NBA Pacific Division Preview, 2015-2016 Season
Oct 20, 2015
Below is a copy of one of Bside's (BBC) NBA Divisional previews for the new season, which gets underway next Tuesday, you can read all about this brand new specialist basketball advisory service on the clubgowi website.
NBA Pacific Division Preview, 2015-2016 Season (written 14/10 )
Los Angeles Lakers
Projected Record: 38-44
Really hard to evaluate the Lakers at this stage, yet it would be an ultimate shock for me personally if they make the play-offs. It would require a major slip by no less than 3 strong play-off contenders which is hardly too probable in the quality-packed West. Yet Lakers fans should have more to cheer about this season. They have 2 promising rookies in PG Russell and Randle (basically his rookie season because of an early injury last season). Russell has excellent ball control and speed, and he may transform in an elite PG in the league in 3-4 years. For the time being though the youngster should keep his ego very down low and just obey the gameplan – perfectly simple one – pass the ball to Kobe. There even was a funny memo over internet in the last weeks, Kobe and Russell sit on the bench, Kobe points at a spot on the floor and says ‘’Watch carefully, that’s exactly the spot where you pass me the ball!’’ :)
Apart from the young duo, adding seasoned veterans in Roy Hibbert and Brandon Bass is a good thing. They will provide much needed defensive stability although these are not the type of players which make a team contender. Parting ways with Jeremy Lin is also very positive, if this guys played ball at the level his agent arranged him the contracts, he would be a superstar!
So in short, improvement is on the cards for Lakers but it won’t be enough for Kobe to get a final shot at another ring.
Sacramento Kings
Projected Record: 35-47
Kings have one major problem – the chaos is the usual state of this organization, or at least so it seems to most of the fans and outside watchers. Players don’t observe the organization policy of behavior too strictly, freely express their points of view towards the coaching staff, team gameplay scheme, etc. That’s just not the way you can make an elite team in NBA, not publicly anyway. Will DeMarcus Cousins and coach George Karl get ever to like each other? Highly improbable, but the more important question is will they put their egos on the back seat in favour of the team. I’m not too optimistic about that too, eventually one of them should need to go out. Cousins is regarded the franchise player so we can see a change on the helmet sooner or later through the season. Apart from that, Kings just miss depth and this would put an end to their play-off ambitions for another season. Ok, they got a star (or semi-star) players on every line (Cousins at Center / Power Forward, Rudy Gay at Forward and Rondo at point) and a promising rookie in the like of Willie Cauley-Stein. New additions are also veterans Kosta Koufos, Marco Belinelli, Caron Butler, Omri Casspi. The problem is they are more or less one-dimensional players or too ancient. So the bench seem too thin again, yet I suppose they will better their last season record a bit.
Phoenix Suns
Projected Record: 40-42
Phoenix are very likeable team, they always try to play entertaining run-and-gun style. Being an elite team playing such fast-paced style is hard though and you need a floor general with Steve Nash-like abilities to properly execute it. No need to say, nor Brandon Knight neither Eric Bledsoe possess similar skill set. Turnovers and doubtful defense prevented them from reaching the play-offs last season. The management has addressed the defensive fragility with the addition of center Tyson Chandler, still one of the best big man defenders in NBA. Dumping Isaiah Thomas last season was a mistake IMO though, he has both the skills and the heart to be an important role player for nearly every NBA team. Splitting Morris twins is also very dangerous decision, we’ll see how both perform at their teams (Sub-par seasons for both? Quite probably.). My prediction is Suns will once again miss the play-offs by a little bit.
Los Angeles Clippers
Projected Record: 58-24
Clippers fans got used to be the better Los Angeles NBA team in the last couple of seasons and that supremacy don’t look to be in serious danger. Doc Rivers and his recruiting team made one hell-of-a-job keeping DeAndre Jordan in LA in Hollywood best action-comedy traditions style. So no major losses in their roster. Just the opposite, adding Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson, Wesley Johnson, Cole Aldrich should in theory make their bench much stronger. No objections about the last 2 and The Truth can still be useful for a contender team, mostly in the locker room really. Lance Stephenson should ring some alarms in every Clippers fan mind though. He has skills and potential for growing but just can’t get over his childish behavior on the court. Let’s put aside the clown tricks like blowing in LBJ ear in his time with Indiana, do this guy really believes he is so talented and good to be any team franchise player and first option on offense, at this stage? Come on, even Stephon Marbury had a bit more credibility when he claimed himself better than Jason Kidd, and it was still a good joke back then! Clippers biggest issue though is the mental weakness in key play-off matches. They just got used to making their lives complicated and losing games from winning positions in the last years. The championship window is still open for them though with DeAndre still here so Clipps can be viewed as a black horse in the West and another excellent regular season is on the cards. I wouldn’t rush to back them outright with my money though, they should first prove themselves as a worthy play-off winning team.
Golden State Warriors
Projected Record: 64-18
Going to the ruling champions finally. GSW made all their fans incredibly happy last year, as well as many neutral bball viewers as you just cannot force yourself not to admire Steph Curry (pictured) magical things on the court. Well, they made me personally quite happy too, as I had a small outright bet on them with juicy odds around 20.00, taken somewhere in the beginning of last season. Here’s hoping some similar value bet will strike me again, albeit I believe there won’t be a shock this year (more of this in the first few weeks of the season, I’d like to see every team play a few games under their belt). Back to GSW, they weren’t too active on the market. David Lee was released and replaced with seasoned veteran PF Gerald Wallace, I can’t see this changing the overall team ranking at all. Retaining Draymond Green and reserve Leandro Barbosa is way more important and they did it, well, it’s not too hard for a championship team to retain their players really. Team chemistry is fine, really fine, it’s clearly visible these guys enjoy playing with each other and have fun in the process too. Steve Kerr is a great coach and having the peace of mind should really help him onwards, because I guess he still dreams nightmares about preferring the Knicks job instead of GSW one J So GSW have it all again and I can’t see anything (bar major injury) prevent them from competing for the best regular season record in the league and another deep run afterwards.
GL!
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