My Evaluation of the Western Conference. Chime in with your thoughts!

10 comments

1. Every team has problems, some random thoughts:

   • Dallas might be better next year but i dont think they are in the running to win a chip in 2024

   • I’ve rooted for old teams before with aging stars — Buster Posey, Joe Montana, and seen from afar for other teams such as late stage Spurs, late stage 2000s Yankees, Patriots run, Kobe’s later years. Bron is Bron but old man time is coming as it did for literally everyone else

   • Clippers — first of all, they have the least amount of shooters this coming year than they have since they formed their super team… and now we expect their stars to do more after adding more miles and years? it can happen but its tough to bet on

   • Sac is cool, our neighbor — but facts are you need several playoff runs to build that dog mentality you need to win a chip. so they are getting started… same for NO and OKC and MIN. 3 years of the same team trudging into the playoffs like Denver did is the requirement. Milwaukee had Giannis and Kris for years before they added 1 more guy in jrue and completed their run

   • Fresh super teams need time to gel. Suns need to figure stuff out… and on top of that KD is turning 35 next season and that aging star element will apply to them next year.

   • Denver lost 2 big role players. lol just like us last year… we lamented all year we lost them so i would be surprised they did the same. im sitting here seeing the same thing

   THE WARRIORS — starting lineup is set, just need CP3 to buy in and do what he does and with some improvement by joku and moody, we should be a playoff ready team. even joku and moody have playoff experience given the title run and the failure of last year as real-time experience. if CP3 is injured, that is a major issue and the vibe of the team might be an issue but i am confident our organization is strong enough to ‘fix’ those issues.

2. Great work! I personally think you can’t be a contender without an MVP/top 10 caliber player.

3. Haven’t the lakers kept their core pretty much together? Then they might go as far as last year. Cause lebrons level of play at this age is just different

4. 1. How are the Jazz not considered “Young, Getting there”? This is the one gripe They have an All-star in Lauri + promising young talent in Kessler, George, and Hendricks (and maybe Agbaji) + a really good coach in Hardy. They def don’t belong in that tier with Blazers, Rockets, and Spurs.

   2. How are the Lakers considered “Too soon for new team”? Half their roster is the same from last season + Prince’s existing connection with Dlo and Vanderbilt. If anything they belong in the “Refining, Getting there” or “Unreliable Health”.

   3. (And I acknowledge this can get me a lot of flak) It does feel homer-ish to only include us as the “Proven Contenter” along with the reigning champs considering we are adding a big piece in CP3 + a big part is a leap from JK and Moody which isn’t guaranteed (but I’m hoping.) If anything, we belong in the “Refining, Getting there” tier once you consider everything including figuring out rotations. And honestly, we have a good argument to be in the “Unreliable Health” tier considering we don’t know how healthy an aging CP3 can be + Steph hasn’t played more than 65 games since 2019. Not to mention the potential health of GP2, Draymond, and/or Klay. Like I get the Clippers cause their big 2’s health is very questionable too, but their overall roster is relatively healthy outside of a few role players. And that same logic can also apply to us.

   Overall, I’m not a fan of you using last year’s standings as a means of grouping teams in separate tiers considering the weird state of the WC last season that was derailed due to health and other unexplained factors + there were teams like the Mavs and Jazz post-trade deadline who purposefully lost games to get a better pick so it’s not truly reflective of their level.

   It would’ve been better if you actually just went to TierMaker or some tier list website to better group up teams + present your analysis

5. Contender*

   Good work though

6. As long as they go 4-0 against Memphis

7. I feel like you can give a little more credit to the Suns and Mavs. I think their category should be more of a question of “can they put it together in time?” Some super teams and new teams put it together quickly and some take more time. The first year of the Heatles had some bumps and ultimately didn’t culminate in a championship. However the first year of the KD warriors went off like gangbusters and that was the most fun of the KD years. I could see both the Mavs and the Suns being the former but, like you said in your comment, I could see the Mavs surprising more than the suns so I wouldn’t count either of them fully out as “too soon.”

   I do think you do need a category for “put up or shut up” which would 100% be targeting the Lakers lol. They are returning a lot of pieces and allegedly had a great off-season. They still have Lebron and AD. It’s time to see if they can match the expectations. The Warriors could very well be in this category as well though its not as desperate since this core group won in 22.

   I really don’t know where to put Memphis as losing Brooks and the Ja suspension does put them in a weird space. Are they really refining or are they in the same “unreliable” category you have with the Clippers? Too many outside variables for them right now that they’d have to put together.

8. Im not buying the Clippers. They have not proved anything to continue to have high expectations. If they get Harden thats a lil’ different.

9. Griz is much worst, they will be without ja

   Lakers should be top 3, they beat us handily last year, and even tho they got swept, the 4 games with Denver were very close.

   Suns should be top 3, they were the only team to take 2 games off of Denver and they upgraded with Beal.

   Warriors too high. Klay has gotten worst every year since injury. He’s now another year older. Draymond is also worst these day, not the same defender he was before. He can turn it up a notch for a few games but not consistent throughout the year. Cp3 is a question mark. Moody and jk are question mark. We are still weak at the center spot. We have no answer for jokic and AD. AD cooked us last year with minimal effort and will do the same this year. Curry is awesome but he’s another year older.

   Okc should be higher, top 8 imo. Shai is a star, they have great young pieces who are now another year older and ready to make a leap. Chet is back.

   Minnesota should be higher. Ant was looking like a superstar near the end of last year. Jaden McDaniels is an elite wing. Gobert and towns have a year together now.

   Pelicans should be higher if zion is healthy. I would say they are top 4 with zion, above the warriors. Warriors have no answer to zion.

10. I’d probably have 6 tiers.

    1 Denver, Phoenix

    2 Golden State, LA Lakers, Sacramento

    3 Memphis, OKC, Minnesota

    4 Dallas, LA Clippers, NOLA

    5 Utah, Houston

    6 San Antonio, Portland (esp if Dame drama lingers)