[CodySLCParticipant]

As of today what 8 teams in the West that would make the playoffs?

Western Conference
1. L.A. Lakers – Still the team the beat in the west, maybe the NBA.
2. Dallas Mavericks- Very Deep Veteran squad scorers and a Solid inside presence on D
3. Utah Jazz- Not favoritism. With d-will at the rains minus Boozer and Matthews plus A.J. and Bell. Look for A.K. to have a big year in his final year of his contract.
4. Portland Trial blazers- Solid core group. Million dollar question, Can Oden stay Healthy?
5. – San Antonio Spurs- Veteran Championship experience. Can the big 3 stay healthy?
6. Oklahoma City Thunder- Great young talent plus K.D. Better record, still missing an inside presence
7. Denver Nuggets- Will Karl be back? Can the bigs stay healthy for Denver? If not it could be bad news for Nuggets.
8.Memphis Grizzlies- It was a hard choice. But with all the young talent, I think its the Grizzlies time to finally get back to the playoffs.

[Afactor4Participant]

How do you not put Houston in the playoff picture!?!?!

A team with Yao, Brooks, Martin, Scola, and great role players like Battier, Budinger, Lowry, and Hill is good enough to be second the the conference. They have an incredibly strong team on paper.

[BasterdInABasketParticipant]

Houston and Phoenix will finish above Memphis

[CodySLCParticipant]

Your right they look good on paper. But with the centerpiece of the team in Yao being a huge question mark i left them out. And no Amare in Phoenix with Nash aging is why i left Phoenix Out. Memphis has a really good team also with Gay, Mayo, Randolph, Gasol. If Thabeet shows up next year i think they can be a 8th seed.

[butidonthavemoney]

Same teams as last season. With Houston possibly replacing Phoenix.

[BasterdInABasketParticipant]

No doubt amare can be a game changer but they did get childress, hedo and hak warrick. After all that I dont think that takes them from a 54 win team to a maybe 42 win team to miss the playoffs.

[warriorlifeParticipant]

Warriors come out and play

[wowthisisneatParticipant]

prob a top 4 team

[B-ball fanParticipant]

1. Lakers
2. Mavs
3. Jazz
4. Thunder
5. Blazers
6. Rockets
7. Nuggets
8. Spurs

[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

1. Lakers
2. Mavs
3. Thunder
4. Houston
5. Nuggets
6. Blazers
7. Spurs
8. Clippers

[mrknowitall313Participant]

!. Lakers
2.Mavs
3.Thunder
4.Jazz
5.Blazers
6.Rockets
7.Nuggets
8.Suns

[stanford hoops]

I love how people forget how good a healthy hornets team is
Lakers
Dallas
Houston
jazz
Denver
Hornets
okc
Portland/phx

[omark422Participant]

1. Lakers
2. Mavs
3. Jazz
4. Thunder
5. Rockets
6. Blazers
7. Suns
8. Spurs

For some reason I see the Nuggets having a really bad year which is unfortunate because I’m a Billups fan and am starting to like Carmelo more and more every year.

I also think Al Jefferson is gonna have a huge positive impact for the Jazz this year.

[llperez]

its gonna be really up for grabs. I dont think phoenix falls off much at all, i really like bringing in warrick who should thrive in that offense as well as childress and hedo. I defenitely think houston will get in. They have a very deep team and play defense as well as almost anyone in the league. I see it as :

1-lakers

2-mavericks

3-rockets

4-blazers

5-spurs

6-thunder

7-nuggets

8-suns

jazz, hornets, grizzlies all have a very good chance and cant sleep on how competitive the clippers will be either. Should be a real tough year in the west. Warriors can flat out outscore teams who get lazy and people are not gonna walk all over the kings either. Basically the wolves are the only gimme team in the west.

7-

[OldSkoolBasketballParticipant]

Can anyone explain to me why they think the Thunder would be a higher seed than Portland? They had a great year last year but people need to realize that team was one of the most healthiest teams in the league last season. Portland still manage to win the same amount of games despite the health problems.

1. Lakers
2. Mavs
3. Rockets
4. Blazers
5. Thunder
6. Jazz
7. Spurs
8. Nuggets

[stanford hoops]

To be honest there aren’tany wrong answers as far as the west. Except adding minny clippers warriors Or kings

[sheltwon3Participant]

Durant is just getting started in how good he can be and Okc finally got some inside help. Westbrook is getting better. OKC could win 55+ games. They won 50 last year and you make the playoffs in the West you have to pretty much get 50 and I believe they will do better this year.

I can see Utah or maybe Denver who are dealing with injuries and Melo to New York rumors not make.

Utah has the least depth out of all other playoff teams.

[BasterdInABasketParticipant]

1 LAL- Will be #1 unless Kobe or Pau go down
2 DAL- Plenty of size to match up against LA
3 POR- As long as Oden and Roy are healthy for most of the year
4 OKC- From 8 to 4 to 1? Still need a legit big man
5 UTA- Should pick up where they left off last year with AJ
6 SAS- Too much experience
7 PHX- Will drop off some after losing amare but still a playoff team
8 HOU- They need Yao

[huff09Participant]

Gotta have the suns in there, yeah they lost stat, but picked up some nice pieces with hedo being a great signing. And everybody on this site seems to underestimate Nash, he is the type of point guard that can will a mediocre team into the playoffs.

[dipt1982Participant]

1. Lakers
2. Mavericks
3. Blazers
4. Thunder
5. Jazz
6. Rockets
7. Spurs
8. Nuggets

[mbdParticipant]

1.Lakers
2.Mavs
3.OKC
4.Jazz
5. Rockets
6. Spurs
7.Suns
8.Grizzlies

[Author]

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