So, recognizing that there will still be some final roster moves before the end of the off-season, how do you rank the West as of today? If you need to check out the off-season moves of Western Conference teams, click the link below. Just a quick observation: the West is one tough MF-er. http://www.nba.com/2017-western-conference-player-movement Here's my take: 1. Warriors (Duh) 2. Rockets (A lot depends on how their back court works, obviously, but Chris Paul is still and amazing player). 3. Spurs (Getting old and Gay isn't the answer to whatever they were missing, but Leonard is still getting better) 4. OKC (Screw the Thunder and Paul George. I hope this is a one year disaster for the Thunder). 5. Blazers (Screw the ESPN computers. Nurk is just that damned good.) 6. T'Wolves (Butler is going to be good for them and Teague is an upgrade over Rubio.) 7. Nuggets (Milsap? Man, can't they keep any good players in the East?) 8. Pelicans (We're going to find out if two really good bigs can work in the NBA.) 9. Jazz 10. Grizzlies 11. Clippers (Basically a whole new team.) 12. Mavericks 13. Kings 14. Suns 15. Lakers (Just because the Lakers should always be last.) Edit: Oops. Came back to this after doing some other stuff and posted it without filling out all 15 teams.
1. Golden State 2. San Antonio 3. Oklahoma City 4. Houston 5. Minnesota 6. Denver 7. Portland 8. New Orleans 9. Utah 10. Los Angeles Clippers 11. Memphis 12. Dallas 13. Sacramento 14. Los Angeles Lakers 15. Phoenix Suns The pick I feel least right about is San Antonio at #2, but I can't pick against them until I actually seem them drop off, since I've been expecting a significant drop-off for a couple of seasons now. I think Oklahoma City is going to be better than expected--Paul George was the headliner, but Patrick Patterson was a significant under-the-radar move. They now have a stellar defensive team and enough spacing to survive Roberson's lack of shooting. Westbrook and George should be a less-talented but better-fitting version of Westbrook and Durant.
Oh yeah, I ended up switching a few teams around and I guess I messed up some copy/paste. Fixed it, thanks.
1. Golden State 2. Oklahoma City 3. Portland (Portland puts the chip back on their shoulder, and IF Nurkic stays healthy) 4. San Antonio (SA's time to have an injury or other reason to fall) 5. Minnesota (Good parts, but not yet a great team) 6. Denver 7. Houston (CP3 experiment fails, not enough balls to go around) 8. Utah 9. Los Angeles Clippers 10. New Orleans (twin towers didn't work before and won't work now) 11. Memphis 12. Dallas 13. Phoenix Suns 14. Sacramento 15. Los Angeles Lakers (because . . . screw the L*kers)
1. GS 2. San Antonio 3. Houston 4. OKC 5. Minnesota 6. Utah 7. New Orleans 8. Portland 9. Denver 10. Clippers 11. Memphis 12. Sacramento 13. Phoenix 14. Dallas 15. Lakers.
I look at predicting my Blazers like having sex with The Mrs. HCP........ Under Sell, Over Deliver. Keep those expectations low and realistic and you won't find yourself on a ledge mid December when we are the 10th team out west. Everybody talks smack about my super low precision 2 seasons ago, but I was right on last season when most on here thought we'd get home court advantage in the playoffs.
1. Golden State 2. San Antonio (I was going to say OKC, but never doubt San Antonio) 3. OKC 4. Houston (I just don't think Harden and Paul are going to click) 5. Everybody else except... 15. Lakers
God damn! You guys are on fire today! That Eastoff or jackoff or whatever his name is just killed me in another thread. Well done gringos. #MidSeasonForm
Hmmm. That would explain why she was wearing that when I came home early that day. I thought it was a little odd.
Going against the Grain here.... 1. SA 2. OKC 3. GSW 4. Houston 5. Blazers 6. Denver 7. Minni 8. NO NOone else really matters.
1. Golden State 2. Houston 3. San Antonio 4. Denver 5. Oklahoma City 6. Minnesota 7. Portland 8. New Orleans 9. Los Angeles Clippers 10. Utah 11. Memphis 12. Dallas 13. Los Angeles Lakers 14. Phoenix 15. Sacramento
1. GSW 2. SAS 3. HOU 4. OKC 5. POR 6. MIN 7. DEN 8. MEM 9. LAC 10. DAL 11. NOP 12. UTA 13. PHX 14. LAL 15. SAC
I will be the only one not predicting GSW as number one and I will be the only one right at the end of the season.