How LaMarcus Aldridge Signing with San Antonio Changes the Western Conference

As a self-sustaining ecosystem, the NBA’s Western Conference is remarkably like the Fire Swamp in The Princess Bride. Outsiders (in this case, the Eastern Conference) are immediately spooked by it, and it’s filled with unusual terrors that may just as well be flame spurts, lightning sand and rodents of unusual size.

In fact, the only area in which the Western Conference differs from the Fire Swamp is that it tends to get more nightmarish by the year.

As the player himself has confirmed, the San Antonio Spurs have agreed to sign former Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge once the NBA lifts the player-movement moratorium on Thursday. Not only has this given birth to a new terror, but it has also considerably altered the landscape of the Western Conference.

Here's the big picture: Aldridge's decision to join San Antonio means the Spurs will be able to maintain their standing as a Western Conference power after Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili retire. They're now building around two legitimate All-Stars in Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard, both of whom have plenty of tread left on their tires.

But what does Aldridge's decision mean for the West this season? Let's take a look.

Are Golden State and San Antonio the favorites to meet in the Western Conference Finals?

For this particular thought experiment, we’ll give the Golden State Warriors a pass as the presumed top seed in the West. The defending champions have not made any drastic alterations to their roster, although in real life, the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder will have something to say.

Can we count San Antonio as the biggest threat to the Warriors? Many reasonable minds, such as FiveThirtyEight’s Benjamin Morris and GQ’s Bethlehem Shoals, seem to think we’re headed in that direction:

"

Really looking forward to a Spurs-Warriors Finals next year.

— Bethlehem Shoals (@freedarko) July 4, 2015"

While those predictions are tongue-in-check, they’re buttressed by a simple premise: The Spurs were a good team last year, and now they’ve added another All-Star.

As it turns out, the addition of Aldridge doesn’t look good only on paper; it should look good on the court, too. According to this fantastic video from the folks over at BBallBreakdown.com, there’s no reason to believe Aldridge won’t fit into San Antonio’s system:

Integrating Aldridge into the Spurs offense won’t be a problem. Is he, however, good enough to overcome the losses of Tiago Splitter, Marco Belinelli, Aron Baynes and Cory Joseph?

Concerns about San Antonio’s depth are legitimate, but they may be misguided. Even with a deep bench, the Spurs struggled to overcome injuries to key players last season.

Taking into account head coach Gregg Popovich’s team rest days, here’s how San Antonio fared in games without its three leading scorers:

Missing	Record
Kawhi Leonard	8-8
Tony Parker	5-7
Tim Duncan	1-2
Leonard and Parker	2-3

And here’s how San Antonio managed to get on without some of its key role players:

Missing	Record
Tiago Splitter	20-8
Manu Ginobili	7-3
Marco Belinelli	14-6

Yes, all teams will struggle more without their stars than without their role players, but this is the point: San Antonio just added a fourth player capable of taking over a game.

Even if Aldridge's impact equates to only one more victory, that could be enough to dramatically alter the playoff seeding in the West. Last season, San Antonio finished with the sixth seed. It also happened to finish just one game behind Houston for the second seed.

The Spurs now have greater flexibility to withstand an injury to a key player, and that could prove to be the difference between losing in the first round and making it to the Western Conference Finals. Houston and Oklahoma City will have some work to do to keep San Antonio from grabbing the second seed.

Welcome back to the postseason, Mr. Davis

Kyle Terada/Associated Press

Outside of San Antonio, the team that may stand to benefit the most from Aldridge’s move is the New Orleans Pelicans.

New Orleans won a tiebreaker over Oklahoma City to claim the eighth seed in the playoffs last season. If not for injuries to Kevin Durant (foot) and Russell Westbrook (hand, face), the Pelicans probably would’ve missed out on the postseason despite their 45-37 record.

Now that the rebuilding Trail Blazers are likely to vacate their playoff spot, the Pelicans have an easier road back to the first round. And in a chaotic Western Conference, there’s no bigger trump card than Anthony Davis.

Davis averaged 31.5 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks per game against Golden State in the first round. While the Warriors emerged from the series unscathed, they also could’ve found less stressful activities to pass the time in New Orleans.

If he stays healthy and the Pelicans continue to build around him, Davis is going to become a yearly postseason headache for the Western Conference. With one fewer team to worry about, there’s no excuse for the Pelicans to miss out on a return to the playoffs this season.

Player moves courtesy of ESPN.com's tracker unless otherwise noted.