With amare out of the picture the west just got interesting. 1.) Spurs 2.) houston 3,) Dallas 4.) Denver 5.) ? 6.) ? 7.) ? 8.) ? Those last 4 spots are gonna be hard to get. The west is gonna get dirty after the allstar break. I'm thinking games will get real physical. With alot of teams out west in a similar situation (hoping for the playoffs), is it hard to count out teams like the clippers and the wolves? Im not counting any western conference team out of the playoffs. With the loss of amare the last four spots are there for any team to grab. My question is who do you think will hold down the last 4 spots?
Spurs, Rockets and Mavs can't go 1-2-3. They are all in the same division. With Amare's injury, I think the West will look like this: 1. San Antonio 2. Denver 3. Sacramento 4. Houston 5. Dallas 6. Phoenix 7. Golden State 8. Seattle/LA Clippers/Utah/Memphis/LA Lakers The bottom 4 is going to be a battle all season.
I have the last four playoff spots going to: Dallas (5), Minnesota (6), Phoenix (7), and Seattle (8), with Golden State, Memphis, and the Lakers all challenging for those last two spots and being more than capable of achieving them...
Suns even with Amare's injury will still win the pacific. They still have two all-stars and a bunch of very good shooters and role players. Amare If he is back after the all-star game and heathly the Suns should just beat out the Kings for the division title. They still have the MVP who makes guys around him better.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AllNet:</div><div class="quote_post">Suns even with Amare's injury will still win the pacific. They still have two all-stars and a bunch of very good shooters and role players. Amare If he is back after the all-star game and heathly the Suns should just beat out the Kings for the division title. They still have the MVP who makes guys around him better.</div> you just might be right. nash is a great scorer and they do some decent players left. but the question is... when will amare return? without him they are weak in the middle and in the west they will surely be tested.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting michiganave17:</div><div class="quote_post">you just might be right. nash is a great scorer and they do some decent players left. but the question is... when will amare return? without him they are weak in the middle and in the west they will surely be tested.</div> 4 months which should be just after the all-star break and as long as he returns on schedule they should be fine. We all saw what happened when the Pacers lost Artest and many others. They rest stepped up. Thats what normally happens when good teams lose a good player. Everyone else raises their games.
Damn AllNet,No respect for the Kings. The Suns have Nash and Marion and role players and you dont even question them being better than the Kings? Thats borderline delusional actually. The Kings wont have a problem winning more games than PHX, unless mass injuries are sustained. I think people are giving the Suns WAY TOO MUCH credit at this point. Last year it was Amare,Marion,Johnson,Richardson and Nash and this year for a large portion its going to be someone Marion,jackson,bell,nash. Please try and explain how the Suns can win more games than the Kings who actually made nice moves over the summer.
I think the Pacific beacame the Kings to lose when Amare got hurt. That team is loaded with good players (Miller, Bibby, SAR, Peja, Wells), plus the solid role players in Kenny Thomas and Corliss Williamson, along with a promising rookie in Francisco Garcia, I find it hard pressed to see them not winning the division. You praise the Suns, but, do you not remember that, beyond losing Amare for 4 months, QRich and Joe Johnson are each gone now. That's a bunch of scoring lost right there. And quite frankly, it's going to be hard for Bell, Thomas, Jackson, and Jones to make up for all that lost scoring. They're going to need HUGE first halfs from both Nash and Marion. Another quick point, the Suns have no interior offense now. Thomas is adequate, but he's not going to be drawing double teams. And what does that mean? That means the 3 point shooters on this team (Jones, Jackson, Marion, Nash), are going to have harder times getting open looks. They better hope that Nash is working overtime this year and hope he's working harder then he ever has to get other people open. Because, without an inside prescence, this team is going to be a perimeter team, and if their jumpers aren't dropping, they could find it hard to get some Ws early on without Amare.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Damn AllNet,No respect for the Kings. The Suns have Nash and Marion and role players and you dont even question them being better than the Kings? Thats borderline delusional actually. The Kings wont have a problem winning more games than PHX, unless mass injuries are sustained. I think people are giving the Suns WAY TOO MUCH credit at this point. Last year it was Amare,Marion,Johnson,Richardson and Nash and this year for a large portion its going to be someone Marion,jackson,bell,nash. Please try and explain how the Suns can win more games than the Kings who actually made nice moves over the summer.</div> Kings made soild moves but also lost some key guys in Mobley and Evans who was a great energy boost for them. The Kings while have good offensively talent have a team with alot of bad defenders. Wells and SAR have been been on losers and who knows what kind of attuide they will bring to the table. Suns while losing Amare, they got deeper and better defensively this summer. They have plenty of guys who can come in and score. While also defending. Nash makes life for everyone else much easier. I expect most of the guards they brought in to have their numbers increased while Nash's offense also goes up. Last year It was mainly 4 guys but now they have more options. I expect James Jones to have a huge season. He is a very good shooter and has been very impressive in pre-season. They also have Jim Jackson back. Eddie House is a good shooter and they have good role players in Diaw and Raja Bell who will doing very well in the Suns system as well. I'm not saying Kings can't win the division but I still favour the Suns. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">You praise the Suns, but, do you not remember that, beyond losing Amare for 4 months, QRich and Joe Johnson are each gone now. That's a bunch of scoring lost right there. And quite frankly, it's going to be hard for Bell, Thomas, Jackson, and Jones to make up for all that lost scoring. They're going to need HUGE first halfs from both Nash and Marion</div> They lost some offense but also gained plenty as well. Obviously Nash and Marion will need to have a huge season while Amare is gone and I see no reason why they won't. Nash has always showed he can score more when he needs to as the playoffs proved. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">the Suns have no interior offense now. Thomas is adequate, but he's not going to be drawing double teams. And what does that mean? That means the 3 point shooters on this team (Jones, Jackson, Marion, Nash), are going to have harder times getting open looks. They better hope that Nash is working overtime this year and hope he's working harder then he ever has to get other people open. Because, without an inside prescence, this team is going to be a perimeter team, and if their jumpers aren't dropping, they could find it hard to get some Ws early on without Amare</div> Thomas is more than good enough with his 15-18 footer to be a force points wise. Nash can get into the lane at all. He is still packed with shooters and even without Amare won't have too many problems getting into the paint. He still has plenty of spot-up shooters on his team to go to. Everyone said the same.."If the jumpers aren't dropping" they will struggle but they never did struggle shooting the ball and in the regular season you win alot of games on shooting the ball well and thats how the Suns should still get away with winning games. They may not have a great record or be ahead in the pacific by the time Amare comes back but I see no reason If he is heathly that they won't win It. If they don't win the division and say finish with the 6th seed, with Amare back they will be the most dangerous lower tier seed in the playoffs and a team no one will want to face.
^while losing Amare,Johnson and Richardson you mean. I guess im just of the opinion that the Suns were as good as they were last year because they could drop 120 points on their opponents with no problem. Any of their starters would have been a 1st or 2nd scoring option for pretty much any team. Now this season you have to subtract their leading scorer for about half the season and fill in JJ and Q with role players. I dont see how the Suns have a shot at winning 55+ games this season,as thats how many games theyre going to need to win to edge out the Kings for the Pacific. Wont happen. Anyhow I dont even see it as being a case of who will battle for the last 4 spots in the west.The way i see it the 5-7 spots are up for grabs between any 3 team combination of Houston,Dallas,Seattle and Pheonix. I say 3 team combination because one of those 4 teams will of course occupy the 4 spot,probably Houston or Dallas. That means it the 8 spot thats really going to be a battle. I think LAC,Minnesota,G-state and Utah being the teams fighting for that last spot.Thats right, I didnt say the Lakers or Grizzlies and thats for a reason. The grizzlies lost a slew of playersand when you look at the lakers roster they just dont look strong enough.So then, my pick is G-state for the 8 spot. So my west playoff picture look like this 1.SA 2.SAC/Denver 3.Denver/SAC 4.Houston 5.Dallas 6.Seattle 7.Pheonix 8.Golden State
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">while losing Amare,Johnson and Richardson you mean. I guess im just of the opinion that the Suns were as good as they were last year because they could drop 120 points on their opponents with no problem. Any of their starters would have been a 1st or 2nd scoring option for pretty much any team. Now this season you have to subtract their leading scorer for about half the season and fill in JJ and Q with role players</div> Difference is the Suns were a great team previously the Kings weren't last year. The Kings brought in some good pieces but also lost some. The defensive line-up the Kings have is very weak. Closest thing there is to a good defender in the Kings line-up is Bonzi. He only plays D when he wants to. Even then he doesn't do it that well. Raja Bell will match the production than JJ gave them last year and between Thomas and Jones will average far more than Q did last year. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I dont see how the Suns have a shot at winning 55+ games this season,as thats how many games theyre going to need to win to edge out the Kings for the Pacific. Wont happen. </div> If the Suns are say 5-6 games above 500 by the time Amare returns then 50-55 is more than in reach. As great as Amare is, losing Nash would of been far worse record wise for the Suns. At least the Suns have Nash to get guys open shots and fastbreak points. Suns can more than cope without Amare, they won't be contenders without him but they are more than good enough to win games and enough to stay in touch with the Kings until Amare returns.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AllNet:</div><div class="quote_post"> If the Suns are say 5-6 games above 500 by the time Amare returns then 50-55 is more than in reach. As great as Amare is, losing Nash would of been far worse record wise for the Suns. At least the Suns have Nash to get guys open shots and fastbreak points. Suns can more than cope without Amare, they won't be contenders without him but they are more than good enough to win games and enough to stay in touch with the Kings until Amare returns.</div>This is where I'm in huge agreement with you. Amare is great, but if they'd have lost Nash, the playoffs would have been a huge reach. He's the person that makes that team tick and he is the reason why they're so good. They showed last year how good they were without him, going something like 1-5 and having everyones points per game take a hit. So you're right, worse things could have happened to them.
i dont understand why spurs rockets and dallas cant go 1-2-3. if there in the same division why does it matter?
1) Spurs 2) Houston 3) Denver 4) Kings 5) Golden State 6) Dallas 7) Clippers? 8) This is between Lakers and Memphis and Phoenix.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting drunkenbarden:</div><div class="quote_post">i dont understand why spurs rockets and dallas cant go 1-2-3. if there in the same division why does it matter?</div> Its a rule. The top 3 teams are always the top team in each division of each conference.
Yes, I agree. Dallas was the fourth seed in the west last season and had the third best record in the league beating seattle, miami, and detroit. This year that team will most likely be houston with spurs and miami beating them in record.
Similar rule applies to teams Baseball and Football, like how Padres made PO this season. Besides, even if some team is 3rd seed and some team is 6th seed, whoever has better record gets homecourt advantage regardless of seed position...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting michiganave17:</div><div class="quote_post">With amare out of the picture the west just got interesting. 1.) Spurs 2.) houston 3,) Dallas 4.) Denver 5.) ? 6.) ? 7.) ? 8.) ? Those last 4 spots are gonna be hard to get. The west is gonna get dirty after the allstar break. I'm thinking games will get real physical. With alot of teams out west in a similar situation (hoping for the playoffs), is it hard to count out teams like the clippers and the wolves? Im not counting any western conference team out of the playoffs. With the loss of amare the last four spots are there for any team to grab. My question is who do you think will hold down the last 4 spots?</div> I think you can pencil is Sacremento as well. For the last three spots, i'd probably still say Phoenix will land one, Seattle will get in there, and my darkhorse team for the year is Utah. 1. San Antonio 2. Denver 3. Sacremento 4. Dallas 5. Houston 6. Phoenix 7. Seattle 8. Utah
