UNDER THE RADAR: WESTERN CONFERENCE

Do you think Showtime would have been as much fun without Kurt Rambis’ horn-rimmed-glasses and the Coop-a-Loop?

Would Duncan have won those championships without the ability to find Bowen in the corner (it is always the corner) for three

The answer is succinctly: no.

The saving grace of the to be determined Western Conference Champion will be their role players. More specifically, a designated guy who is expected to make a consistent contribution every night.

You want to talk about parity, the Western Conference has parity is spades, the 8th seed last year had 5o...and this year, the waters have only gotten muddier.

The Clippers got an extreme makeover, the Blazers have three early Rookie of the Year candidates and the Rockets landed Ron Artest.

But strip away all the superstars and you are left with the diamonds in the rough: the role players who can change the game without getting in the way of the real game changers.

Dallas Mavericks- Brandon Bass
Bass is an angry dude…and he has a killer 15-footer.

With the Mavericks lack of tough guys on their roster, Bass’ toughness and grit may be the X-factor on a team that is struggling to find its identity after last season’s Jason Kidd trade.

Houston Rockets- The Undersized Power Forward
The Houston Rockets seem to be enamored with undersized, bruising power forwards. They have three on their roster.

Luis Scola, Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes are the keys to the Rockets success this season.

Sure, they have Yao, T-Mac, and Ron-Ron, but it is their post defense that will propel these Rockets past the first round of the playoffs.

Landry was a key player in last season’s 22-game win streak, and was finally retained after the Rockets matched the offer sheet from Charlotte last week.

Scola, besides being the NBA’s greasiest, most disgusting looking player, proved that his Spanish ACB MVP awards were not just a fluke, making the All-Rookie First Team.

And Chuck Hayes may see his minutes cut drastically, due to the logjam presented by the overflow of forwards with the arrival of Ron Artest.

Memphis Grizzlies- Marc Gasol
Marc Gasol is everything his brother Pau is not. Pau is finesse; Marc is a banger. Pau is a born scorer; Marc is a beastly defender. Pau looks like a vulture; Marc is a Wookie refugee from Kashyyyk. Get the picture?

Marc Gasol’s skill set is reminiscent of bygone Grizzly center Bryant Reeves. Granted, Gasol is a more adept scorer, yet as far as doughy white guy toughness goes, baby Gasol and Big Country are more like brothers on the court than Pau and Marc will ever be.

New Orleans Hurrrrrnets- James Posey
Although Paul Pierce walked away with the 2008 NBA Finals MVP award, everyone knows it should have belonged to Posey.

Posey made such an indelible mark on the Boston Celtics championship run, that the name James Posey should be synonymous to Dave Roberts to Boston sports nuts. 

With Posey now buzzing in New Orleans, look for him to do what he has done in his last two stops in Miami and Boston: spark a team to a championship with intense defense and a keen ability to make EVERY big shot.

San Antonio Spurs- Ime Udoka
For three of four franchise championships, the Spurs have leaned on angry, snarling and generally pissed off Bruce Bowen to guard the opposition’s best offensive wing option. Unfortunately for the Spurs, Bowen is not getting any younger, yet Pops & Co. may have found the fountain of youth in Ime Udoka.

Udoka has the Bowen thing DOWN to a science: Angry, flypaper defense and lights out three point accuracy from the corner. Plus, he has an amazing purple birthmark on his arm that may be the greatest single natural occurrence of all time.

Denver Nuggets- Linas Kleiza
Meet Dirk Nowitzki, Junior. His name is Linas Kleiza.

When I regard Linas as “Nowitzki, Jr.” I am not merely calling him a Dirk clone; yet, I am saying that Linas has miniature versions of Nowitzki skills.

He can post up and knock down a jumper from the elbow, he can spot up for a rainbow three and he can move some bodies down on the defensive sides. Kleiza does all these things marginally well, but not superbly.

Kleiza also suffers from Big Game Syndrome. February against the Memphis Grizzlies, Kleiza will be a ghost. Crucial contest against division rival Utah, 41 points on 50% from three. Go figure.

Minnesota Timberwolves- Kevin Love

The NBA needs a player like Kevin Love. It hasn’t had one like him since Bill Laimbeer. A big, pasty white guy who won’t hesitate to throw up a 20 footer and punch someone in the balls, all on the same possession.

Kevin Love will never be the kind of player that makes multiple All-Star teams, but he will certainly have kids all over suburban Minneapolis jamming his number 42 on their T’Wolves shirts for years to come…and K-Love rocks out the line-up, Color Me Badd-style beard, and in 2008, that is a bold and auspicious move for his young career.

Oklahoma City Thunder- Not Applicable
It is not because of my previously stated refusal to acknowledge the Oklahoma City Thunder’s right to exist; it is more so because the Okie City Thunder’s roster is so miserable. Aside from Kevin Durant, who is far from below the radar, the former Sonics do not have too much to be excited about.

In fact, the city of Seattle should be rejoicing that this sorry excuse for a D-League team has been hijacked and rerouted to OKC.

When does the Seattle Supersonics expansion team start play?

Portland Trailblazers- Everyone
If you have the tri-stripe on your jersey, you are making other NBA teams pee their pants these days.

The Portland Trailblazers are the league’s best team…in 2011.

Their roster is chock full of so much talent, that it sometimes is staggering to look at. They could potentially field a lineup of Rudy, Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy and Jerryd Bayless. Three of who are rookies. That is crazy. CRAZY!

The Blazers are going to be SO good. Just give them some time to simmer, and watch the rest of the league freak out.

Utah Jazz- Paul Millsap
It makes me smile every time I think about the fact that the Utah Jazz still employ a power forward from Louisiana Tech on their roster. Perhaps it is a security blanket of sorts.

Granted, Paul Millsap will never be as good as the legendary Karl Malone, but as far as a rebound machine goes, in today’s NBA, you would be hard pressed to find a better glass cleaner than Millsap.

His muscle underneath the basket gives Utah a huge boost for 15-20 minutes per contest off the bench to beat down and tire out the other big men in the Western Conference.

Golden State Warriors- Anthony Randolph
With Baron now re-inventing the L.A. Clippers, and the Warriors left without their superstar, rookie Anthony Randolph could be the great hope of the Bay Area.

The rail thin Randolph tore up the summer league and electrified the crowd in Vegas with efficient shooting, high flying dunks and a wacky scrappy style.

It may be a tough year in Oakland, but if Randolph performs the way I think he will, it may not be so bad.

Los Angeles Clippers- Baron Davis
Now, you may not think a megastar like B-Diddy could fly under the radar, and that I should have picked sophomore sensation Al Thornton. But, what I am trying to illustrate with my selection of the Bearded one is that he has made the Clippers something nobody ever thought they could be: totally cool and charmingly engaging.

The Clips tried this scheme a few years back with Q Richardson, Darius Miles and crew, but these Clippers are actually kinda, sorta good. With a twin tower starting frontcourt of Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby, these Clippers have a chance to sneak into that token 8th seed in the West, and if nothing else, they will be wild and wacky…the little scrawny geek chic kid brother of the Lakers, if you will.

Los Angeles Lakers- Sasha Vujacic

Oh, Sash!

Your flowing hair! Your shoelace hair-tie! Your oh-so-Euro beard scruff!

Sasha Vujacic is the type of player that if he is on your favorite team, you love him, if not, you hate him so much it feels like flames on the side of your face.

Luckily, I love the Lakers therefore I love Sash.

After being retained by the Lakers, Vujacic, who toyed with a return to Europe, has lofty expectations following his breakout season, which included a 20 point outburst in the Lakers ill-fated NBA Finals appearance (...Celtics). According to numerous reports, Vujacic spent his summer doing what he was hired to do: shoot, shoot and shoot some more.

Judging how he plays this season, Vujacic may establish himself as the heir apparent to Kobe’s spot in the starting lineup.

Phoenix Suns- Leandro Barbosa
Since Joe Johnson left for Atlanta, Leandro Barbosa has been the Suns most electrifying scorer and some nights, their best player.

His speedster style and fearlessness to attack the basket has made Leandro more valuable this season than ever. With Steve Nash’s legs breaking down rapidly and Shaq decomposing before our very eyes, the Suns need a dependable torchbearer to lead their offensive charge.

Sacramento Kings- Donté Greene
After being traded two times (once on draft night) in his blink of a career already, Greene finally landed in Sacramento as a part of the Ron Artest trade. His stellar performance for Houston in the Summer League, which included a 40-point game, leads me to suspect that Greene and the city of Sacramento will get along famously.

The Kings, who announced to the world that they were officially in rebuilding mode after trading Mike Bibby and Ron Artest over the last calendar year, have a true superstar in the making in the form of Donté Greene. Mix him with sharpshooting Kevin Martin and last years diamond in the rough Beno Udrih , and the Kings may be an over-.500 team that misses the playoffs.