Just like the Eastern preview, remember- that what you read below is sure to change and is only barring injury.  Every year at least one team gets hit “hard” by the injury bug AND even the best teams in the NBA can end up in the lottery if their superstar spends any significant time on the shelf.

If we use the same criteria as the Eastern preview, in terms of 3 teirs, the West shakes down a little bit more top-heavy than the East. But much like the East, there are a lot of teams in the second teir who are not really a championship contender as they are currently constructed.

Teir 1 - the Cream of the Crop:

• These are teams who are a lock to win 50 games + and contend -not only for the West- but for the NBA title as well.
• In the Western Conference, , now while there are only two teams in the East (Boston and Detroit) who fit this criteria, at the present moment, the West houses 4 legitimate title contenders: NO, LAL, UTAH, and SA

Teir 2 - Good but not Great

• These are teams who would be a lock to make the playoffs in the East, but by being in the West, their record that will fall somewhere between .500 basketball and 55 wins makes them susceptible to ending up in the lottery.  In the Western Conference, one could argue that as many almost half the conference fits this category and ultimately some teams in the West who are this good will miss the playoffs. At least 2 and as many as 4 wont make the playoffs.
• These are teams who are “one guy away” from being in teir one: HOU, DAL, PHEO, DEN, GS, LAC, POR, SACTO

Teir 3 - Decent but not Good

• These are teams who are in the process of turning things around and on the way up probably not good enough to play .500 basketball and are a few years away from real contention in the West: MINN, MEM, OAK

TO RECAP- here are the seeds:

1 - Utah Jazz

In the West, there are a lot of teams you could argue belong in the #1 slot, but my money is on Utah. For starters, the combo of Williams and Boozer is the best PG/PF combo in basketball, and when surrounded by Okur, Korver, Brewer, and the underachieving but still valuable Kirilenko, and a coach who has made the playoffs just about every season since 1982! And you realize how deadly this team can be. They have one of the best coaches in basketball, one of the deepest benches in basketball, they are consistently one the best home teams in basketball, and are often the most physical teams in basketball (in that they go to the FT line more than any team, year in and year out). When you combine all this together with back to back 50 win seasons and back to back deep playoff runs and you have the makings of a powerhouse team about to arrive on the scene. Adding Korver last year at the deadline made them sooo much better, and how do you bet against a team that has both the brewer and the boozer working together? 60 wins is a reality.

2 - New Orleans Hornets

If you took the above paragraph and replaced the names above with: CPaul, DWest, Chandler, Stojackavic, and Byron Scott and you have the New Orleans Hornets. Im not sure Ive ever seen a season like CP3s last year, and he is only getting better. And while last year was their first trip to the post season, they gave SA all they could handle. The addition of Posey is really going to help this team. I think the full mid level for 4 years is a lot to pay, but I think it is that signing that ultimately puts them in the market for a 60 win season and moves them into the number 2 seed in the West over top of:

3 - Los Angeles Lakers

Any team that has Kobe on it and the Zen master as its coach is legit. Adding Gasol was amazing and having Bynum back should really make this team the best team in the West but I cant put money on a 19 year old centre with 33 games of NBA experience. AND the way they went out in the finals, the way they got PUNKED, I just cant get that out of my head. My fear is that they are going to overreact to that loss and deal Odom, who I think is more important to their system than most fans recognize. This team was not only too soft, it really lacked depth on the bench- losing Turiaf and pretty boy V due to cap reasons aint going to help. I love the Lakers and my heart wants to pick them as the #1 seed but when you look at how good 1-9, or even 1-10 that Utah or NO is and the fact that they won 56 and 54 games last year (the lakers won 57) its hard to argue for LA.

4 - San Antonio Spurs

They are just as boring to talk about as they are to watch, but all they do is win. Is there anybody better than Tim Duncan? 55 wins and the #4 seed is a bit of a disappointment in San Antonio and even without any real additions, its just how they roll.

5 -Houston Rockets

Here is a really strange scenario. Here you have a team with 2 real superstars in Yao and TMac, a fundamentally sound 4 in Scola, one of the most underrated wing men in Battier, and a great coach in Adelman. Every year I pick this team to finish top 3 and every year they disappoint. This time, however, Im not falling for their Jedi mind tricks. They still have no legit point guard- and every raps fan is with me on this one- Alston can not lead a legitimate championship contender. And while I had said that all teams get a clean bill of health for this preview, I find it hard to believe that Yao, after all the pressure on him this summer in the Olympics, and coming off a season ending injury, is going to have what it takes to keep the engine of this team moving. Add to that all the rumours around Tmac, who is already the most ADD player in the NBA, and while I think they’ll still win 50 games due to talent, I think its those little things that put them in the second teir. I also don’t anticipate another 22 game win streak.

6 - Phoenix Suns

I really don’t like this team. I don’t like its hire for coach, I still don’t like the trading of Marion, and more than anything else- I hate how they have done nothing to address their issues of needing a back-up point guard and a wing player to compliment Hill. But, Amare is just sooo insanely good and Nash, Shaq, Bell, Diaw, and Barbosa are too good to not win a minimum of 48 games and that I think puts that no lower than the 6 seed.

7 - Portland Trailblazers

Here comes the jump- from on the bubble to real playoff team. Even with the loss of Jones and the trading away of spare parts, this team continues to draft insanely talented players and stockpile prospects galore. Forgetting for a moment any moves the Blazers have made in the last 3 months and just simply adding Oden and Fernandez (and maybe even Kopponen) to this roster makes this team for real. FYI- love the coach. When they finally do decide to trade a bunch of their parts for a legit point guard to pair in the backcourt with Roy, this team will win 55 games and move up into teir one.

8 - Los Angeles Clippers

I really like the deal for Camby and the signing of Davis. And while this team would have been better if Brand had stayed or if they got something in a sign and trade for Magette, a starting line-up of Davis and Eric Grodon in the back court and a frontcourt of Thorton, Camby, and Kaman is pretty damn good and should be good enough to make the playoffs. Plus, unlike anyone else in the league, they STILL have cap space to make more moves.

The bad news: under these predictions, teams like Dallas, Golden State, Denver and Sacramento all miss the playoffs (since somebody in the West who wins 45+ games ultimately will).

Quickly, here’s my thoughts for why they miss the playoffs:

DAL - too old too quick. Im not sure they can recover from the JKidd trade and the Josh Howard debacle just by hiring Carlisle. And while he is a great coach, isn’t he just like Avery? Controlling, Demanding, half-court oriented? Dirk is awesome, but the rest of this team is garbage- and they have no bench. Its time to blow it up.

DEN - Why trade Camby for a 2^nd round pick if you truly believe you are a contender? Kmart and Nene are not a strong enough defense to make up for a back court of AI and Melo. This team is in trouble- because they may score 120 points a night but they are going to give up 130, easy.

GS - Magette and Turiaf in, Baron out? Still don’t understand? Ellis is not a PG- who is going to run this team?

SAC - really like this team. One more year and some parts for Artest and you have a team looking to contend again starting in 09. But still one more year away.

As always, I’m the Doctor, I’m standing in the key and I’m planning on taking a charge!

phdsteve

Technorati Tags: Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Hornets, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trailblazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz

Any mention or link on your websites or blogs to the petition would be appreciated. The vote is this week, so any and all petitions will need to be submitted fairly quickly.

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Technorati Tags: Seatle Supersonics

Boston Celtics (29-3) A+
Points: Paul Pierce 21.5; Rebounds: Kevin Garnett 10.1; Assists: Rajon Rondo 5.1.
The addition of Garnett and Allen has arguably made the Celtics the best team in the NBA. They’ve only lost 3 games (Detroit, Orlando and Cleveland) and they’re undefeated against the West. The Celtics are on pace to set a record for the most wins in NBA history and are early candidates to win it all.

Toronto Raptors (17-17) B+
Points: Chris Bosh 20.4; Rebounds: Chris Bosh 9.5; Assist: Jose Calderon 8.2.
Injuries to starting point guard TJ Ford and forward Jorge Garbajosa has hurt the Raptors depth so far this season. The emergence of Jose Calderon in Ford’s absence has been a great story, but the thought of them playing together for a full season is exciting. All-star Chris Bosh is playing great basketball, but he’d be so much better if teammate Andrea Bargnani can live up to the hype and become a consistent NBA player. It looks as though the Raptors won’t repeat as Atlantic Champs (barring a complete and terrible collapse in Bean town), but they are a playoff caliber team in the East and look to get past the first round.

New Jersey Nets (17-16) B
Points: Richard Jefferson 24.5; Rebounds: Jason Kidd 8.8; Assists: Jason Kidd 10.7.
Earlier this season the amount of trade rumours coming out of the Swamp was unreal. Kidd was rumoured to be moved to a contender so the Nets could rebuild their team, but strong play as of late has the Nets back in the playoff hunt. They lack the inside presence to compete with Detroit, Boston and Orlando, but there isn’t another team in the East that can run like the Nets. They are a playoff caliber team and can never be counted out when Kidd, Jefferson and Carter are healthy.

Philadelphia 76ers (14-20) B
Points: Andre Iguodala 19.1; Rebounds: Samuel Dalembert 9.3; Assist: Andre Miller 6.3.
The 76ers are in a rebuilding stage right now. With Allen Iverson gone, the franchise tag now belongs to Iguodala. Besides Andre Miller and Samuel Dalembert, the 76ers are as thin as you can get in the NBA. They’ve already traded Kyle Korver away to the Utah Jazz for Gordan Giricek, which created more cap room for free agent signings in the off-season and the rumours have circulated around point guard Andre Miller. Andre Iguodala in a RFA after this season and the 76ers will need to re-sign him. The playoffs are never too far out of reach when you play in the East, but I think the 76ers have aspirations of a high draft pick then of a first round sweep.

New York Knicks (8-24) F
Points: Jamaal Crawford 18.7; Rebounds: Zach Randolph 10.4; Assists: Jamaal Crawford 4.6.
The Knicks season has been nothing short of a disaster. I don’t understand why Isiah Thomas is still around when your team is tied for the worst record in the East but has one of the highest payrolls in sports history. The Knicks need to clean house ASAP. If I was GM, which I’m not, I would get rid of everyone but Randolph, Lee, Robinson, Crawford, and Balkman. It must be tough to rebuild in the Big Apple, but unless something is done soon the Knicks will be in the basement for the next 5 seasons. The Knicks have the talent to make the playoffs, but cannot seem to jell and they remain a joke around the NBA.

FAQ’s
Can the new “BIG 3″ stay healthy and win an NBA title? Can Andrea Bargnani live up to the hype and help lead the Raptors deep into the playoffs? Can Jersey put it together and make a Championship run? Will the 76ers resign their franchise player and make a significant off season signing? When will the Knicks fire Isiah and start rebuilding for the future? Why doesn’t Isiah play David Lee more?

Technorati Tags: Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller, Andrea Bargnani, Boston Celtics, Chris Bosh, Isiah Thomas, Jamaal Crawford, Jason Kidd, Jose Calderon, Kevin Garnett, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Paul Pierce, Philadelphia 76ers, Ray Allen, Richard Jefferson, Samual Dalembert, Toronto Raptors, Vince Carter, Zach Randolph

Atlanta sends Marvin Williams, Josh Childress and Anthony Johnson to Utah for Andrei Kirilenko.

Both Childress and Johnson’s contracts expire at the end of the year. Childress would fit in nice at shooting guard and Johnson would probably be waived. Marvin Williams is a former second overall pick that is stuck behind some good young talent in Atlanta. His contract expires in two years, but would be a RFA and the Jazz would want to lock this guy up.

Atlanta would get a versatile player who can play at either small forward or power forward and a defensive specialist who could guard almost anyone in the game. Could you imagine the block party Josh Smith and Kirilenko would put on?

Washington sends Antwan Jamison and a condititonal first round pick to Phoenix for Shaun Marion. Washington would upgrade at the forward position and soak up the final few years of Marion’s contract. The Suns would receive a very capable and versatile forward in Jamison and also a first round pick because Jamison will be a free agent after this season.

What do you guys think?

Technorati Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, Andrei Kirilenko, Josh Childress, Marvin Williams, Anthony Johnson, Josh Smith, Antawn Jamison, Shawn Marion, Washington Wizards

Ainge paid a high price the last few weeks keeping Pierce happy, some may say too high (I am borderline on this one), but it had to be done. The Celtics haven’t been relevant for 20 years, and needed to make a move, or risk Pierce making the same noise Kobe and Garnett made this off-season. Losing Jefferson will hurt in 3-4 years when Garnett is on the decline (maybe even sooner), but the loss of Green and Gomes could be what kills them for the near term, as it will be tough to add guys of their caliber (not that they are elite or anything) for a minimal amount of salary.

If this move doesn’t work for Ainge, the Atlantic could again become the laughing stock of the league for its inept vision and leadership at the management level. Between the 200 or so million dollars the Celtics and Knicks are paying in salaries, if they don’t produce a conference finals birth…it will be a disaster.

Where does this leave the Raptors? BC has watched The Knicks and Celtics get better, and the Nets get healthier, so the pressure is on. I still contend a trade is imminent for the Raptors, as the recent signings really haven’t filled the gaps. I suspect that a lot is being pinned on Bargnani developing into a 20 point a night scorer, and Bosh taking it up another notch; although I don’t know how much more he can contribute, he had a monster season last year.

I will tell you one thing, I am picking up a number 21 away Celtics uniform asap!

Technorati Tags: Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Bryan Colangelo, Danny Ainge, Isiah Thomas, Kevin Garnett, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Al Jefferson, Andrea Bargnani, Chris Bosh, New Jersey Nets, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Minnesota Timberwolves

Technorati Tags: Don Nelson, Washington Post

Technorati Tags: Golden State Warriors, Don Nelson, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Nowitzki

I may be a bit excessive/premature in my praise, and the Mavs will probably end up winning the series, but the Warriors are finally on the way up since the RUN-TMC days.

And not to be outdone, the Nuggets showed a glimpse of what they envisioned in acquiring Iverson. Iverson and Anthony dropped 30 a piece on route to routing the Spurs IN San Antonio…crazy.

Kind of puts the Raptor loss in perspective. Not fully, but if I was a Mavs/Spurs fan, I would be PISSED OFF right now.

Technorati Tags: Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Avery Johnson, Don Nelson, Phoenix Suns, RUN-TMC, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Pissed Off

The Wizards are currently in 6th and hold a 4 game lead over the New Jersey Nets. It is unfortunate for the Wizards that they’ve lost top 2 players, but as a Raptors fan I would love to see the Raps face off against the Wizards in the first round. Here is a projected starting line-up for the Wizards now that Arenas and Butler are out indefinetly:

pg-Antonio Daniels (6.7 ppg, 3.2 apg)
sg-Deshaun Stevenson (11 ppg, 2.6 apg, 2.7 rpg)
sf-Antawn Jamison (19.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg)
pf-Etan Thomas (5.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg)
c-Brenden Haywood (6.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg)

This line up won’t do it come playoffs. They aren’t deep at all and in a seven games series (barring Jamison averaging 50 points a night) they should be eliminated first round.

ps the site looks amazing

Technorati Tags: Washington Wizards, Gilbert Arenas

1. A couple links about Kobe - totally deserved, the guy is sick!
2. Who wants playoffs worse? - how about who is in the playoffs?
3. Knicks sign a nobody - who really cares if they sign someone who couldn’t make a team at this point of the season?
4. Pacers piss on Heat - what about the Raptors pissing on Denver missing 4 of their top 7?

Aside from a story on ROY candidate Bargnani, ESPN has NO coverage of the Raptors. Think this has anything to do with their ‘non-official’ snubbing of the NHL? (MLSE owns the Leafs AND the Raptors?). It’s bullshit man.

Technorati Tags: ESPN