1. Oklahoma City Thunder
I'm going to guess that having Westbrook healthy for an entire year will help the Thunder just enough to get the top seed. Other than that, I'm banking on internal development from their core group of players to push them over the top since they haven't done anything in the offseason to really impress anyone.
2. San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs haven't really done anything to improve themselves either, but then again... did they really need to after winning the championship? Their roster is still complete and one of the other reasons I think the Thunder end up with a better record than these old chaps is because Popovich is going to rest his stars on various occasions.
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| How fans react when they attend a game where Popovich doesn't play his Big 3 |
With a new head coach and strengthened bench, the Warriors should finally show dominance as an elite team in this league. Last year they were extremely thin at center with recurring injuries to Andrew Bogut but this year they should have two defensive minded anchors protecting their paint with the Australian big man and Ezeli fully recovered. They also won't need to rely on Curry and Thompson so heavily as they brought in Shaun Livingston and Brandon Rush to back them up. Livingston has good ball handling skills and the maturity to run an offense and Dub fans are all too familiar with Rush's shooting ability. Just as importantly, both have good size/versatility and play solid defense.
4. Los Angeles Clippers
The team lost depth with the departure of Darren Collison, making Chris Paul's health that much more vital during the course of a long 82 game season. One slip-up or a few precautionary rest days can bring their seeding down from the previous year. I do like their signing of Spencer Hawes though, since he is a big who can reliably spread the floor to the three point territory, something the Clips haven't had before.
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| I just wanted to include a picture of Chris Paul's son because I think he's downright adorable in all those All State commercials |
Let me begin by saying that I think that Chandler Parsons is getting overpaid after his hefty new contract. Definitely an upgrade for them, but still, grossly overpaid. Fortunately for the Mavericks, Mark Cuban is willing to dig deep into his pockets and Nowtizki signed for less than what he could have demanded in an open market. Tyson Chandler also gives them much needed help at Center. On their championship team he completely changed the face of their defense and should do so the same again this year. With these two notable upgrades it's very possible they sneak into one of the top 4 seeds and secure home court advantage in the first round.
6. Portland Trailblazers
Their roster pretty much stays the same minus a change at their backup point guard spot. Mo Williams provided a nice shooting touch and much needed veteran leadership on what's otherwise an incredibly young squad, but they replaced him with someone who is also quite serviceable in Steve Blake. The high potential of the starting lineup makes them formidable but it may take awhile before we get to see it completely come together.
7. Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies managed to win fifty games last year even without Marc Gasol for a stretch of the season. They may not be flashy or impressive to people on paper, but this team usually finds ways to win games through gritty defense. Not much can be said about these guys since nothing has really changed. Tight core that plays smart basketball to win tough games.
8. Houston Rockets
I really want to sneak the Pelicans in here because I have a man crush on Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon may have a healthy season for once, but I know the team isn't good enough to come out as a playoff team in such a competitive Western Conference. A team that can actually shake things up with their hustle and try hard attitude are the Phoenix Suns. With that said, I'm going to stick with the Rockets though even though they lost key role players like Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons, and Omer Asik. Harden and Howard are a menacing duo that can win games even against the best of teams.
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