The Pippens Of Today: Western Conference Edition

In a Nuggets Team full of exciting players, Chauncey Billups is definitely the second option to Carmelo Anthony.

Mr. Big Shot is used to the spotlight but ever since his transfer from Detroit he has taken the second seat in the strong Denver lineup.

Billups is and always will be a highly rated clutch player, but in Denver the face of the franchise is Carmelo and will be for a while, that's not to say that Chauncey doesn't make a very good sidekick to have in pressure situations that you can always count on him to pull through.

Ever since Kevin Garnett was traded the fans of the Timberwolves didnt have much to laugh about until they went to the lottery twice.

They now have a superstar in Al Jefferson and two potential future all-stars in Johnny Flynn and Kevin Love.

Jefferson's sidekick, at least for now, is the sophomore Kevin Love who made a strong push for the Rookie of the Year trophy.

Love is a good dominating inside presence because of his size and post skills and hes also quite fun to watch.

He is potentially an all-star but for now he has to settle to playing second fiddle too Al Jefferson, and that is obviously good news for the fans who have not had a lot too laugh about since Kevin Garnett left for Boston.

The superstar is Kevin Durant, call me an idiot but that dude is going to the hall of fame after hes done with the NBA.

Now the debate is that Jeff Green is the Scottie Pippen to Kevin Durant's Jordan but my opinion is that Russell Westbrook, who has been making a lot of noise (he even had a triple double in his rookie year), is definitely the second option in this team, just because he has so much potential to be a superstar, he is one of the many class acts in last years draft class and can be ranked right up there in the top 5 of this years sophomore season.

This team has so much potential that Westbrook and Durant could possibly be the nest Jordan and Pippen. For all i care Jeff Green can be Horace Grant.

Brandon Roy is a superstar, and the way hes playing, a future MVP at least.

LaMarcus Aldridge is often overlooked, but he is the co-captain and always a very useful player to have considering he can score and is also working on his defense.

Roy often takes the spotlight as the leader of the Blazers but Aldridge is always there to lighten his load, he is a player that is big enough and strong enough to play bout forward and center and he is a useful addition to both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.

Deron Williams is right up there with Chris Paul in term of point guards in the league, or at least his stock is rising as he leads the Utah Jazz as their Franchise Player.

Carlos Boozer is like the Karl Malone to Deron Williams John Stockton. He's an all-star that has weak knees and its a shame that he earns so much money for sitting around despite the fact that hes an all-star caliber player when he is fit and running.

Boozer helps turn Utah from an alright team with a superb point guard to a contender, it really is a shame that Boozer cannot keep fit because they would be right up there in the race for the 3/4 seeds in the Western Conference with Boozer playing second option to Deron Williams for a whole season without blowing out his knees.

The superstar for the Dallas Mavericks is Dirk Nowitzki who has an MVP to his name and is among the best international players to ever play in the league. Jason Kidd is the leader but the franchise player is definitely the big German.

His sidekick in this case is the sleeper pick from the 2003 draft, Josh Howard. Based on his playoff performance against San Antonio and even his regular season play, Josh Howard is a solid player and also a all-star but when hes not injured.

He has matured as a player and even with his off court problem he has been a very good sidekick for the Mavs, the only problem is in the coming season Shawn Marion is very likely to take over the sidekick role as he combines with Nowitzki, but for now we can count on Josh Howard to help out Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki .

Houston has a problem, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming are both the superstars on the Houston Rockets, problem is they are both injured and are probably not going to play many games this coming season.

That leaves Houston as a workman's team so assuming that both T-Mac and Yao are fit we can say that their sidekick is Shane Battier.

Battier is quite an underrated player, he is an excellent defender and most people assume that he can guard Kobe as much as Kobe can possibly be guarded.

He is not bad at the offensive end, meaning he does as much as work as needed.

Now that the co-captain/superstars are out Battier is going to take over as the leader of the young team, 09-10 seems to be his year to lead the Rockets with the help of Trevor Ariza, Luis Scola and Aaron Brooks.

Everyone seems to think that OJ Mayo is the best player on the Grizzlies, but in my opinion it is most definitely Rudy Gay, he is the best player just because he is more experienced and therefore more acknowledged.

Although OJ here is the face of the franchise now the real superstar is Rudy Gay, without him the Grizzlies pretty much suck.

That's not saying that Mayo is a bad player, on the contrary hes actually really good but hes not outstanding enough to be called the superstar of the team.

Nevertheless, OJ Mayo is an outstanding shooting guard who has the potential to be in the same league as Kobe/Wade/Roy, but for now he's got to stick to being the sidekick, at least until his first all-star selection.

Chris Paul is the current and future star on the Hornets team, he is among the elite of the point guards despite only being in the league for a 4 years.

What stops his team from turning into a lottery team is David West?

West is a sleeper pick from the 2003 draft who was thought to be way to short to play power forward, talk about determination, the guy is now an all-star in the western conference, where he has competition like Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitizki, Carlos Boozer and Al Jefferson.

West is an offensive machine and the Hornets are lucky to have him to help out CP3, he's not to bad on defense either.

These two are the only bright spots on the Hornet's otherwise weak roster but nevertheless David West makes a great team with CP3 whether its Tyson Chandler or Emeka Okafor recieving the alley-oops.

Tim Duncan, future Hall of Famer, 4 Times Champion, San Antonio legend. Right up there with David Robinson and George Gervin.

Tim Duncan's sidekick, Tony Parker. Parker has a hot wife and a finals MVP to his name, oh and hes still in his prime at 27 even after 3 championships, most people forget to mention that.

Out of all of the players on the list Tony Parker is the most successful sidekick. He's explosive, fast and quite underrated, i mean he's in quite illustrious company having won a finals MVP.

Oh and did I mention he has a hot wife?

(Manu Ginobili is a close after, but he's pretty much a sixth man and not the guy running the floor so I chose Parker, although he is a world champion, we're talking about the NBA here)

The Golden State Warriors have a talented roster full of potential with Anthony Randolph and Anthony Morrow, but for now their leader, captain and superstar is Stephen Jackson. He is the man leading the Golden State Warriors.

His sidekick is most probably Monta Ellis drafted in the Second Round with the 40th pick in 2005, straight out of high school, he has gone on to become a really good slashing combo guard for the GSW. A

lthough you can also make a case for Corey Maggette as an offensive threat, i believe (I'm pretty sure Don Nelson does too) that Monta Ellis is the embodiment of the Warriors run and gun play.

Although theres no telling what is going to happen in the future for now Ellis is creeping towards becoming the superstar of the team.

The Clippers are the biggest losers in the NBA, and really really unlucky to boot. Right now their "superstar" is Baron Davis (soon to be replaced, hopefully, by Blake Griffin) after a disappointing season there is only two things they can be hopeful in 1. Blake Griffin, 2. Eric Gordon.

Gordon is coming of a stellar rookie season where he became known in the league as a sharpshooter that is only going up.

I have a feeling that he is going to stay a career sidekick if Griffin turns out to be as good as hyped. But either way Gordon is a potential future all-star and something that Clippers fan's have to cheer about in the coming seasons, with Gordon and Griffin in their ranks as well as Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby and Davis the Clipper fans can finally get their hopes up about the future. Hoping that they stay healthy.

1. Shaq Leaves Lakers - 2004
2. Kobe fails to get to the finals - 2005 - 2007
3. Pau Gasol is traded to Lakers - 2008
4. Kobe goes to the finals - 2008 - 2009
5. Kobe finally wins ring - 2009

You do the math.

Kevin Martin is pretty much the only thing that the Kings have to smile about and he's dropping 50 points here and there. He really is a superstar.

Tyreke Evans, I hope for the sake of the Sacramento fans, is going to be K-Mart's new sidekick. He has shown some good skills in the summer league and was hyped up to be a very good point guard in a deep point guard class.

Hopefully he will be able to restore some of the pride to the King's franchise by helping out Kevin Martin and making the future of the franchise not seem too bleak.

Steve Nash is a two-time MVP and the face of the Sun's franchise at least for a few years more, he is their superstar. But Amar'e stands to take that away from him at the rate he's rising.

For now he is an all-star caliber player playing with a future hall of famer, the same situation that is in San Antonio just with less championships.

Amar'e is explosive, athletic and he can score A LOT of points, he isn't to keen on defense but he's improving on everything.

In a few years he will be the superstar to build a franchise around but for now he is the Scottie Pippen to Steve Nash's Micheal Jordan and with a little bit of help from the management they might be able to turn it into a championship caliber team.

Yea guys that's pretty much it, leave a comment, hope you had fun reading.

thanks =]