<div class="quote_poster">Quoting "ME":</div><div class="quote_post"> 1. lakers 2. spurs 3. kings 4. mavs 5. twolves 6. suns 7. blazers 8. rockets </div> but now i think this 1. lakers 2. spurs 3. kings 4. twolves 5. mavs 6. suns 7. blazers 8. rockets
1. Los Angeles Lakers 2. Dallas Mavericks 3. Sacramento Kings 4. Minnesota Timberwolves 5. San Antonio Spurs 6. Seattle Supersonics 7. Phoenix Suns 8. Houston Rockets ------------------------------------ 9. Denver Nuggets 10. Potland JailBlazers 11. Utah Jazz 12. Memphis Grizzlies 13. LA Clippers 14. Golden State Warriors
1. Lakers 2. Kings 3. Spurs 4. Mavs 5. Twolves 6. Blazers 7. Phoenix 8. Rockets 9. Warriors 10. Sonics 11. Grizzlies 12. Nuggets 13. Jazz 14. Clippers
The west top 5 teams..from insider 1. Los Angeles Lakers Projected record: 69-13 Biggest additions: Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Brian Cook Biggest subtractions: Robert Horry, Samaki Walker The skinny: Assuming Kobe Bryant isn't serving four years in a Colorado penitentiary, it's tough to find fault with these Lakers. They have the best center in the NBA, best two guard, second-best point guard and a legend at power forward. Depth may still be an issue in L.A., but assuming Shaq keeps healthy, they won't need it -- the other three guys are iron men. However, a bench that features Derek Fisher, Kareem Rush, rookies Brian Cook and Luke Walton and Rick Fox (when he's healthy) isn't that bad. Chemistry will be the watch word with this team, but our guess is that Payton, Malone and Shaq (Kobe's always hungry) are hungry enough to put their egos aside and wreak havoc on the NBA. 2. Sacramento Kings Projected record: 62-20 Biggest additions: Brad Miller Biggest subtractions: Hedo Turkoglu, Scot Pollard The skinny: Say what you will about the Kings missing their window of opportunity. They just added another four to five years of shelf life with the addition of Miller. Everyone knows that Vlade Divac doesn't have too many years left, but the rest of the Kings -- Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson -- still have plenty of life left in them. Miller gives them an expensive (his seven-year deal will likely start at $7 million according to sources) comfort blanket. The team will miss Turkoglu, but the Maloofs knew they couldn't afford to pay him once his contract expired next summer. Their bench of Bobby Jackson, Miller, Gerald Wallace and Keon Clark (assuming he stays, see below) is still the deepest in the West. 3. San Antonio Spurs Projected record: 60-22 Biggest additions: Rasho Nesterovic, Hedo Turkoglu, Ron Mercer, Robert Horry Biggest subtractions: David Robinson, Speedy Claxton, possibly Stephen Jackson The skinny: If the Miller trade goes down, the Spurs may be the first NBA team ever to have a starting five of players born outside the United States. Tony Parker, Emanuel Ginobili, Turkoglu, Tim Duncan and Nesterovic were all born overseas. The losses of Robinson and Claxton will hurt. And it appears that, with the addition of Turkoglu, Horry and Mercer, that Jackson may also be out the door. But the Spurs did something very clever here. Turkoglu has the potential to be a star and is the versatile forward that the team really coveted. Horry gives the team a versatile sharp shooting forward who loves to take the big shot with the game on the line. Mercer's numbers dipped dramatically in Indiana, but he's a legit scorer who should rebound nicely with all the open looks he'll get playing with Duncan. The Spurs still need to add a veteran point guard to back up Parker and they could use another big man to watch Nesterovic's back, but there's no reason to believe that with Parker's continued development and Duncan's health that this team will be right back in the mix of things out West. 4. Minnesota Timberwolves Projected record: 58-24 Biggest additions: Latrell Sprewell, Michael Olowokandi, Sam Cassell Biggest subtractions: Rasho Nesterovic, Joe Smith, Marc Jackson The skinny: On paper, you can make the arguement that the Wolves should actually be ranked higher. We've heard of the "Big 3" in Dallas, but the Wolves have put together a team that could plausibly be dubbed the "Big 5". Or, if things don't go quite the way Kevin McHale plans -- the "Blazers East". That's the real quandary in Minnesota right now. The talent level in Minnesota is unbelievable. The Wolves arguably upgraded at three positions and putting aside whatever you think about Sprewell's personal life -- he's a winner. However, off the court, there's some bad juju brewing in Minnesota. Teams can usually afford to add one or two bad seeds to the mix. But the Wolves could potentially have four if you throw Troy Hudson into the mix. After years of claiming that Flip Saunders was one of the most underrated coaches in the business -- he's finally going to get the opportunity to prove us right. Juggling the egos, off-the-court transgressions and a razor-thin bench will take a Phil Jackson-esque karma 5. Dallas Mavericks Projected record: 57-25 Biggest additions: Kurt Thomas, Josh Howard Biggest subtractions: Raef LaFrentz The skinny: This assumes that Cuban and the Knicks actually work out a trade for Thomas. I don't think it's a wild assumption. The Mavs know they're going to have to add more beef in the middle if they want to keep up with the rest of the West. Thomas may not be an all-star center, but he's tough and will do the dirty work that LaFrentz is unable or unwilling to get done. The team still has its "Big 3" and there's no reason to believe it won't continue to get better. But the key will be to find some sort of consistency in the paint this year -- especially on the defensive end. The Lakers (with Shaq and Malone), the Kings (with CWebb, Divac and Miller) the Spurs (with Duncan and Nesterovic) and the T-Wolves (with KG and Olowokandi) are just too tough there. If the Mavs had added Zo, they'd be right back up there, but it appears right now that Thomas will have to do.
1 - Sacramento 2 - San Antonio 3 - Minnesota 4 - LA Lakers 5 - Portland 6 - Dallas 7 - Phoenix 8 - Houston 9 - Memphis 10 - Seattle 11 - Golden State 12 - LA Clippers 13 - Utah 14 - Denver
I re-did my rankings due to the trades - 1.<font color="indigo">Los Angeles Lakers</font> 2.<font color="black">San Antonio Spurs</font> 3.<font color="blue">Dallas Mavericks</font> 4.<font color="darkblue">Sacramento Kings</font> 5.<font color="green">Minnesota Timberwolves</font> 6.<font color="orange">Phoenix Suns</font> 7.<font color="red">Houston Rockets</font> 8.<font color="olive">Memphis Grizzlies</font> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.<font color="red">Portland Trailblazers</font> 10.<font color="green">Seattle Supersonics</font> 11.<font color="blue">Golden State Warriors</font> 12.<font color="red">Los Angeles Clippers</font> 13.<font color="cyan">Denver Nuggets</font> 14.<font color="indigo">Utah Jazz</font>
I think I missed some trades while I was in California...how'd Grizzlies get on the standings? Did something extraordinary happened? PM me if u have the info...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting olskoolFunktitude:</div><div class="quote_post">i still think the spurs repeat. theyre going to find a way to add another star</div> as much as I want the mavs/kings WCF I agree, not even Malone and Payton can stop Tim Duncan..
1. Lakers 2. Wolves 3. Sac-town 4. Spurs 5. Mavs 6. Blazers 7. Suns 8. Rockets I think the Wolves will win the Midwest cuz theyve got lots of good playas in the offseason and cuz of KG.
They will be good, but not good enough to get 2nd place. Switch the Wolves and Spurs and you're all set.
Ok... Blazers are going to make the playoffs, thats a guarantee. I can't see them getting 8th or 9th... or 13th, thats just wrong. 7th will be the lowest they will sink. Pippen wasn't THAT much of a key player. And with Zach playing the way he is and Qyntel that is definately good news for the Blazers. If we get a good PG which probably won't be likely we could wasily be top 4. If we got a lineup of Damon, DA, Bonzi, Zach and Sheed we could easily take out any team. IMO we would have taken Dallas out if we had DA and Pip healthy but that wasn't in the cards. We took them to 7 games with Damon, Bonzi, Patterson, Zach and Sheed. Thats pretty good against a perfectly healthy Dallas team. Damon still is a good player despite the bad rep. If Qyntel is able to get 12 a game next year he will be good enough for me. Would it be weird to start DA at point, Wells at shooting, Qyntel at small, Zach at power, and Sheed at center. Talent wise that could take down any team. If we have good chemistry on and off court we can be a playoff contender. Just like the good old days of 1999 and 2000. If we just hit up the trading block and get some proven talent we can be a great team.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting pacers#1:</div><div class="quote_post"> I think the Wolves will win the Midwest cuz theyve got lots of good playas in the offseason and cuz of KG.</div> serious? you think they'll have better records than the spurs and the mavs?! they might end up ahead of the Mavs.. but all those aquistions won't put them in front of the Spurs
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hapnnsas:</div><div class="quote_post"> Pippen wasn't THAT much of a key player. If we have good chemistry on and off court we can be a playoff contender.</div> Pippen wasn't that much of a key player? Yeah. and the lakers don't need shaq. Oh yeah the biggest issue about the blazers- the big IF in front of any sentence with the word "chemistry" in it.
