Western Conference predictions

[babyjax13]

RS:
1. Jazz
2. Suns
3. Lakers
4. Warriors
5. Mavericks
6. Nuggets
---
7. Timberwolves
8. Clippers
9. Trailblazers
10. Grizzlies
---
11. Pelicans
12. Kings
13. Thunder
14. Spurs
15. Rockets

Playoffs
1. Jazz vs. 8. Trailblazers (win play-in) ---> Jazz
2. Suns vs. 7. Clippers (win play-in) ---> Suns
3. Lakers vs. 6. Nuggets ---> Lakers
4. Warriors vs. 5. Mavericks ---> Warriors

2nd round:
Jazz vs. Warriors ---> Warriors
Suns vs. Lakers ---> Lakers

Conference Finals
Warriors vs. Lakers ---> Warriors

So the Warriors' lineup should be ---

Wiseman / Looney
Draymond / Bjelica / Iggy
Klay / OPJ / Kuminga
Wiggins / Poole / Moody
Curry / Mannion

You think they win the West?

I think they have a great chance. Nico Mannion is also playing in Italy next year, so he won't be in their rotation, my bet is on Poole getting the backup minutes to Steph, and he's pretty decent.

[Crives]

1. NBA darlings the lovable Phoenix Suns. What a fine collection of young men assembled by one of the best run organizations in the league. Easily the NBA's most dedicated and classiest fanbase too. After a dominant 12-4 run through the western conference, an improved roster, and the internal development of its young core, the mighty Suns should be shining even brighter this year. For fans of basketball played at its purest form, be sure to check out the Phoenix Suns this year. A sight to behold and a delight to the senses!

You forgot to mention the beloved owner, Robert Sarver, known throughout the league as a beloved owner who has always looked out for his teams' best interests. We haven't seen such a fine individual since Donald Sterling.

Lakers fans complaining about Robert Sarver when Jeanie Buss just let Caruso walk over a couple million?

[Crives]

Assuming Kawhi/Jamal don’t make miraculous early recovery

Tier 1: Suns/Jazz
Tier 2: Clippers
Tier 3: Mavs/Denver/Lakers
Tier 4: Warriors/Kings/Timberwolves
Tier 5: Pelicans/Blazers/Memphis
Tier 6: Houston/Spurs
Tier 7: OKC

[Openheimer]

I don’t buy Klay Thompson by himself is going to propel the warriors from a team that missed the playoffs to all the way up the rankings or a conference finals. Unless the warriors add another legit all star like Dame or Beal I don’t see a huge jump. Especially given klays age and coming off two career threatening injuries I’ll go with a lakers V Suns conference final.

[weekend_warrior]

I don’t buy Klay Thompson by himself is going to propel the warriors from a team that missed the playoffs to all the way up the rankings or a conference finals. Unless the warriors add another legit all star like Dame or Beal I don’t see a huge jump. Especially given klays age and coming off two career threatening injuries I’ll go with a lakers V Suns conference final.

Warriors weren't missing another star last season, they were missing solid role players. Just look at what they got out of their roster last season outside of Steph and Dray, who played extremely well (and the games with Steph had them going at a pace for a 6th seed despite the terrible role players):

Wiggins: reliable, good role player
Poole: came back very strong after the G-league stint but was a non-factor at the beginning
JTA: gave some good minutes later in the season
Looney: solid vet with a minutes restriction, also had injury time

Oubre: didn't know what he was doing, got injured when he finally went to a bench role
Paschall: had a good start, but then was banged up all year, pretty much useless and now traded away
Wiseman: didn't know what he was doing, injured in between, when he started to figure it out a bit he got injured again
Chriss: injury in the first week, out for the season, then cut
Bazemore: some solid games, but also a lo of boneheaded mistakes
Lee: end of the bench player
Mulder: should fall off the end of bench player
Wanamaker: horrible player, killed every line-up he was in, traded away at deadline

Wiggins was the only other player that was constantly useful and available outside of Steph and Dray. Poole came up strong at the end of the season, JTA showed promise and Looney was solid when healthy.

[garrick]

Lakers
Jazz
Nuggets
Mavs
Suns
Warriors
Clippers
Grizz

I'm skeptical of the suns this year. An underrated, under discussed part of their success last year was the historically good injury luck they had last season. Basically every one of their key players was completely healthy the entire season. It's unlikely that happens again.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Besides CP3 the Suns are a young team without a history of injuries so I don't really think the odds of someone not named Chris Paul will miss a big chunk of the season are that high.

The reason many are ranking the Lakers so low is that AD is injury prone, LBJ has missed big chunks of the last two seasons injured and their team has a bunch of aging vets on their last legs.

I wouldn't rank them as low as 8th but I think they are anywhere in the 5-7 range due to load management for both LBJ and AD.

[deadfeather]

1. Denver (by health)
2. Lakers (by health and NBA champions on the first of a 6-peat)
3. Clippers (Nipping on the heels of the Lakeshow but never close enough)
4. Dallas (Luka is a 4th MVP candidate after LBJ, AD and Westbrook)
5. GS ( Klay is slow to return, they seem unbeatable at points except for the Lakeshow)
6. PHX (CP3 regresses in great fashion after thumbing his nose at the Lakeshow during free agency)
7. UTAH ( Defense is still amazing but all healthy they cant overcome anyone above them)
8. NO
9. MEM
10. MIN
11. SAC
12. POR (Dame leaves to the East. Maybe Philly or NY ((But not for much as they will miss out on Simmons and probably get Tobias and a 2nd)), the franchise is sold and moved to either VAN, SEA, or LV and they begin the rebuild)
13. SA
14. OKC
15. HOU

[rilamann]

I feel like the Suns will win the west fairly easily.

Lakers look like a 70 win team on paper......if it was 2012. Unfortunately for the Lakers it will be 2022 and they are too old and too injury prone. Jamal Murray coming back for the Nuggets means the Suns beat them in 5 or 6 instead of 4 like last time. Jazz aren't beating the Suns in a best of 7 series. Klay coming back makes the Warriors a #5 or # 6 seed, not a contender. The Mavs are kind of a wild card because of Luka, but I don't see them beating the Suns in a best of 7 series either.

[jkvonny]

1. NBA darlings the lovable Phoenix Suns. What a fine collection of young men assembled by one of the best run organizations in the league. Easily the NBA's most dedicated and classiest fanbase too. After a dominant 12-4 run through the western conference, an improved roster, and the internal development of its young core, the mighty Suns should be shining even brighter this year. For fans of basketball played at its purest form, be sure to check out the Phoenix Suns this year. A sight to behold and a delight to the senses!
2. Jazz. Improved an already solid roster. I think Gobert will respond well to struggling against the Clippers' small ball lineup last year.
3. Denver. Young team with lots of potential. Solid core around Jokic, Murray and MPjr.
4. Mavericks. Luka alone is enough to have this team playing in the 4-6 range.
5. The Memphis Grizzlies. Will improve due to their young core getting better. Didn't like their offseason moves, but Adams will still look good on this team.
6. Those pesky Los Angeles Clippers. Had a solid offseason bringing back Reggie Jackson (I thought for sure he would be gone). Would have been higher if it wasn't for the Leonard injury.
7. Golden State Warriors. IMO this team should have gone all in trading away the picks they got from Minny for proven contributors. That being said, if steph and klay can stay healthy this team will be dangerous.
8. Defending play-in champions the Los Angeles Lakers. Will they repeat as play-in champs? That's yet to be seen as they'll face fierce competition from the pelicans and wolves - two teams loaded with young talent going up against the aging and rapidly declining Lakers.
----
9. The Pelicans
10. The Wolves
11. Kings
12. Blazers
13. Spurs
14. Rockets
15. Thunder.

I think this.

TWolves/Kings (trying to break a long non playoff streak, gettin there!) can go either way. Fighting for last play in spot. Both young, up and coming teams. Kings need a better coach though. So may leans towards Minny.

[jkvonny]

The Spurs aren't even close to the play-ins with this team.

People underestimate what Demar was for that team. We are about a 15-20 win team right now.

I'm afraid we gonna suck again, even worse. No Mills, DeMar, Gay.
Mostly young guys on the team. SA Spurs in full rebuild mode.
We haven't gone through multiple yrs like this since the mid-late '80s. Bring it on !

[jkvonny]

There are some delusional Laker fans out there.

[deadfeather]

There are some delusional Laker fans out there.

For thinking they are a top home seed? I've thought this thread was pretty mild.

[KingFox]

Ya'll always put these specific teams ahead of the Kings and even with Fox missing like 30 games i don't think they were too far off from the play in. Despite Luke Walton being awful i realize there's no difference between 11th seed and 14th btw


Let us have something

[psimanic1]

Assuming Kawhi/Jamal don’t make miraculous early recovery

Tier 1: Suns/Jazz
Tier 2: Clippers
Tier 3: Mavs/Denver/Lakers
Tier 4: Warriors/Kings/Timberwolves
Tier 5: Pelicans/Blazers/Memphis
Tier 6: Houston/Spurs
Tier 7: OKC

You think LAC without Kawhi are better than DEN without Jamal?

[SK21209]

1. Lakers
2. Suns
3. Jazz
4. Warriors
5. Nuggets
6. Mavs
7. Clippers
8. Blazers

[Catchall]

There are some delusional Laker fans out there.

Lakers should be a top 3 team in the WC, depending on Denver's health, but due to load management and inevitable games without AD they could end up in the 3 -5 range in the regular-season standings.

The idea that Marc Gasol, Trevor Ariza and Carmelo Anthony can play 25+ effective minutes per night at their age is a fallacy. Gasol, Carmelo, Ellington and Monk (to a lesser extent) are also defensive liabilities and a step down from Caruso, KCP and Kuzma on that end.

The Lakers were one of the worst shooting teams and one of the worst half-court scoring teams in the league last year. Adding Russell Westbrook and Dwight Howard to that equation won't help much. They have to depend on Carmelo, Ellington and Monk to be their shooters, while somehow holding their defense together when those guys are on the floor.

Vogel is going to have his work cut out for him in terms of putting together 48 minutes worth of lineups that can play both ways. Lakers have to depend on AD to anchor both the offense and the defense, and they'll struggle on nights when AD can't go.

[Edrees]

1. Jazz - Built well for the regular season, will win the most games in a full 82 games season
2. Lakers - Having a big 3 will keep their record high as they are able to alternate giving them rest
3. Warriors - They are that much better with Klay back. This is a risky pick but I'm going with my gut.
4. Suns - Won't fare as well with other teams healthier this season. Still enough for a top seed.
5. Denver - Missing Murray for half the season otherwise I'd probably have them at #1.
6. Mavs - Luka. don't care about bad the rest of the team or coach is
7. Grizzlies - Will improve slightly
8. Blazers - Never know where to put them. They never miss the playoffs so I gotta include them. If lilliard is traded they'll be out of the picture obviously
9. Clippers. Will qualify for play-in with Kawhi missing most the season and coming back at the last few weeks of season. People forget PG13 also misses a lot of regular season games too. Rest of their roster isn't good long term, season will wear them down.

I don’t buy Klay Thompson by himself is going to propel the warriors from a team that missed the playoffs to all the way up the rankings or a conference finals. Unless the warriors add another legit all star like Dame or Beal I don’t see a huge jump. Especially given klays age and coming off two career threatening injuries I’ll go with a lakers V Suns conference final.

Thompson would only have to have given them 4 more wins last year to be a 5th seed. You don't think Klay is worth 4 wins? Klay Thompson is criminally underrated if he isn't worth 4 wins to a team.

I don't think you realized the difference between 5th seed and missing the playoffs last year was only 3 wins. If the Mavs won 3 less games they could have missed the playoffs last year.

[Sactowndog]

I don’t see anyone accounting for the difference in divisions which could well account for 1-2 games delta. In the west 1-2 games matters.

1) Denver: I think the top of the Northwest has the best record as Pacific Division has no easy teams.

2) Golden State: I think Golden State will get better play out of Wiseman who will take a jump and Moody is going to give them depth they don’t have. The Bjelicia signing will be sneaky good as a small ball 5.

3) Phoenix is going to have another good year as their young players step up and Paul doesn’t fall off a cliff yet.

4) Utah: they slip a bit but still come in the top 4

5) Dallas: I don’t like them that much but 8 games against Houston and San Antonio will give them the edge is a tight middle of the west conference

6) Lakers: assuming they stay healthy the Lakers could be here or swapped with the top Pacific Division teams.

Play in teams

7) Memphis: I’m assuming Memphis makes a slight jump and also benefits from 8 games against Houston and San Antonio and perhaps splits against New Orleans.

8) Clippers: Clippers kept most of their guys and added some athletic kids. I think they will get better as the season wears on and if the get Kahwai late. But with no easy wins in division they fall to 8th

9) Minnesota: I think this team takes a leap and benefits from Pat Bevs defensive intensity and the growth of their 2nd tier guys.

10) Portland: I think Portland, New Orleans and Sacramento fight it out for 10th. Portland gets 4 games with OKC and may split with Minnesota. But with no defense I think Minnesota goes by them. If Portland gets 4 games against Houston it will help.

11) New Orleans: I think New Orleans just falls short but can see them getting by Portland to get the 10th playin spot. Zion grows a bit and needs to play defense and they need to play hard for their new coach.

12) Sacramento: this is going to depend on how many games Sac gets with Houston, OKC and San Antonio. Sac will struggle to go 4-12 in division which creates a significant gap to overcome. Also Mitchell is great but Sac did nothing to upgrade their poor wing play with either pick.

13-15: OKC, Houston, San Antonio. all depends on how hard these teams tank after the all-star break. I don’t think OKC’s shenanigans went un-noticed by the league office nor was their very poor lottery results random chance.

[Sactowndog]

1. Jazz - Built well for the regular season, will win the most games in a full 82 games season
2. Lakers - Having a big 3 will keep their record high as they are able to alternate giving them rest
3. Warriors - They are that much better with Klay back. This is a risky pick but I'm going with my gut.
4. Suns - Won't fare as well with other teams healthier this season. Still enough for a top seed.
5. Denver - Missing Murray for half the season otherwise I'd probably have them at #1.
6. Mavs - Luka. don't care about bad the rest of the team or coach is
7. Grizzlies - Will improve slightly
8. Blazers - Never know where to put them. They never miss the playoffs so I gotta include them. If lilliard is traded they'll be out of the picture obviously
9. Clippers. Will qualify for play-in with Kawhi missing most the season and coming back at the last few weeks of season. People forget PG13 also misses a lot of regular season games too. Rest of their roster isn't good long term, season will wear them down.

I don’t buy Klay Thompson by himself is going to propel the warriors from a team that missed the playoffs to all the way up the rankings or a conference finals. Unless the warriors add another legit all star like Dame or Beal I don’t see a huge jump. Especially given klays age and coming off two career threatening injuries I’ll go with a lakers V Suns conference final.

Thompson would only have to have given them 4 more wins last year to be a 5th seed. You don't think Klay is worth 4 wins? Klay Thompson is criminally underrated if he isn't worth 4 wins to a team.

I don't think you realized the difference between 5th seed and missing the playoffs last year was only 3 wins. If the Mavs won 3 less games they could have missed the playoffs last year.

Yep it was tight and divisions and the delta in schedules now we are back to 82 games is going to matter.

[JasonStern]

Every year, half of the general board predicts the Blazers won't make the playoffs. And for 8 straight years, Dame has proven them wrong. And yet here we are, with half of the general board predicting the Blazers won't make the playoffs. Dame/CJ/Powell/Covington/Nurkić may be a flawed roster, but it's still talented enough to lose in the 1st round to somebody.