Anyone who thought the West was powerful last season, hasn't seen the the storm brewing west of the Mississippi recently. Big names such as Tim Duncan and Elton Brand have stayed put. Other names like Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Rasho Nestrovic, Michael Olowakandi have jumped ship, but stayed in the same conference. And the already "big" west is looking to add another all star Center, Brad Miller.(Utah) So how does this season shape up? Interesting to say the least. How is it that the defending Champs go from glory to not even being the favorites? Well, adding 2 future HOFers to a Laker team already loaded with 2 future HOFers does that. They have to be the favorite heading into next season. The West is the best. Lets take a look at some of the projected SLs of some of the more elite teams in the league: Lakers: C Shaquille O'Neal PF Karl Malone SF Devean George SG Kobe Bryant PG Gary Payton Spurs: C Rasho Nestrovic PF Tim Duncan SF Bruce Bowen SG Stephen Jackson(if resigned)/Manu Ginobili PG Tony Parker TWolves: C Michael Olowakandi PF Kevin Garnett SF Latrell Sprewell SG Wally Szczerbiak PG Sam Cassell Mavs: C Raef LaFrentz PF Dirk Nowitzki SF Eduardo Najera SG Michael Finley PG Steve Nash Kings: C Vlade Divac PF Chris Webber SF Peja Stojakovic SG Doug Christie PG Mike Bibby 5 very talented teams. Any of them could win it all. Lakers: Added a better PF. One who can defend/shoot/rebound. Tough,veteran, post presence to lighten load for Shaq, and to be a focal point when Shaq needs a breather. Lakers also add a great PG in Payton. The Lakers have the best backcourt defensive tandem, and possibly the best backcourt period. Adding rooks like Cook and Walton, who should be able to help immediately makes them a bit deeper. Spurs: Losing DRob, and gaining Rasho. DRob was a fan favorite, but lets be honest. He was good for 20 min/game. Rasho can play much more, and with his offensive game,will help out Duncan as well. It also allows Duncan to stay at PF. Remaining to see is whether or not S.Jackson is brought back. Ginobili should blossom next season. Parker as well.........tough team. TWolves: They wanted to add more talent, as cheaply as possible. Losing Rasho hurt them inside, so a center was a desperate need. Kandi was signed for the MLE(far less than the extension DTS offered him last offseason). With that, they lose scoring, but should gain more athleticism. Trading Joe Smith for Cassell gives KG the much needed scorer he needs. Sprewell gives them a defensive wing who will match up with the Kobe's(who burned the Wolves in Rd1), Allen's, etc. Not to mention another scorer, if needed. The Wolves have clearly added talent to help KG make it past Rd1. Mavs: Haven't done much. They tried to lure Malone, but were unsuccessful. But you still cant rule out the Run and Gun. Dirk is a top notch player. Nash is great. Van Exel is killer. Finley is overlooked, but still very talented. Najera is the glue. This team will have to improve defensively to win it all this year. Kings: They also tried to lure Malone, just to prevent the Lakers from signing him. The Maloofs felt they have the talent, all they need to do is to stay healthy. This remains to be seen, especially after Webbers injury in the playoffs crippled them. If they are healthy, they are among the leagues best as well. What does this mean? It should be one helluva playoffs!
switch spree with wally on your t-wolves line up, and you got yourself a first post who agrees with you. spree is a shooting guard whos been playing sf in new york...he belongs at the two spot
Him and Wally would be interchangeable, depending on the matchups. Against the Lakers, he'd defend the 2(Kobe). Against the Kings, he'd be on Peja(3).
Wow. Great post Vintage and its nice to see you back on JustBBall. I agree with most of what you said. I think the Lakers have some amazing talent however Im very worried about how the team will "gel" together. You now have 4 players who are the stars of their former/current teams. They are all used to getting the ball not only alot during teh game but the are also use to getitng it in the clutch of a game. With this team I think there are just too many stars and not enough role players. However, Phil Jackson might just be the one guy that can mold this line-up and get them to play as a team. If this happens you are looking at the 2003-2004 champions. The Spurs havent had a really impressive off-season. They did not get Jason Kidd who they wanted so badly however they did manage to pick up a good center(Rasho) who can replace Robinson. As Vintage said he will actually be an upgrade to the team as he can play more minutes that Robinson did. They also have a very solid back-up center/power forward in Malik Rose. Look for this team to go deep in the playoffs with their veteran players. The Timberwolves along with the Lakers have probably made the most improvements in this off-season. They lost Rasho however I believe the got a huge upgrade in Kandi. Kandi will be able to body up with SHAQ and they can have KG coming from the weak side to reak havoc on the big fellow. They got a much needed second scorer in Cassell. Not only can Cassell score but he also has true PG instincts and skills. Adding Sprewell as already noted gives them a good athletic defender. There is now no excuse for this team not to get past the second round. This is the one team if im the Lakers that I would most likely want to avoid facing in the playoffs. The Mavericks have actually had a disappointing off-season. They wanted Mourning and lost him to NJ and they wanted Malone and couldnt get him. Overall they havent improved in the offseason and I dont see them going deep in the playoffs. Overall a very dissapointing offseason so far. The Kings have also had a disappointing offseason with no major FA signings and no big off-season movement. Overall, I think the Timberwolves and the Lakers had the best offseason. The Lakers are a huge questionmark though however if they can get their team to "gel" they could be unstoppable. The Timberwolves got a great second option for KG and should go deep into the playoffs. The Spurs also filled in the holes that their team missed. Once again whoever wins the west will when the Finals.
there are a good 8, 9 maybe 10 teams in the wwest that could beat any team in the east in a 7 game series
I am sick of all this talk about the lakers not geling. All of them want to win a title and Malone said he wont shoot at all if he has to.
They can say all they want for right now, but we won't know until the ball gets tipped up. However, the safe assumption would be that there are going to be some bumps in the road considering these players' past as a go to player on their team.
they are going to have trouble gelling at least at first. theyre four superstars adjusting to a new situation and tehy still have other players on the team too
I agree the west is the best conferance, and I also agree with vintage that depending on who they are playing spre and szczerbiak can and should be interchanged.
Dammnit, the West getting stronger. Isn't this getting out of hand, they're so strong already as it is. Not to seem blunt or anything, who is Najera? I'll be so glad once Webber is back, he'll really be a major factor, awesome on both ends. Stephen Jackson back in San Antonio? That's a Godsend if you ask me, a great player and a great person. As long as he's screened and has enough time to shoot, he'll make the shot. He was a player apart from The Admiral whom I missed very much on the Spurs. Dallas getting Brad Miller? That's insane, great for them, but what a bad trade. He should be used as the center and have Divac come off the bench instead. LaFrentz is a good blocker and awesome shooter, I'd keep him there. Great post and analysis never the less though. Thanks for sharing this with us Vintage.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Magic Johnson:</div><div class="quote_post">Dammnit, the West getting stronger. Isn't this getting out of hand, they're so strong already as it is. Not to seem blunt or anything, who is Najera? I'll be so glad once Webber is back, he'll really be a major factor, awesome on both ends. Stephen Jackson back in San Antonio? That's a Godsend if you ask me, a great player and a great person. As long as he's screened and has enough time to shoot, he'll make the shot. He was a player apart from The Admiral whom I missed very much on the Spurs. Dallas getting Brad Miller? That's insane, great for them, but what a bad trade. He should be used as the center and have Divac come off the bench instead. LaFrentz is a good blocker and awesome shooter, I'd keep him there. Great post and analysis never the less though. Thanks for sharing this with us Vintage.</div> Do you realize this was posted 7 months ago? Somebody just replied bumping it up.
definitely, with all the trades that happened this year and recently or whatever, many of the good players from the east are going to the west... i cant think of any prime examples right now, but maybe brad miller... hmmm i forget but it kinda seems liek the nba is fixing it that way... for some odd reason i have yet to figure out.
Yes the West is more powerful than last season...and thats scary...whats even more odd is that its likely 6 of this years Western playoff teams will be from the Midwest (Minny, SA, Memphis, Houston, Dallas, Denver)...that Midwest is crazy and the only teams in the East I see as respectable opponents are Indiana and MAYBE Detroit...but the West is too tough...
if the sun somehow started to rise in the west and set in the east, then the east becomes west and vice versa... then we wouldn't wait at least five NBA seasons from now to finally say the east is more powerful than the west...
