Have you seen our NBA Eastern Conference predictions? If you have, God bless you. If you haven’t, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!?! YOU DONE BUMPED YO HEAD?!?! Click here to see who we have coming out the East.
As for the wild wild West, let’s kick it off with the Pacific Division.
Los Angeles Lakers
What’s Hot: The name across the chest, the stars in the front row and the banners hanging in the rafters. Aside from that, 2013-14 will be a rare down year for the Lakers, meaning they’ll be lucky if they make the playoffs (yes, a down year for the Lakers is when they might miss the playoffs).
Steve Nash is still playing, and when he’s not in the trainer’s room or sprawled out on the sideline in front of the bench, he remains one of the smartest players the league has to offer. With Kobe Bryant out of the picture for at least a little while, Nash and Pau Gasol can finally run the type of pick and pop two-man-game they’ve (probably) been longing for since they, and Mike D’Antoni, linked up in La La Land. The offense in general should run much more smoothly without Kobe’s mandatory 25 FGAs. The Lakers also finally parted ways with Metta World Peace, who will inexplicably collect two checks this year (from the Lakers and the Knicks).
What’s Not Hot: Did we mention that when Steve Nash was born, Richard Nixon was president? For the sake of perspective, when Bucks rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo was born, Bill Clinton was already halfway through his first term. The aforementioned Mike D’Antoni is still the head coach unfortunately, and is coming off a season where he helped alienate his franchise center (who left via free agency) and allowed his best player to run himself into the ground in an effort to make the playoffs in the name of the dearly departed Dr. Jerry Buss.
Though they were left in the lurch by Dwight Howard, the Lakers didn’t do much with his vacated minutes and cap space (unless you classify Chris Kamen, Nick Young and the second coming of Jordan Farmar as “doing much”). Long term, not such a bad move. Short term, it’s horrible, especially considering Kobe may not be back from his torn Achilles until Christmas, if not later. You know what else is not hot? Kobe vine’ing this stunt on a bum foot.
What The Future Holds: The Lake Show still has the fifth highest payroll in the league, but they currently have next to nothing on the books for next year, and absolutely nothing on the books two years from now— which is great! What separates this franchise from basically every other one in the NBA is their unwavering consistency over multiple decades. However, if there was any credence in the notion that the NBA fixes the draft (which I have on very good authority is absolutely an urban legend), then you know David Stern — in his final act as commissioner — will give orders to new commish Adam Silver to somehow “allow” the Lakers to obtain the #1 overall pick in the draft after they successfully tank this season and miss the playoffs. If he does this, Stern will unquestionably receive earn a star on the Walk Of Fame. He just has to. Allowing Kobe to pass the torch to Andrew Wiggins would be the greatest contribution to basketball since the high-top sneaker.
In all seriousness, the Lakers need not make the playoffs this year. Their best bet: miss the playoffs, get Kobe to restructure his deal for his twilight years, hope to get lucky and land a high lottery pick and make the hardest free agent run at LeBron/Carmelo they possibly can. Oh, and fire their coach and get a real one, ASAP!
Sacramento Kings
What’s Hot: For all his shortcomings, DeMarcus Cousins might be the best big man in the NBA. The Kings made a huge steal in the draft when Ben McLemore slid all the way to seventh overall. We campaigned for the Cavs to draft McLemore with the first pick; while the talent is there, McLemore doesn’t appear to to have the mental or emotional makeup to shoulder the expectations that come with being a top pick. This is a much better situation for the former Kansas swingman. Also, he brings with him “The McLemore“.
Most importantly though, the Kings reached an agreement on a new arena, and once and for all, vanquished a group of Seattle investors who tried to steal the franchise from Sac Town and turn them into the new Supersonics. Mayor Kevin Johnson treated those Seattle investors like Hakeem Olajuwon trying to block his shot in a playoff game.
What’s Not Hot: This team hasn’t changed much in five years. Every year, the Kings trot out handful of really talented guys that either A) have no idea how to play basketball at the NBA level or B) have no interest in playing like professional basketball players. Even though they brought in an HHSR favorite, Greivis Vasquez, there is no semblance of a team on this team, which may be too much for the new coach Mike Malone to handle.
What The Future Holds: The above paragraph has kept the Kings under 30 wins each of the last five years— at best this year’s team maxes out at 30 Ws, even with Shaquille O’Neal now on board as a minority owner of “Shaqramento”.
Phoenix Suns
What’s Hot: The weather. That’s about it. In the year-long tankfest that started back in June, few teams have done more (or less as the case may dictate) to reach the bottom of the standings faster than Phoenix. Trailing only Philly for the league’s lowest payroll, the Suns are clearly in the futures market. Phoenix has supplemented their upcoming high lottery picks with center Alex Len, obtained through the 2012 draft, and former Clippers bench dynamo Eric Bledsoe (an HHSR favorite), for whom the team traded for in the offseason. Assuming Len can bounce back from a stress fracture in his foot and Bledsoe is not phased by the starting role and new contract, the duo will have all the room they need to blossom into cornerstone pieces for the Suns.
What’s Not Hot: Robert Sarver. His penchant for penny pinching and price-taggery have provoked the ire of Suns fans and media members across the country. One could easily make the argument that Sarver is the primary reason why the Suns have nosedived so hard, so quickly, after repeatedly getting so close to a title, only to fall short.
What The Future Holds: Another long season in Phoenix. But help is on the way in the form of lottery picks and cap relief (hence the Gortat/Okafor salary dump deal from last week). But what good is cap relief if your owner is never willing to spend?
Golden State Warriors
What’s Hot:
That guy is real deal Holyfield.
No team was more fun to watch in the playoffs last year than the Warriors. Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and what should’ve been a wheelchair bound David Lee dazzled basketball fans everywhere. Curry specifically was superhuman. It seemed like it only took one made jumper for him to automatically become white hot. If Curry can carry that over to this season, the Warriors will matter in the Western Conference playoffs. Golden State improved their squad while weakening another Western team in the process when the swiped Andre Iguodala from the Nuggets. Lastly, Mark Jackson may have sucked as a commentator, but he’s turning into a promising young coach.
Sidebar: Well, “swiping” implies they didn’t pay for Iggy, which definitely is not the case (four years, $48M). Iguodala brings the Warriors a little more toughness, defense and experience on the wings, which they sorely needed.
What’s Not Hot: The addition of Iguodala may force Harrison Barnes to the bench for significant stretches, thus stunting his growth a bit. If the Warriors play small (which they’re prone to do), it forces either David Lee or Andrew Bogut to the bench. The minute divide could be a problem. Injuries have also ravaged Curry and Bogut’s careers to this point. If either one of them misses significant time again, it could severely damage their playoff chances.
The departure of Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry cannot be understated. Each played a pivotal role in their 2013 playoff run, specifically Jack, who allowed Curry to play off the ball and could hold it down while Steph iced his wet-napkin-like ankles on the bench.
What The Future Holds: The Warriors are definitely a playoff team, but it will be interesting to see if they can now play with the expectations of going deep into the playoffs. Last season, they were similar to the 2007-08 New Orleans Hornets, a team led by an explosive young PG whose accelerated pace excited the home crowd and caught teams off guard, until they eventually succumbed to a veteran Spurs team in the second round. Some new contracts, questionable roster movers and — far more importantly — a few key injuries later and the Bees never made it back to that level. Will the Warriors suffer the same fate, or can they prove they’re more than just a flash in the pan?
Los Angeles Clippers
What’s Hot: By hook or by crook, the Clippers were able to take care of their top offseason priority, inking Chris Paul to a long extension. But LA’s work went far beyond retaining the best point guard in the game— they acquired Doc Rivers from the Celtics, which was basically a caveat for them to land Paul.
Sidebar: They also attempted to acquire Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in a trade WITH RIVERS! Yep, by hook or by crook.
The Clips also swung a three-team deal that landed them Jared Dudley and JJ Redick. Two heady shooters that bring want-to and a not-afraid-to-stick-your-nose-in-there type of attitude. LA will retain one of the league’s deepest benches and are no longer bound by the idiocy of Vinny Del Negro.
What’s Not Hot: In addition to the throwback Petey Pablo’s, the Clippers have noticeable flaws. When we picked them to win the West last year, it was on heavily contingent on the emergence of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. While both big men showed flashes of growth, neither progressed enough to make an impact in the playoffs. Jordan’s inability to shoot even THIRTY-NINE PERCENT from the foul line relegated him to the bench in most fourth quarters. Meanwhile, Griffin appears to be enrolled in the Dwight Howard School of Mediocre Low Post Development, as his moves on the block still seem to be awkward, rushed and disjointed. Consequently, if he’s not getting out in transition or getting easy dunks off the pick-and-roll, his halfcourt scoring struggles will continue.
The Clippers cannot win in the playoffs without Griffin scoring at least in the low 20s every night, where as we all know, the game slows down considerably. The zombie that took over Lamar Odom was not enough of a big man upgrade to get them to the second round last year after they lost the defense/rebounding/toughness of Reggie Evans and Kenyon Martin from the season before. So what did LA do combat this issue? The brought in Byron Mullens and (the washed up) Antawn Jamison and resigned Ryan Hollins.
Word?
What The Future Holds: Rivers presence will help, no doubt. But the Clips’ biggest offseason roster move was landing Dudley and Redick, when perimeter shooting was not nearly their biggest issue. It appears that until further notice, the Clippers are pinning their championship hopes on DeAndre Jordan. They’ve even made it a point frame him as a star of the team by parading him out on Jimmy Kimmel with CP and Blake, and (as pointed out by the good folks at Grantland) by plastering his image on the side of buildings in Los Angeles.
You’re kidding, right? Weren’t they trying to trade this guy all last season?
Jordan has never averaged nine points or nine rebounds in any of his first five seasons. So yeah, unless they make a midseason deal for another legitimate big, we’re skeptical of this Clippers team. Nevertheless, they’ll fight off a very game Warriors team to win their second straight Pacific Division title.