the spurs! my team raked in the offseason. i just found out they signed ray mCcallum even though i was stoked because i thought it was cj mcCallum, but whatever. they lost a lot, but aldridge and david west. timmy and gino can retire rest assured that at least they've got another title under their belt

I love the smack Steve Kerr talked about Popovich saying that if he can't win an NBA title this year with everything they have- Pop should just retire on the spot.

Seriously, the Spurs have had a great off-season no doubt. It'll be interesting to see how the pieces come together. Think the west may be a smidge bit thinner this year- 2 playoff teams- Portland and Dallas are going to be much worse than last year. Oklahoma City should be better- but then going to see 8th team being like either Phoenix or Utah- or a deeper team like a Minnesota. West might not be quite the grind it's been in recent years.

The Spurs will go as far as Parker can carry them. Aldridge is a legitimate star, but if Parker misses any significant time or continues to decline, they're gonna have problems. You have to have a legitimate ball handler and as good as Mills is, he's not that. If Pop can keep Parker healthy they have a very good shot at going all the way.

My Thunder should have a really good season. I know they overpaid Kanter, but it was either sign Kanter pay him the current max, or not sign Kanter and pay nobody. I'd rather pay for a luxury than not have that luxury. Their big man rotation should be really interesting with Adams, Ibaka, Kanter and McGary. The latter is a talented player (similar to Kanter) and dropping 30 lbs in the offseason is going to make a big difference. If the Thunder can stay healthy they'll be as tough as any team. The big wild card is Billy Donovan. What are his lineups and rotations going to look like? And is he going to install an offensive system that resembles something more than a high school team?

Yeah the West probably isn't quite as strong, as the Blazers went from top team to lottery team and the Mavs went from solid playoff team to lottery as well. The Suns added Chandler but had to trade Marcus Morris to do it and they lost Gerald Green, thinning out their guard rotation. The Pelicans didn't improve, but the big key with them is health. I don't believe Holiday and Gordon are dominant, but if they can at least stay healthy they'll provide Davis with the support he needs.

In the end I'd say the Grizzlies got stronger, the Spurs improved, the Dubs lost David Lee but essentially stayed the same, the Thunder should be greatly improved, the Rockets should be improved just due to full health, and the Clippers should be about as good as last year. Once again, health will determine everything

The Spurs aren't going to win because the Western Conference will be too big of a slog for them. Even if they had scraped by the Clips, Houston's speed would have been too much for them IMO.

The west though isn't as good this year. Dallas and Portland aren't going to be good(especially Portland who might not win 20 games). OKC will be better. The thing this year is if you can finish top 2, you will get a big advantage- 1st round against a New Orleans, Phoenix, Minnesota- instead of a war with one of the real good teams.

(07-15-2015 08:06 AM)stever20 Wrote:  The west though isn't as good this year. Dallas and Portland aren't going to be good(especially Portland who might not win 20 games). OKC will be better. The thing this year is if you can finish top 2, you will get a big advantage- 1st round against a New Orleans, Phoenix, Minnesota- instead of a war with one of the real good teams.

Assuming full health the seeds will shake out along these lines:
1) Warriors
2) Spurs
3) Thunder
4) Grizzlies
5) Rockets
6) Clippers
and then some combination of the Pelicans, Suns and Jazz. It's unlikely the Wolves have the experience to jump from 16 to around 45 wins. I'd give them one more season before putting them in the playoff mix.

The West is probably a little worse, but is there a huge difference? The Blazers are being replaced by the Thunder and I don't think the Suns and Pelicans will give the 1 and 2 seeds any less of a fight than the Mavs and Pelicans gave last season. And then we can assume improvement by some teams near the bottom like the Jazz, Wolves and Kings.

BTW I know the Thunder won 45 games and the Blazers won't do that, but in terms of the playoffs there won't be a difference.

(07-15-2015 11:15 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 08:06 AM)stever20 Wrote:  The west though isn't as good this year. Dallas and Portland aren't going to be good(especially Portland who might not win 20 games). OKC will be better. The thing this year is if you can finish top 2, you will get a big advantage- 1st round against a New Orleans, Phoenix, Minnesota- instead of a war with one of the real good teams.

Assuming full health the seeds will shake out along these lines:
1) Warriors
2) Spurs
3) Thunder
4) Grizzlies
5) Rockets
6) Clippers
and then some combination of the Pelicans, Suns and Jazz. It's unlikely the Wolves have the experience to jump from 16 to around 45 wins. I'd give them one more season before putting them in the playoff mix.

The West is probably a little worse, but is there a huge difference? The Blazers are being replaced by the Thunder and I don't think the Suns and Pelicans will give the 1 and 2 seeds any less of a fight than the Mavs and Pelicans gave last season. And then we can assume improvement by some teams near the bottom like the Jazz, Wolves and Kings.

BTW I know the Thunder won 45 games and the Blazers won't do that, but in terms of the playoffs there won't be a difference.

I think regular season will be different. I think the top 5-6 will have more separation. Yeah Minnesota and OKC will be better- but their delta plus in wins won't be as much as the delta plus in losses for Dallas and Portland. I think there's going to be more nights in the west where teams don't have to go all out to win games from the top 6 teams.

(07-15-2015 12:03 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 11:15 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  

(07-15-2015 08:06 AM)stever20 Wrote:  The west though isn't as good this year. Dallas and Portland aren't going to be good(especially Portland who might not win 20 games). OKC will be better. The thing this year is if you can finish top 2, you will get a big advantage- 1st round against a New Orleans, Phoenix, Minnesota- instead of a war with one of the real good teams.

Assuming full health the seeds will shake out along these lines:
1) Warriors
2) Spurs
3) Thunder
4) Grizzlies
5) Rockets
6) Clippers
and then some combination of the Pelicans, Suns and Jazz. It's unlikely the Wolves have the experience to jump from 16 to around 45 wins. I'd give them one more season before putting them in the playoff mix.

The West is probably a little worse, but is there a huge difference? The Blazers are being replaced by the Thunder and I don't think the Suns and Pelicans will give the 1 and 2 seeds any less of a fight than the Mavs and Pelicans gave last season. And then we can assume improvement by some teams near the bottom like the Jazz, Wolves and Kings.

BTW I know the Thunder won 45 games and the Blazers won't do that, but in terms of the playoffs there won't be a difference.

I think regular season will be different. I think the top 5-6 will have more separation. Yeah Minnesota and OKC will be better- but their delta plus in wins won't be as much as the delta plus in losses for Dallas and Portland. I think there's going to be more nights in the west where teams don't have to go all out to win games from the top 6 teams.

Yeah I think I can mostly agree with that. Although an improved Kings, Wolves and Jazz, as well as a healthy Anthony Davis (he missed 14 games) and an improvement for the Thunder of around 13 wins, will help to offset the major drop by the Blazers and Mavs. So all in all I think you're right about there being more separation between the top 6 and the rest of the league, but I also think the floor is being brought up a bit. In the end it's still a slog. When the Jazz are like your 8 or 9 seed you know your conference is insanely tough

I'm just waiting for the Hornets to conjure their inner Mourning/LJ/Bouges steez and show up.

Rockets give up a basket of mostly nothing to get Lawson. This is a really good buy low move. They'll now be able to go offense-defense with Lawson and Beverley. Lawson will need to play off the ball more, thus he needs to increase his 3 pt %.

Denver got some salary cap space in the deal, along with a 1st rd pick next year.

(07-20-2015 09:35 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Denver got some salary cap space in the deal, along with a 1st rd pick next year.

So Houston gave up very little. I believe the pick is protected

It's not a bad haul for Denver considering they wanted to clear a starting spot for Mudiay, and considering Lawson is an alcoholic. But from Houston's standpoint, they didn't exactly give up a huge haul for a really good PG

This deal now gives Mudiay a good chance to win the ROY

(07-15-2015 08:06 AM)stever20 Wrote:  The west though isn't as good this year. Dallas and Portland aren't going to be good(especially Portland who might not win 20 games). OKC will be better. The thing this year is if you can finish top 2, you will get a big advantage- 1st round against a New Orleans, Phoenix, Minnesota- instead of a war with one of the real good teams.

Well looks like you were right, albeit not exactly for the reasons you expected. While Portland hasn't been good, Dallas has been better than expected, the Rockets have been a total mess and the Clippers have been a partial mess. With OKC playing well over the last few games, it looks like the class of the West (Warriors, Spurs, Thunder) have broken away from the pack. The Grizzlies look old too. The Warriors will be in good shape, because with the 1 seed they'll cruise to the WCF and play the winner of the bloodbath between the Spurs and Thunder. I really believe a healthy Thunder team would win that series, but it would be really fun to watch