakers, Clips, GSW(don't disrespect Curry or the Warriors), Trailblazers and Spurs in the middle.

Harden, Russ and Mike D'Antoni will be featured in the book - "How to not win in the playoffs for Dummies"
Rockets will trade Harden and Russ for 800 picks next summer, if not before the trade deadline. Russ just doesn't work with that system and MDA for me. MDA and Harden don't work for winning the playoffs for me. Had they not cramped up against the depleted Warriors this season, they would've got swept by the Raptors / Bucks later.

Jeff Bzdelick coming out of retirement last year saved their season last year, not James Harden's heroics. That's not happening again!

[SlimShady83]

I agree with all of you who think Utah, Nugs are likely gonna finish the regular season at the top.

I figure Lakers, Clips, GSW(don't disrespect Curry or the Warriors), Trailblazers and Spurs in the middle.

Harden, Russ and Mike D'Antoni will be featured in the book - "How to not win in the playoffs for Dummies"

I agree with you about the playoffs part, they'll probably fold out 1st or 2nd round ... But thankfully this was about the regular season and who you think will be the top 8 teams nothing to do with PO - but yeh I do agree they probably won't get far - but who knows anything can happen between now and then

[lazybatman]

I agree with all of you who think Utah, Nugs are likely gonna finish the regular season at the top.

I figure Lakers, Clips, GSW(don't disrespect Curry or the Warriors), Trailblazers and Spurs in the middle.

Harden, Russ and Mike D'Antoni will be featured in the book - "How to not win in the playoffs for Dummies"

I agree with you about the playoffs part, they'll probably fold out 1st or 2nd round ... But thankfully this was about the regular season and who you think will be the top 8 teams nothing to do with PO - but yeh I do agree they probably won't get far - but who knows anything can happen between now and then

I mentioned a few teams there. Who are you talking about bro?

[MAMBAEMD]

Utah
DEN
LAL
LAC
HOU
POR
SAS
GSW