Two Months Until Pre-season: Rank the West

[Minstrel]

4. Blazers (HCA you heard it here 1st. MFs be hatin' on the Nurk.)

Heard it from Reep first--if it happens! Reep actually picked the Blazers to be #3, so you're a Nurk-hater by comparison.

 

[HailBlazers]

GS
Everybody else

 

[dviss1]

Heard it from Reep first--if it happens! Reep actually picked Blazers to be #3, so you're a Nurk-hater by comparison.

 

[Reep]

Believe harder.

 

[rotary111]

DENNY! This one doesn't have enough posts to make Mrs HCP jokes. #ReadTheRulesFAMS

Come on Mr. HCP....

I was referring to you and my wife, not yours.

 

[Trackjack]

Golden st
San Antonio
Portland
OKC
Houston
Clippers
Minnesota
Denver
Utah
Memphis
Nop
Dallas
Lakers
Kings
Suns

 

[THE HCP]

Golden st
San Antonio
Portland
OKC
Houston
Clippers
Minnesota
Denver
Utah
Memphis
Nop
Dallas
Lakers
Kings
Suns

Homie.......deep breathes The HCP.......deep breathes....... I don't know you as a person, but you honestly deep down believe we will finish THIRD in the west? Or did you just think you'd be funny? Or think nobody would notice? Cause you guys can't honestly feel we have the talent level to be 3,4,5,6 in the west. I don't think one of you has posted a realistic prediction yet. It's one thing to be all chipper and root root root for the home team, then it's another to flat out look at the roster and realize what's really gonna happen!!!

 

[Sweetriverphil]

1. Golden State: Hard to argue with this.
2. Oklahoma City: I dislike this, but this team could be top 3 in both offense and defense
3. San Antonio: I think the Spurs will still be a great regular season team.
4. Portland: Continuity. So undervalued in this league. We're minus an Allen Crabbe, but if any of Vonleh/Layman/Leonard prove they can score a reliable 10ppg or more we're in business.
5. Houston: Hard to argue with that backcourt. Although, that backcourt will argue with itself quite a bit.
6. Denver: Love those omlettes and that altitude. I'm gonna give em a chance.
7. Memphis: Chandler Parsons rises from the ashes to average 11ppg. That's enough.
8. Minnesota: Hooray! The spookiest team in the league managed 43 wins!
9. LA Clippers: Missing Blake Griffin sinks this team early, but fancy European passing makes it incredibly interesting in the meantime
10. New Orleans: Oh boy. I'd like an Irish Smoothie please.
11. Dallas: Cool rookie. Cool German fellow. Not that great of a team.
12. Utah: Great defense. No offense. Asking Rodney Hood to be the number one option is like asking Rudy Gobert to be the number two option.
13. LA Lakers: Lonzo Ball will be exciting. At some point his father will get a technical foul as a spectator and try to pull the Lakers from the court.
14. Sacramento: Zach Randolph will attempt to throw a lob up to Vince Carter and they will both suffer non contact injuries on the play.
15. Phoenix: A monument to man's arrogance. Devin Booker drops 60 on the Blazers in the Moda while losing by 20.

 

[Strenuus]

Homie.......deep breathes The HCP.......deep breathes....... I don't know you as a person, but you honestly deep down believe we will finish THIRD in the west? Or did you just think you'd be funny? Or think nobody would notice? Cause you guys can't honestly feel we have the talent level to be 3,4,5,6 in the west. I don't think one of you has posted a realistic prediction yet. It's one thing to be all chipper and root root root for the home team, then it's another to flat out look at the roster and realize what's really gonna happen!!!

I mean, and god damn this is gonna be a hard sell.... you could, quite possibly, maybe, perhaps do as the thread says and make your own list. I know, it's asking a lot. I apologize in advance.

 

[dviss1]

Come on Mr. HCP....

I was referring to you and my wife, not yours.

Nicely done.

 

[Sweetriverphil]

I mean, and god damn this is gonna be a hard sell.... you could, quite possibly, maybe, perhaps do as the thread says and make your own list. I know, it's asking a lot. I apologize in advance.

So easy to destroy. So hard to create. Powerful stuff Strenuus. Powerful, and relevant.

 

[e_blazer]

Come on Mr. HCP....

I was referring to you and my wife, not yours.

Oh man, HCP's going to walk around all homo erectus for a month after reading that.

 

[THE HCP]

Oh man, HCP's going to walk around all homo erectus for a month after reading that.

What'd you call me FAMS??

 

[stampedehero]

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.

Being a biased Blazer fan helps.

 

[Voodoo]

I had sex with a chic who had to wear a cone like that once.

Mrs. SlyPokeHerDog?

 

[Sinobas]

1 GS
2 OKC
3 Hou
4 SA
5 Por
6 Min
7. Memphis
8. Den
9. LAC
10. LAL
11. Dal
12. NOP
13. Jazz
14. Suns
15. SAC

 

[dviss1]

I think people are giving OKC too much props.

 

[Sweetriverphil]

I think people are giving OKC too much props.

They truly are like the Carrot Top of the western conference

 

[PtldPlatypus]

They truly are like the Carrot Top of the western conference

That one took me a second, but I really like it.

You're saying they're going to move to Vegas and become completely irrelevant, right?

 

[Sweetriverphil]

That one took me a second, but I really like it.

You're saying they're going to move to Vegas and become completely irrelevant, right?

All I'm saying is that they're going to be hilarious.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Homie.......deep breathes The HCP.......deep breathes....... I don't know you as a person, but you honestly deep down believe we will finish THIRD in the west? Or did you just think you'd be funny? Or think nobody would notice? Cause you guys can't honestly feel we have the talent level to be 3,4,5,6 in the west. I don't think one of you has posted a realistic prediction yet. It's one thing to be all chipper and root root root for the home team, then it's another to flat out look at the roster and realize what's really gonna happen!!!

Do you understand the concept of confirmation bias? That's when you only see things that support your preconception and ignore the things that don't fit your personal narrative. 4 different people have predicted the Blazers to finish 7th or 8th in the conference. Now, unless you honestly think it's "unrealistic" to think that the Blazers even make the playoffs at all, then the bolded statement just makes you look silly. Which is OK, because it's no change from prior.

 

[H.C.]

Tier 1.
GSW.

Tier 2.
Spurs, Rockets.

Tier 3.
OKC, Portland, Minn, Denver,

Tier 4.
Jazz, Clippers, NO, Memphis, Dallas

Tier 5.
Suns, Kings

Tier trash.
Lakers

Spoiler

1. GSW
2. Spurs
3. Rockets
4. OKC
5. Portland
6. Clippers
7. Minn
8. NO

 

[e_blazer]

What'd you call me FAMS??

Why? What did you think, FAMS?

 

[SlyPokerDog]

2 months before the start of preseason?

Some of you are suffering from prematureeranklulation.

 

[H.C.]

2 months before the start of preseason?

Some of you are suffering from prematureeranklulation.

Feel like theres a trump comment I could make here.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

My nomination for team that's going to be surprisingly good:

Sacramento Kings. I think they're going to be a lot more Memphis-like this year, and their young bigs might start to blossom a bit. Plus George Hill is a genuinely good player.

 

[e_blazer]

2 months before the start of preseason?

Some of you are suffering from prematureeranklulation.

Premature? It's always rank around here.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

My nomination for team that's going to be surprisingly good:

Sacramento Kings. I think they're going to be a lot more Memphis-like this year, and their young bigs might start to blossom a bit. Plus George Hill is a genuinely good player.

I (unfortunately) agree with you. I think their vet additions are going to have a much bigger impact than projected, and yeah, I think Cousins' absence is going to open up time and opportunity for a lot of talent that is much less mercurial. They are going to be one of those teams that can beat anybody on any given night.

 

[H.C.]

I (unfortunately) agree with you. I think their vet additions are going to have a much bigger impact than projected, and yeah, I think Cousins' absence is going to open up time and opportunity for a lot of talent that is much less mercurial. They are going to be one of those teams that can beat anybody on any given night.

Admittedly I didn't watch them in the pre-season.
But I did read the second year players they put out there looked pretty average in pre-season.
You'd expect 2nd year nba guards to have a pretty big impact wouldn't you?

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Admittedly I didn't watch them in the pre-season.
But I did read the second year players they put out there looked pretty average in pre-season.
You'd expect 2nd year nba guards to have a pretty big impact wouldn't you?

I don't expect much out of prize-trade-return-piece Buddy Hield, if that's who you're talking about. I think he'll end up being unremarkable.

But I think George Hill (as Rastapopolous mentioned) will stabilize things from the point, Bogdanovic will make an impact very early, Fox won't take long to become effective off the bench, and Skal and Stein have a lot of potential up front, and possibly Papagiannis too (I haven't seen anything of him, so I really don't know), along with Carter and Z-Bo providing a valuable vet presence off the bench. They've got a very interesting balance of youth and experience.

IMO, their biggest question mark is at SF, but they drafted Justin Jackson, whom many projected as the most NBA-ready non-lottery prospect, so it wouldn't be shocking if he performed competently as well. If their pieces fit together well--and I suspect they might--they've got a chance to surprise people.