Welcome to the wild, wild Western Conference of the NBA, where young playoff dreams come to die.
As with almost every season for the past decade or so, the West is filled with a bevy of talented ball clubs all vying for a crack at the playoffs (with the exception of some perennial cellar dwellers that seem to be in constant rebuild mode). This 2015 should be no different, and we’ve taken a good shot at how each division will pan out in the most competitive conference in the league.
Want to know how things are looking up out on the opposite coast? Check out our complete preview for the Eastern Conference right after this to get you all warmed up for the all exciting basketball action to come.
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2015-16 NBA Western Conference Preview
Pacific Division
[sc:NBA240banner ]As the old saying goes, “To be the champ, you gotta beat the champ”.
The Pacific Division will have to be won by going past the Golden State Warriors first and foremost, who are off a historic shooting performance that earned the Bay Area its first NBA Championship in 30 years. And with how the team’s current roster looks, the rest of the Pacific will have its work cut out for them once again to try and overthrow the -250 favorites to win the division.
The core pieces from last season’s championship squad are all returning to defend their title, but many speculate that their outside-shooting ways cannot be sustained. And with the rest of the West’s top contenders finally back at full strength, Golden State, now more than ever, has to prove that its style of play is still indeed a model for excellence.
The Warriors’ main threat for the division crown is the Los Angeles Clippers, who went through a ton of drama just to re-sign center DeAndre Jordan in the offseason. But the Clips, just like Golden State, made a sound decision with re-enlisting Jordan to keep their stellar chemistry from last season intact. However, are the additions of Paul Pierce and Lance Stephenson at small forward enough to give the team a truly daunting starting five?
And let’s not sleep on the rising Phoenix Suns, who acquired Tyson Chandler to give this young but explosive squad some defensive and veteran leadership for a strong push for the playoffs. However, forward Markieff Morris is still disgruntled after the Phoenix front office decided to ship his brother Marcus to the Pistons. If he no-shows some games with his volatile attitude, the Suns’ progress from the last couple of years may be for naught, and could see them fall below 36.5 wins for the season.
Meanwhile, the L.A. Lakers have yet to feel out how their young stars will gel – or more like co-exist – with Staples Center staple Kobe Bryant, and the Sacramento Kings’ roster still only has one dependable cornerstone in DeMarcus Cousins. It’s safe to say that these two teams are still a year or two away from being actual contenders.
Writer’s Prediction
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Clippers
Phoenix Suns
Los Angeles Lakers
Sacramento Kings
Unless proven otherwise, the Warriors remain the alpha dogs in the Pacific. The Clippers and the Suns won’t be far behind in the standings, with Los Angeles being the only one between the two that’s almost guaranteed to make a postseason appearance.
Northwest Division
The pressure is on the Oklahoma City Thunder, as the Northwest Division is theirs to lose.
With the Portland Damian Lillards Trailblazers and enigmatic Denver Nuggets both heading in the wrong direction, OKC is more than capable of eclipsing the 56.5-win mark, especially with Kevin Durant back at full strength and the first full season of Enes Kanter at center to compliment Serge Ibaka in post protection.
The one team that can give Oklahoma City a run for its money is the Utah Jazz, who are priced at a rather distant +1,000 to win the Northwest. Rudy Gobert was a pleasant surprise last season, and his battles with the Thunder’s Kanter – the man he outplayed for Utah’s starting center job last year – will be interesting and fun to watch. Plus, the Jazz are fundamentally sound on defense, which could be tough to digest for the rest of the offense-heavy Western conference.
Oh, and are we in the mid-2000’s all of a sudden? Kevin Garnett is back with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but this time, his role will be to groom young prospects Andrew Wiggins and this year’s first-overall draft pick, Karl-Anthony Towns. But if Ricky Rubio still can’t stay healthy and find a decent shooting stroke, the Wolves better find someone else to run the point as to not waste the team’s potential of building around the Wiggins-Towns combination.
Writer’s Prediction
Oklahoma City Thunder
Utah Jazz
Minnesota Timberwolves
Denver Nuggets
Portland Trailblazers
Easy call here; the Thunder will run away with the Northwest title. Utah will have a comfortable cushion over the other three teams in the division, but they’re playoff hopes may be crushed not by their fellow group rivals, but by the rest of the West’s other powerhouses. And speaking of powerhouses…
Southwest Division
Now this is where things get really tricky and top-heavy. And by top-heavy, we mean that the entire Southwest Division could very well occupy the entire Western Conference playoff picture on its own.
Let’s start with the San Antonio Spurs, who convinced Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge to be a part of their very successful franchise as the successor to Tim Duncan, and Duncan hasn’t even retired yet (and is still playing some grade-A basketball to boot).
The same can be said of Tony Parker, who has refused to call it quits as long as he is still running the San Antonio offense to perfection. Throw in defensive whiz Kawhi Leonard, and you have the Spurs (-150) primed for another deep playoff run as they are wont to do, let alone win another division title.
But the rest of the Southwest looks equally frightening. The Memphis Grizzlies did little in the offseason to boost their chances of improving from last season’s finish, but their grit-and-grind style of play is just a shade behind the Spurs’ own methodical approach to the game – providing that tough-to-crack defensive acumen that continues to baffle the rest of the high-octane clubs from the Western Conference.
Meanwhile, that same high-powered offense has been working out well for the Houston Rockets ever since James Harden arrived in the organization. And with the team able to nab Ty Lawson from the Nuggets this offseason, their offense, which was already a handful to contain, just got even more dangerous.
Speaking of dangerous, the continued ascent of Anthony Davis as one of the NBA’s true superstars has the New Orleans Pelicans finally in the conversation of being an actual threat in the division. Barring any more crippling injuries to the starting roster, New Orleans indeed has a solid chance of winning more than 48.0 games for the first time since the ’08-’09 season.
And let’s not forget the Dallas Mavericks, who lucked out on the DeAndre Jordan sweepstakes in the worst way possible. Elderly stateman Dirk Nowitzki is still capable of drawing some magical performances out of thin air, and Deron Williams could very well see a resurgence to his dwindling career by playing for a battle-hardened franchise for a change. However, those positives on Nowitzki and Williams are actually huge ifs and not guarantees, which serves as to why they are huge +6,000 underdogs this season in winning the Southwest.
Writer’s Prediction
San Antonio Spurs
Houston Rockets
New Orleans Pelicans
Memphis Grizzlies
Dallas Mavericks
The Spurs and the Rockets will likely battle for the top spot, but we’ll give the edge to San Antonio given the team’s unparalleled track record of supremacy. New Orleans over Memphis at third seems like quite a reach, but we’re banking that the Grizzlies secure a good enough record in the end and still qualify for the playoffs, where they normally wreak the most havoc in the status quo.
