| WizFans 2007-2008 NBA Western Conference Preview Authored by Scott Shniderman - November 3, 2007 - 10:53 am
November 3, 2007
By Scott Shniderman
Earlier this week, my article previewed the Eastern Conference. Today let’s head West to look at the Conference many feel is vastly superior, talent-wise. One superstar has left the Western Conference’s Land of 1,000 Lakes for Beantown, is another about to leave Hollywood for The Windy City? This article was written before any possible trade of Kobe Bryant away from the Lakers. Here is the West, in order of predicted finish, let’s get it on ladies and gentlemen.
CONTENDERS
PHOENIX SUNS (59-23)
Is this the year that the Suns finally rise in the West? The pieces are all in place. Nash, Amare, Marion, Diaw and Kobe-stopper Raja Bell are ready to find out. The Suns also added some veteran firepower for the bench, signing Grant Hill away from Orlando in a last ditch effort to win that elusive first franchise championship. Leandro Barbosa could be a starter, even a star, for at least half of the league’s backcourts. He’s that good. The Matrix is the X-factor. Shawn Marion has made some grumblings in the offseason about taking a back seat to the team’s two bigger stars – Nash and Stoudemire- and potentially wanting a trade out of the desert. If Marion calms down, this team’s run-and-gun style will be very fun to watch, good enough to make a run for the Larry O’Brien championship trophy.
DALLAS MAVERICKS (58-24)
So much for that MVP trophy Dirk. The Mavs faded out quicker than any other #1 seed in playoffs history, losing to an exciting 8-seed, the Golden State Warriors, in last year’s NBA playoffs. Can Dallas rebound to get back to the Finals, where they lost to the Heat in the 2006 championship? Here’s betting they come darn close. Even with the playoffs choke, The Big German is still an NBA superstar and with a tremendous supporting cast, this team is too good not to contend for the title. Josh Howard is a legit stud. He does everything below the radar to help the team win. Throw in Jason Terry and Devin Harris in the backcourt and this team has some nice weapons to finish in the upper echelon of the West. Eddie Jones, Jerry Stackhouse and Erick Dampier offer nice veteran presence for Dallas to complement the younger players. The ultimate to determining if this team can go far in the playoffs, will be if someone steps up to show they can play a half-court offense when needed. Obviously, the run-and-gun didn’t work last year in their upset to Golden State in the 2007 playoffs. If they can, Dallas might make it back to the Big Stage to win their first title in franchise history.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS (56-26)
Last season, the Spurs took home their fourth NBA title in the last nine years. Why is no one talking about them as an NBA dynasty? Well, for one, none of their titles have come in back-to-back years. And secondly, the Spurs best player and possibly the NBA’s best as well, Tim Duncan, shies away from the spotlight. Duncan is unassuming, but very talented and smart - both offensively and defensively. Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen are defensive dynamos that help secure the Spurs as a top defensive team year in and year out. I’m not quite sure that Michael Finley, Brent Barry, Robert Horry and Fabricio Oberto are enough offensively to get it done. The real key to the silver and black, has to be the paparazzi favorite, Tony Parker. I’m sure you heard he married beautiful actress Eva Longoria this offseason. What you might not have heard is that Parker has been working very hard to improve his mid-range and long-distance shooting. If he can master the three-point shot, this could be the year that the Spurs do the back-to-back thing and cement their place in history among other NBA dynasties such as the Lakers, Celtics and Bulls.
ALMOST THERE
DENVER NUGGETS (54-28)
Will the real Denver Nuggets please stand up? Is it a team loaded with scorers ready to make a deep run in the NBA Playoffs, or is it the team that has won a grand total of four playoff games over the last four seasons. This season will be one that Nuggs fans hope it all comes together. With a full season of Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, this team will put up scoring in bunches. Throw in Kenyon Martin, who missed most of last season following microfracture surgery on his knee, Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Camby and J.R. Smith, who filled in admirably when Anthony was suspended a league-high fifteen games last season for his role in a mid-season brawl with the New York Knicks, and this team has as strong of a starting five as any other in a loaded Western Conference. With Nene also returning from a season-long injury to his knee last year and underrated role players Linas Kleinas, PG Chucky Atkins and F Eduardo Najera ready to contribute, this team could be a major sleeper to win the West.
HOUSTON ROCKETS (51-31)
If their big two could ever stay healthy, this team could contend for a championship. There is no other team that has a better low-post (Yao Ming) and scoring (Tracy McGrady) presence than the Houston Rockets. The injury bug has and will continue to be this team’s worst enemy. T-Mac and Yao both missed significant time – again – with injuries last season. Their health is critical to the team’s success. I must say, I was questioning the Rockets decision to trade away potential future superstar Rudy Gay at last year’s draft for Shane Battier. But Battier is a great glue guy for the team’s makeup and it turned out to be a tremendous swap for the Rockets. The Rockets added Spanish superstar PF Luis Scola in a draft deal steal from the Spurs. Scola was the MVP of his league in Spain in two of the last three years and adds another low-post threat to Houston’s frontcourt.
Chuck Hayes and Dikembe Mutombo will look to fortify the front line off the bench, but perhaps the most important piece of Houston’s second team puzzle will come from the re-acquisition of two former Rockets guards. Steve Francis, who has been longing for a return to H-Town ever since they traded him to Orlando in the McGrady trade, returns to the team where he was once considered the team’s superstar. Well, after stops in Orlando, New York and even Portland for a few days after a draft day trade in June, he is back in the city which nicknamed him Stevie Franchise. The Rockets also went out and traded for Mike James, who has a spectacular season with Toronto and a not-so-great campaign with Minnesota since he left Houston three years ago. If Francis and James can return to play prominent roles, this Rockets team might be looking at its first title-contending team since the days of Hakeem and Clyde the Glide.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (47-35)
The Warriors were last season’s feel good story. During the first round of the NBA Playoffs, Oracle Arena was as loud as it had been since back in the day of Run TMC. Golden State fed off the energy of its fans and pulled off the improbable upset of the 67-15 Dallas Mavericks in the first round. Baron Davis showed he can play like an MVP candidate when healthy and Stephen Jackson emerged as a go-to guy in clutch situations. Monta Ellis had a tremendous season and announced his arrival as an NBA star. Al Harrington and Andris Biedrins round out the exciting starting five for the Warriors, who are very talented. Jackson is an enigma, capable of scoring twenty-plus points any given night or getting into a strip club gun-shooting incident the next. Well, Jackson is suspended the first seven games for his now infamous Indianapolis strip club incident, which took place last October. Back in 2004, Jackson was also involved in the worst brawl in NBA history as a member of the Indiana Pacers with teammate Ron Artest against the Detroit Pistons. Jackson claims the nonsense is behind him and this will be his and Harrington’s first full season to play alongside Baron Davis in Oakland. Matt Barnes, Mikael Pietrus, Kelenna Azubuike provide great energy off the bench and Golden State acquired PG Troy Hudson this offseason to backup B-Davis, who has a tough time staying healthy over an entire season. The Warriors will be out to prove last year’s exciting playoff run was not a fluke.
JUST IN
UTAH JAZZ (44-38)
The Jazz started out like gangbusters, faded a bit down the stretch, but recovered to make the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. Deron Williams is an emerging superstar at the 1. He doubled his assists from 4.5 to over 9 last season and had a superb playoffs. Carlos Boozer provides an amazing 20-10 every night and Mehmet Okur gives the team another outside presence from the 5, which is a unique trait. Paul Millsap and Ronnie Brewer provide some additional exciting youthful energy to the squad. But the key lies with their embattled SF Andrei Kirilenko. He is too good to only have averaged 8 points and 4 rebounds a game. If AK-47 can stay healthy this team will show that they can hang with the big boys out West.
NEW ORLEANS HORNETS (42-40)
All-everything point guard Chris Paul provides this team with a natural leader. Peja Stojakovic will be a huge help to the Hornets, as they lacked a true three-point threat last season. David West and his 18 points and 8 rebounds per game is the real deal at PF and last season Tyson Chandler showed why the Bulls had such high hopes for him for the last few seasons before they finally gave up on him. The hard pill to swallow for Hornets fans was that all four of these players were injured at some point last season. Even with their bad luck on the court as far as injuries were concerned, the Hornets still finished just three games out of a playoff spot last year. Their players look to be healthy and New Orleans added Morris Peterson to the mix as well. Throw in G-F Rasual Butler, who filled in admirably during the rash of injuries last year, PG Bobby Jackson and lottery pick big-man Julian Wright from Kansas and the Hornets are thinking playoffs again. If the injury bug stays away, the New Orleans Hornets can give New Orleans something to cheer about in 2007-2008.
JUST OUT
LOS ANGELES LAKERS (40-42)
The league’s biggest story this offseason has been the myriad of trade requests from Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant. The on-again, off-again nature of Kobe’s comments will ultimately be this team’s undoing. If Kobe stays, this team can be dangerous, but he has made several requests to get out of town, and even if the team holds onto him, the possible trade looming will be too much for the squad to overcome. Kobe is the best pure baller in the league, a legit threat to score 50 points each and every night. Lamar Odom is a solid complementary piece, although he is injured to start the season with a bum shoulder. Andrew Bynum could be a good big man, but is still a few years away. The point guard situation on the team is also very unsettled with Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar and Jarvis Crittendon all battling for minutes. Ronny Turiaf, Luke Walton and Brian Cook split the minutes in the front court. Beyond Kobe, this team is devoid of much talent. If Buss were to trade all-everything Bryant, he better get a huge return, or else there will be many unhappy Lakers fans over losing Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (38-44)
The team with last year’s worst record in the NBA somehow slipped all the way to the number 4 pick in the draft. I guess there goes any argument for all you conspiracy theorists who say that tanking games will guarantee you the number 1 pick in the draft. Even with this bit of bad luck precluding the Grizzlies from acquiring Greg Oden or Kevin Durant, Memphis had a very solid offseason. Pau Gasol should be all the way back from his ankle injury and the Grizz went out and acquired his best friend and 2 guard, Spaniard Juan Carlos Navarro, from the Wizards. Memphis also signed former draft night phenom, Darko Mlicic, away from Orlando. In Memphis’s low-key environment, Mlicic might shine. Rudy Gay and Mike Miller are both very underrated scorers. The Grizzlies have a trio of point guards-Damon Stoudamire, Kyle Lowry and lottery pick Mike Conley to work into the rotation this season. New head coach Marc Iavaroni has a nice young nucleus to build with and I like how this team is rebuilding. They could be ready to make a return trip to the playoffs sooner rather than later.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (36-46)
This team took a huge hit to its future when Elton Brand went down with a ruptured Achilles this offseason. It’s hard to replace a virtual lock of 20 points and 10 rebounds each night. With Brand out for most of the year, other players for the Clips will need to step up. Corey Maggette might be the player who emerges. He is playing for a contract and has the talent to be a go-to guy. Chris Kaman - everyone’s trendy breakout pick from last year - did not play well in ’06-’07, but could be in line for a big bounce back season. Point guard of the future, Shaun Livingston is still recovering from his gruesome knee injury from last season, so old man river, Sam Cassell is manning the point. The Clippers signed solid role player Brevin Knight to help at the 1. Cuttino Mobley and Quinton Ross will try to elevate the Clippers into the playoffs, but I just don’t see it happening.
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS (31-51)
The Blazers won the NBA Draft Lottery in June then lost the lottery a few months later. How, you ask? Well, they won the NBA Lottery, getting their hands on perhaps the next big NBA superstar in Greg Oden. Their has not been a prospect this hyped since a young Tim Duncan was finishing up at Wake Forest and the Spurs lucked into winning him in the 1997 NBA Draft Lottery. Well, the Blazers jumped up to the #1 pick and nabbed the Ohio State big man Oden. The bad news for Blazer fans is that Oden ended up needing microfracture surgery on his knee and is out for his entire rookie season. If Kevin Durant, an athletic scorer from Texas, who went second to the Seattle Supersonics in this year’s draft turns out to be rookie of the year, Blazer fans are praying that they don’t have a repeat of the 1985 draft - when Portland passed on an athletic player named Michael Jordan to take Sam Bowie, a big man with injury questions. The Blazers also traded away their best player from last year, Zach Randolph this offseason. Even with these two players gone, Portland has some nice talent, with last year’s rookie of the year Brandon Roy returning, although Roy has health questions about his heel heading into the season.
SACRAMENTO KINGS (30-52)
I’m not quite sure the direction that the Sacramento Kings are headed. It seems like it was just a few years ago when this team was a legit Western Conference contender, year in and year out. Now, they are making a move to be one of the worst teams in the West. Ron Artest just hasn’t been as good since his move to Sac Town. Brad Miller has done nothing to get better and now Mike Bibby is out for the first 8-12 weeks of the season with torn ligaments in his thumb. Perhaps Bibby’s injury will inspire Artest, as the two never seemed to get along - either on or off the court. Kevin Martin had a breakout season last year and is probably the best player on this team right now, along with Artest. Kenny Thomas and Shareef-Abdur Rahim are shells of their former selves and I would be shocked to see this team make it to the postseason.
SEATTLE SUPERSONICS (29-53)
The good news: Seattle has a bright future ahead with lottery picks Kevin Durant and Jeff Green in the fold. The bad news: the Sonics lost their top two scorers from last season – Ray Allen to acquire Green and Rashard Lewis to free agency. I think Durant will pick up the scoring slack from day one and has a great shot at being this season’s rookie of the year. Seattle also has a very youthful frontcourt with Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox ready to contribute major minutes this season. Wilcox has had a tremendous pre-season and some are predicting a breakout season for the former Maryland Terrapin. If Durant emerges as a superstar immediately and Wilcox can take the big leap, this team might be a lot better than people think on the offensive end. Their downfall will be their defense, or lack thereof. An impending stadium referendum also has the team’s future in Seattle in doubt, as new owner Clay Bennett has already made it clear that he wants to move the team to Oklahoma City. Time will tell if I am writing next year’s article about the Oklahoma City Sonics.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (26-56)
It’s tough to trade away one of the best players in the history of the NBA. But that is exactly what the Minnesota Timberwolves did in the offseason by trading The Big Ticket, Kevin Garnett, to Boston for a plethora of young talent. I am a little shocked that they couldn’t get any team to include a legit All-Star and a promising youngster in a package for KG, but the players Minnesota received from Boston have unlimited potential. Al Jefferson could be a breakout star in the NBA, he definitely has the skills to be a 20-10 big man on a yearly basis. SF Gerald Green, last year’s slam dunk champion, also made his way to Minnesota in the deal. Green could be the X-factor of the trade, with his sky-high, yet inconsistent, potential. Minnesota also picked up SF Corey Brewer in this year’s lottery to go with other former college stars Rashad McCants and Randy Foye. Recently, Foye suffered a knee injury late in the preseason and is expected to be out for the first few weeks of the season. With Foye out, this is the time for Sebastian Telfair to show he can belong in this league. If not, Bassy might be on his way out of the league. This Timberwolves team will have a very good shot at landing next year’s number 1 pick. Hmm, do you think NCAA superfroshes Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley or OJ Mayo would look good in T-Wolves blue? That’s a debate for an entirely different article.
Well, there you have it - the Western and Eastern Conference previews. I hope you are as excited for the NBA season as I am. Enjoy the hoops and be sure to check back throughout the year for more roundball recaps.
Reach Scott with any comments or questions at scottx2000@yahoo.com.
|
