2009-2010 NBA Western Conference Preview

Can this team be the best of all time? It will come really close, but ultimately, I think it will fall a game or two short of the ’95-’96 Bulls record 72 wins. The rich got richer, signing Ron Artest this offseason. Artest and Kobe had some memorable on-court squabbles last season, but Kobe welcomed Ron-Ron with open arms now that he is wearing the Purple and Gold. When you add Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum to the front court, throw in Kobe and D-Fish in the backcourt, this team looks insanely stacked. And Lamar Odom, Luke Walton and Jordan Farmar coming off the bench? Wow. I’m not really sure what might derail the Lakers express, except maybe injuries. Gasol already missed Opening Night with a tender hammy and Bynum has already had two surgeries on his knees, so his health is always a concern. If you want to nitpick, Kobe is getting up there in years, but he still has plenty left in tank. All the while, Coach Phil Jackson is making his case for the best coach of all time. This team is an overwhelming favorite to run the table and go back-to-back for the first time since Shaq and Kobe took home 3 titles in a row from 2000-2003.

The Spurs got a lot better this offseason as well. Replacing Bruce Bowen with Richard Jefferson at the 2 and Fabricio Oberto with Antonio McDyess at the 5 gives them a minimum of 20 additional points per game. Jefferson will be a huge help for Tony Parker when the Spurs are running the break. In the past, San Antone has not had an athletic wing player like RJ to finish in the open floor. Tim Duncan knows how to pace himself over the rigors of an 82-game schedule and has four NBA titles under his belt. Mr. Longoria, er, Parker, had a career year last season with 22 ppg and nearly 7 apg, he knows how to run the team at a championship level. Everyone talks about CP3 and Nash as the elite PGs in the West, but let’s not forget about Parker who shoots better than both of them and has three rings at age 27. McDyess’s career was nearly over after missing 194 of 246 games from 2001-2004. Now ‘Dyess, the former All-Star, comes to San Antonio as a different kind of player as he tries to add a title to his resume. Manu Ginobili is as healthy as he has been in years and he will lead a second unit alongside Michael Finley. The Spurs absolutely stole DeJuan Blair in the second round of this year’s NBA Draft, and he will provide some great glass-cleaning off the bench. Matt Bonner will also contribute and this team is as stacked as it has been in years. They could certainly give the Lakers a run for their money in the West and for the NBA Championship come June.

If the Lakers and Spurs are the team of right now, the Blazers are definitely the team of the future. GM Kevin Pritchard has built an amazing core and could contend for a title as soon as this year if everything breaks right for the only NBA team left in the Pacific Northwest. Everyone wanted Coach Nate McMillan to start team R-A-M-B-O with Roy, Aldridge, Miller, Batum and Oden this year. Well, Batum got injured in the preseason and is out several months, replaced by Travis Outlaw and McMillan decided to start incumbent PG Steve Blake over highly paid newcomer Andre Miller at the 1. So, it’s turned from team R-A-M-B-O to team R-A-B-O-O, but I really don’t expect Blake to be able to hold off Miller for very long. Miller is the superior talent and should be starting before the All-Star Break. Brandon Roy has quietly become one of the top 20 players in the NBA and as soon as he can lead his team deep into the playoffs, he will take the next step and be considered a franchise player. As far the disappointing career to-date of 2007 number one pick, Greg Oden? The word out of Portland is that he is recommitted and has looked tremendous this preseason. If he has anything to say about it, Oden may take the team on his 7’ frame and lead them, with Roy, all the way to the NBA Western Conference Finals.

Denver absolutely stole Chauncey Billups away from Detroit last year. Denver’s native son (Billups played high school and college ball in Colorado) hopes he can help his team over the hump into the elite class of the NBA this year. The Nuggets made it all the way to the Conference Finals last year, and it was because their front court was able to stay healthy. Carmelo Anthony is an NBA superstar and one of the best scorers in the Association. He is the face of the franchise and can get to the line almost at will. The Nuggets have finished 1st and 2nd the last two seasons in free throws made and taking it to the rack is this team’s strength. Nene had a breakout year averaging 14.6 ppg and 7.8 rpg and established himself as a very legit post option for the Nuggs. Kenyon Martin was rejuvenated and had a well-publicized playoff battle with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban last year, no one believes that the bad blood has simmered. It will be very interesting to see the first time the Mavs and Nuggs meet this season in the house that Cuban built out in Dallas. J.R. Smith can score in bunches and draftee Ty Lawson could be a major contributor as made evident by his 17/6 on Opening Night. The Nuggets have the horses to get back to the WCF as they did last year. They just want the chance to dance, and hope the clock won’t strike midnight early this year.

The Mavericks didn’t get much younger this offseason signing Shawn Marion and Drew Gooden to help other starters Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki. These four starters are all over 31 or older and Josh Howard will be turning 30 before the season is over. Throw in 6th man Jason Terry at age 32 and this team is going to be one of the oldest in the league. Just because they are older doesn’t mean they can’t run and this team is expected to play a very fast-tempo game, and will probably be very good at it. Marion offers a versatility this team hasn’t had in the past – he can play either forward position and even play the 5 when the team decides to go small. Nowitzki is still an elite PF and should be good for 25 points a night. Dirk will be the team’s leader and Jason Kidd will be the floor general. This team has some definite talent and with win-at-all expense owner Mark Cuban calling the shots they will have some great amenities to help ease some of their aches and pains along the way. This might be the most dangerous playoff 5 seed the league has seen in a long time.

Portland tried to pry away young Jazz PF Paul Millsap this offseason signing him to a $32 million offer sheet, a deal which many GMs around the league thought was too much to keep him in Utah with Carlos Boozer around. Well, the Jazz matched the offer and now have a powerful power forward combo that can’t be beat in the West. How these two will co-exist on and off the court is another story. Sure Millsap is a great talent, but Boozer made some comments after the signing that he expected to be shipped out of town to make room for the new 4 in town. There were several rumors that Boozer would be traded to Chicago, but nothing ever materialized. The Jazz may yet still deal the former All-Star Boozer, but they felt his value wasn’t where it should have been, as teams were trying to pry him away at 80 cents on the dollar. For now, the Jazz will hold onto both big men and hope both can produce enough to justify both big contracts. While they are making a lot of money, they are also both very talented. When you throw in Mehmet Okur at the 5 and Andrei Kirilenko at the 3, the Jazz frontcourt matches up with anyone in the West. Deron Williams is a dynamic point guard and this team has a solid foundation. However, in the stacked West, it just won’t be enough to get to the final round.

While the team is in a strange middle-ground right now, not going old like the Celtics or young like the Blazers, they still have Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire. Nash is slowing down a bit, but is still very efficient and I think he can squeeze out a few more very productive years. Stoudemire can finish like no other big man in the game, but his defense certainly leaves something to be desired. No one knows if Amar’e is going to stay in Phoenix or look to test the free agent market as part of the 2010 free agent bonanza. It would not be entirely shocking if the Suns moved him come February if they feel he is not going to resign with the team. Jason Richardson came over in a mid-season trade from Charlotte last season and a full season in Coach Alvin Gentry’s system will help. Grant Hill surprisingly stayed healthy for a full season last year and played in all 82 games for the first time in his career. Talk about a shocker. Hill spurned offers from the Celtics and Knicks this offseason to return to Phoenix. Grant knows that the Phoenix training staff is one of, if not the, best in the league. Channing Frye will be playing C for the Suns this year, and he is more of a finesse 5, so this is the perfect situation for him. Leandro Barbosa remains one of the best backup guards around, and would be a starter on half of the teams in the league. Phoenix should make the playoffs, but going against one of the top 3 in the Conference in the first round will be too much to ask of this team to advance.

Chris Paul is one of the best in the NBA. A true megastar. It’s crazy to think he went 4th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft. Do you think Milwaukee might prefer him over Andrew Bogut or Atlanta might prefer him over Marvin Williams? CP3 is the only player in NBA history to average 20 points, 10 assists and 2.5 steals per game in two consecutive years. He lost his favorite pick and roll partner, as the Hornets traded Tyson Chandler to the Bobcats for Emeka Okafor. While Chandler’s and Okafor’s game are a bit different, Paul will still enjoy feeding his big man around the basket. The only knock on Paul is that because he is so small, some think he is a bit injury prone, even though he has never missed more than 20 games in a season. Paul will be the leader of this team, but after him and PF David West, the cupboard is almost bare. West is a very good 4, he averaged 21ppg and 8.5rpg last year and is very underrated. Many casual hoops fans may not know how good he really is. Okafor really needs to step up as a third option, because other starters Julian Wright and Morris Peterson averaged a combined 8.8 ppg last year. The Hornets will probably make the NBA’s second season, but will get knocked out in the first round.

The Thunder may have the most exciting group of young players in the Association. Kevin Durant could contend for the scoring title this season. If it’s not this year, it will happen in the next three, his body just needs to catch up to his ability. Last year’s first round pick Russell Westbrook has also shown he is the real deal. He is super athletic and can really hound you on the defensive end. If he turns into an elite distributor this team could become very dangerous. Jeff Green is a very solid PF, who averaged a very sneaky 16/6 last season. James Harden was the #3 overall pick and will challenge for the starting SG position right away, while Nenad Krstic was a great signing for this team last year at the C spot. Nick Collison and Shaun Livingston offer some intriguing additional firepower off the bench. If the Thunder can keep this team together for a couple years, they can gel and become very good very fast. They might be my favorite sleeper team…for 2010-2011.

I really want the Clippers to succeed. They have exciting young players, a great city and even have cool uniforms. But, as much as I don’t believe in curses, it’s hard not to think this team may have one after the Blake Griffin injury last week. Griffin, the consensus #1 overall pick in last year’s draft, was dubbed as a can’t miss baller. He was big, athletic and, most-of-all, excited to be a Clipper. Then he hurt his knee in the preseason. He sat out a few games, and then in the last game, suffered a stress fracture in his kneecap and is out 6-8 weeks to start his Clippers career. It really is unfortunate. Marcus Camby is as brittle as they come, but if he can stay healthy, he can really post some solid numbers on a nightly basis. Griffin’s injury also opens up some time for Chris Kaman. Kaman was a monster two years ago, but last year hurt his foot and was never quite right. He seems to be poised to pick up his game and could get some major run in the time that Griffin is out. Eric Gordon had a very good rookie year. The former Indiana Hoosier averaged over 16 ppg, might lead the team in scoring and could be the 2 on the Clippers for years to come. Baron Davis was mostly unimpressive in his first season with the Clips, but he was injured and only played in 65 games last season. He has been tweeting all summer about how excited he is for the Clipper turnaround coming this year. If he can stay healthy, he might be right. While you may say that can’t be true if I have the Clippers as the 10th team in the West, remember that the 39 wins I have predicted for them is a 20 win jump from last season.

The Warriors are perhaps the most intriguing team in the NBA. No one can ever be certain what the mad scientist, Don Nelson, will do with the team’s minutes on a night-to-night basis. Let’s start with the definite. Monta Ellis will be playing the 1 and is should be a lock to score 20 per night for Golden State. After Ellis, it gets a bit murky. Everyone’s pre-season darling, Anthony Randolph, has been hampered by a bad back this preseason and will come off the bench to begin the season. I don’t expect that to last long, he is set to break out in a major way this year. Stephen Jackson sure made a lot of noise wanting a trade out of the Bay Area earlier this preseason, but apparently all of that is behind him and he is set to start on Opening Night. There was a late lineup change in the pre-season with Nelson moving Ronny Turiaf into the 4 hole, and bringing Corey Maggette off the bench. Maggette should eventually get more tick in the long run, but again, with Nellie running the show, no one can know for sure. Same thing goes for Stephen Curry, who is going to start at SG. Monta Ellis originally said he didn’t think they could play together in the backcourt, but has since backed off and Curry has some serious sleeper potential in this offense. Andris Biedrins will man the middle for Golden State and averaged a double-double last season. As long as Nelson commits minutes to him, he should get back to those numbers again this year. The Warriors will be exciting, but probably not a playoff team this year.

New year, same story for the Rockets. Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are out for Houston and Ron Artest left for LaLa land. Aaron Brooks really stepped it up at the end of the season after the Rockets traded Rafer Alston to Orlando. He can be a solid NBA point guard, but who is going to be the scorer on this team? Luis Scola has the opportunity with Yao and T-Mac out and the potential to be the go-to guy. He was a two-time Spanish League MVP (2005, 2007) and was on the NBA’s All-Rookie First team in 2008. The Rockets lost Artest, but added Trevor Ariza from the Lakers, in what turned out to basically become a swap of the two players. Ariza is younger and the Rockets are banking on the fact that he is a little more predictable than Artest. Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes are solid role players, but it might be a long hoops season in the H this season.

Al Jefferson was quietly developing into a big time front court presence before he tore his ACL and sent the Timberwolves into a tailspin to end the season. Starting 2-guard Corey Brewer also tore his ACL to makes things worse. There was a coaching change mid-season as Kevin McHale took over and led his team on a 13-10 run in the middle of the season before the Jefferson injury. After Big Al went down, the Wolves only won seven games the rest of the year. Kevin Love was a bright spot for the T’Wolves, however he broke his hand this preseason and is out the first three to four weeks of this season. Jefferson has struggled with his knee as he recovers, battling early tendinitis. If he can shake that and Love comes back strong, the Wolves will be able to crash the boards with abandon. Rookie Jonny Flynn looks to be tailor made for the NBA, but I can’t really begin to defend how the Wolves handled the situation with the number five overall draft pick Ricky Rubio. They traded solid role players Mike Miller and Randy Foye to acquire the rights to Rubio, an exciting young Italian point guard, then let him return to his European League team for three more years. It doesn’t make sense. The Wolves seem content to let him gain experience overseas, but it is even money that he never plays a game in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. To partly offset the loss of Rubio, Minny went out and signed Ramon Sessions, who can play either guard position and was wildly effective last year for the Milwaukee Bucks. Sessions is a very underrated guard and if he can mesh well with Flynn, the T’Wolves may decide to cash in their Rubio chip for a bigger piece of their future.

The Grizzlies were 29th in the league in ppg last year, so they went out and signed two big time scorers, Allen Iverson and Zach Randolph in the offseason. Randolph should be a good bet to score 20 a game, Iverson not so much. His minutes are unknown yet, and the Grizz have young ballers O.J. Mayo and Mike Conley ready to break out this season. I like both Mayo and Conley in the long-term, and the Iverson signing seems to be a clear ploy to try to sell tickets.. Rudy Gay is a very good forward in this league, and needs to take the next step to prove he can play at an All-Star level. Marc Gasol actually played very well last year averaging eleven points and seven boards per game. It’s a shame that Memphis literally traded Pau Gasol to the Lakers in a deal for his brother Marc, it would have been special to see two brothers of that caliber play alongside each other. Ironically, it was the only time in NBA history that siblings were traded for each other. Number two overall draft pick Hasheem Thabeet isn’t going to be a factor just yet. The Grizzlies have some good young players and if they get another year under their belts this season, it can only be a good thing on learning how to play together.

Doesn’t it seem like just yesterday when Chris Webber was leading this team to the Western Conference Finals and Shaquille was calling them the Queens? It’s sunk pretty low in Sacramento, as they might contend for the worst record in the history of the league. I don’t think it will get that bad, but it’s close. Kevin Martin is their best player, but he is more suited to be a team’s second or third threat as opposed to a first option. The Kings may have a future star in Tyreke Evans. As a 6’6” guard, he presents all sorts of matchup problems for opposing teams and will be the early season ROY favorite. Jason Thompson is a daily double-double threat, but after that the cupboard is pretty bare in Sactown. Hey, at least Kings fans can dream how Kentucky super frosh John Wall will look in purple and black next year.

Thanks for checking out my NBA Eastern and Western Conference previews, enjoy the hoops season and check back soon for more of my articles!