NBA Preview: Pacific Division

By: andrewgifford

Halle-freaking-elujah!!!! Last NBA Preview column!! And before you ask, it’s definitely not a coincidence that I waited to do this division last. You’ll know why in a second. My apologies for not getting all the previews out before the season, but there’s only been 6 or 7 games played by each team, so it wasn’t that far off. Now onto the Western Conference Pacific Division!!!!

1. LA Lakers

2. Phoenix Suns

3. LA Clippers

4. Sacramento Kings

5. Golden State Warriors

1. LA Lakers (61-21)

There was a part of me that wanted to put 82-0 for the Lakers record this year just to infuriate all Celtics fans who read my stuff, but I decided otherwise. Mainly because I still want all Celtics fans to read my stuff and be fans of my blog. You see, there’s being a Lakers fan living in Massachusetts, and then there’s just being stupid. I definitely didn’t want to go with the latter. It was definitely a turmoil filled offseason for the defending champion (love saying that) Los Angeles Lakers. First, ingenious General Manager Mitch Kupcheck (about as ingenious as Kanye West thinking that trashing Taylor Swift at the VMA’s was a great PR move) decided to not re-sign forward Trevor Ariza. So Kupcheck decided to not re-sign a guy who always defended the best player on the other team (leaving Kobe Bryant to roam and stay rested for offense), usually shut down the best player from the other team, hit more than his share of big three pointers down the stretch, and seemed like the prototypical “glue” guy: didn’t care about stats, did anything to win, and loved being a part of the Lakers team. At that point I thought, “Well then, if Kupcheck’s not going to re-sign Ariza, he probably plans on bringing in somebody a lot better.” Two and a half weeks later I read on espn.com “Lakers sign Ron Artest to three year deal.” WHAT!!!! THAT’S NOT “BETTER”!!!! HOW THE F*&K IS THAT “BETTER”!! After I read that headline, I wanted to go to fmylife.com and submit “The Lakers just signed Ron Artest today. The man who started the biggest brawl in NBA history. The man who made the song MJ (Michael Jackson) is my n*gga. FML.” So far during Ron Artest’s career, he has been the complete opposite of Trevor Ariza. He’s never been a team player, he has consistently broken set plays to jack up ridiculous shots, and oh yeah…he’s insane. After the Artest signing, I thought that the offseason couldn’t get much worse. Screwed again. Lakers owner Jerry Buss then played hardball with free agent at the time Lamar Odom. Odom really had a good season coming off of the bench for the Lakers and even started in the playoffs when center Andrew Bynum was injured. Buss and Odom pretty much had a deal done until Buss found out that Odom (who was a free agent, meaning he can talk to whatever team he wants) was also talking to Dallas and Miami. Once Buss found out that Odom was talking to other teams, he took the deal off the table and refused to talk to Odom. They eventually got the deal done, but it took Odom almost signing with Miami to put the ink on the contract. I then thought, “What else can happen?” What can happen, only the worst thing that could ever be imagined; a Laker marrying a Kardashian. Lamar Odom married Khloe Kardashian in September after only knowing each other for about a month. So the Lakers offseason moves area as follows: lose Ariza, gain Artest, gain overweight and ugly Kardashian. Ugh!!! I think I just threw up in mouth a little. Good thing that they already had a good team intact, otherwise there would be a consistent head print on the wall in my room. Good news for the Lakers, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are back and Andrew Bynum is 100% healthy. I would say that the Kobe Bryant/Pau Gasol duo is probably top 3 in the league. The day that Pau came to the Lakers in “The Steal of The Century”, that automatically made Kobe a better player. With Gasol, there was finally a player that could take the weight off of Kobe’s shoulders. And Kobe, well, who had a better playoffs than Kobe Bryant last summer. You could tell he was on a mission and he wasn’t stopping until he got his ring. Center Andrew Bynum was having a career year last year until he injured his knee, keeping him out for the rest of the year. From the first 7 games, he looks healthy, in shape, and ready to dominate. I believe, however, that there are two big questions for the Lakers; Ron Artest’s attitude and Kobe Bryant’s health. With the track record that Artest has, is he willing to fit into a team mold and put winning ahead of everything else? Or will he revert back to his “old ways,” which is breaking plays, putting up poor shots, and being insane. Only time will tell. Secondly, how much longer is Kobe Bryant going to stay healthy? The last couple of years, Kobe Bryant has played a lot. With going to two straight NBA Finals and playing in the Olympics, those must are a lot of games for his body to handle. I understand that he’s one of the most physically fit players in the league, but you’re always susceptible to injury with the type of physicality Bryant plays with. Again the answer to that question will be answered in time. All in all, the Lakers have a lot of talent on their team, and they should be able to grab a number one or two spot in west come playoff time.

2. Phoenix Suns (47-35)

In my opinion, if the Phoenix Suns want to make a run at a title, they better make it soon. Point guard Steve Nash is coming towards the end of his career and there’s a chance that Amar’e Stoudemire won’t be with the team next year. In looking at the Suns, I would put them under the “Addition by Subtraction” category. Their big addition this offseason was getting rid of Shaquille O’ Neal. It was a gamble when they traded for him a year and a half ago, and that gamble definitely came up short. He completely disrupted the entire team; from the tempo, to the team chemistry. With O’ Neal gone, the Suns can now play their style of basketball, shoot first and ask questions later. The Suns don’t have as many shooters as they’ve had in the past; however they still have a lot of firepower. Along with Nash and Stoudemire, Leandro Barbosa and Jason Richardson give the team some long distance range. Barbosa is a great guy to bring off the bench with his quickness and shooting ability, and Jason Richardson kind of gave the Suns a shot in the arm when he came from the Charlotte Bobcats via trade last year. Richardson plays a Suns style of game; attacking the basket with ferocity and long range capabilities. One addition that the Suns did make in the offseason was they acquired forward Channing Frye via free agency. Frye was drafted by the New York Knicks and played the last two seasons with Portland Trail Blazers. Frye has really never lived up to his expectations set out for him when he was drafted by the Knicks in 2005, however, the Suns are very high on him and they see him contributing heavily to their team. There are two big questions for the Suns that seem to always be present before a season; can the Suns play any defense and will Amar’e stay healthy. The Suns downfall has always been that they can’t stop anybody on defense. I’ve joked in the past that the Suns could play a 5-0 game and still give up 100+ points. Can the Suns get defensive stops down the stretch to win games? This question will definitely way heavily in regards to them making a stretch run into the playoffs. The second questions is Amar’e Stoudemire’s health. Stoudemire has developed the title of “Injury Plagued” in the past couple of years. Amar’e needs to stay healthy for the Suns to have any shot in the West. I think the Suns have a good year, but I think they get knocked out of the playoffs in the first or second round.

3. LA Clippers (42-40)

The only reason that I put the Clippers third in this division is they’re the team I hate the least out of them, Sacramento and Golden State. They took a huge hit when rookie stud Blake Griffin cracked his knee cap in the preseason and will be out probably for another 4 or 5 weeks. This sets the team back a lot considering Griffin was an important piece for them to make a run at a playoff spot in the west. However, when Griffin comes back, he will definitely make the Clips fun to watch. Griffin was a high flying, shot blocking, dunking machine when he played for Oklahoma and the Clippers hope that he does that when wearing Red and White. Along with Griffin, Rasual Butler and Eric Gordon should the give the Clippers and outside complement to Griffin’s inside game. Also, center Chris Kaman is having an All-Star type season so far, averaging 23 points and almost 10 rebounds a game. I believe the wild card in all of this is guard Baron Davis. If he feels like playing and stays in shape for the entire season, he could really give the Clippers a chance to make get a playoff berth. Davis was at one time one of the most dynamic players in the NBA and if he can give the Clippers a small piece of what he once was, they’ll be all set. Also, spoiler alert, don’t be surprised if LeBron James signs with the Clippers as a free agent this offseason. LA is the big market LeBron’s looking for, the team has good young players, and there’s better young talent in LA than Cleveland in my opinion. Let’s just hope Donald Sterling sells the team to make sure that it’s a slam dunk that LeBron will go there next year.

4. Sacramento Kings (32-50)

5. Golden State Warriors (32-50)

These teams have two things in common, they’re both from California and they’re both going to suck this year. There’s young talent on both of these teams, but it’s going to be a long ways away before each team is competitive. I would say that the Warriors might be a little more entertaining because of the whole Steven Jackson, Don Nelson saga. But that’s pretty much it. Not much good to say about each of these cellar dwellers.

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2 Comments

  1. Hi. I read a few of your other posts and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links?

    Comment by Randy Nichols on November 9, 2009

  2. Yeah, definitely,

    Comment by andrewgifford on November 9, 2009

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