The Clippers are off to a great start this year, leading the western conference since day one. They have the most underrated bench in the league, allowing injuries to heal and starters to rest as long as needed. But the real difference is their clutch play by Sam Cassell and Elton Brand quietly playing the best basketball of his career. Maggette returned to small forward without missing a beat and the extremely talented Shaun Livingston has yet to even play a game. The Clippers are well above average at every position, play great as a unit and will win the Pacific Division title this year.
Golden State snuck up on a lot of teams last year after the Baron Davis trade, but this year they won't be fooling anyone. Davis will absolutely need to be healthy all year long and overachieve as well. Because except for Richardson, everyone else is underachieving. Adonal Foyle and Mike Dunleavy will have to play as well as they get paid if the Warriors are going to sneak into the playoffs. The 7th & 8th spots are just way too competitive for the Warriors to make the playoffs.
The Lakers should pretty much give up on the idea of Kwame Brown ever becoming any sort of quality player, he'll be a pile of crap for the rest of his career. But otherwise, the team isn't too bad, Phil Jackson always manages to find a role for even the most limited of players. But Lamar Odom cannot be counted on to lead the team if Kobe goes down. Phil's role players should be able to step up their games just enough for Kobe to get the Lakers to the 8th spot on willpower alone.
Phoenix still has a great offense, and a marginally better defense, but they are not the offensive juggernaut they were last year. Amare will change that, but he won't realistically be at full strength for about 6 months. Steve Nash gets doubled at the end of games, because there is no post player for him to pass to. They will struggle in clutch situations, so most of their wins must come from blowing out their opponents for now. But after getting it together late in the season, they'll still end up a 5-8 seed and will be a 1st round nightmare match-up.
Sacramento has very good starting talent, but they're nothing but passive players like Peja, Miller and Abdur-Rahim. Until they develop a develop an edge like the Kings of a few years ago (remember when they used to average 105+ppg?), Bibby's clutch-ness will go to waste as many games won't even be close. Their complete lack of decent bench players will wear the starters out by season's end and they'll have missed the playoffs.
So unless some big trade takes place, at this point the Clippers should easily be a top 3 seed come playoff time!
Golden State snuck up on a lot of teams last year after the Baron Davis trade, but this year they won't be fooling anyone. Davis will absolutely need to be healthy all year long and overachieve as well. Because except for Richardson, everyone else is underachieving. Adonal Foyle and Mike Dunleavy will have to play as well as they get paid if the Warriors are going to sneak into the playoffs. The 7th & 8th spots are just way too competitive for the Warriors to make the playoffs.
The Lakers should pretty much give up on the idea of Kwame Brown ever becoming any sort of quality player, he'll be a pile of crap for the rest of his career. But otherwise, the team isn't too bad, Phil Jackson always manages to find a role for even the most limited of players. But Lamar Odom cannot be counted on to lead the team if Kobe goes down. Phil's role players should be able to step up their games just enough for Kobe to get the Lakers to the 8th spot on willpower alone.
Phoenix still has a great offense, and a marginally better defense, but they are not the offensive juggernaut they were last year. Amare will change that, but he won't realistically be at full strength for about 6 months. Steve Nash gets doubled at the end of games, because there is no post player for him to pass to. They will struggle in clutch situations, so most of their wins must come from blowing out their opponents for now. But after getting it together late in the season, they'll still end up a 5-8 seed and will be a 1st round nightmare match-up.
Sacramento has very good starting talent, but they're nothing but passive players like Peja, Miller and Abdur-Rahim. Until they develop a develop an edge like the Kings of a few years ago (remember when they used to average 105+ppg?), Bibby's clutch-ness will go to waste as many games won't even be close. Their complete lack of decent bench players will wear the starters out by season's end and they'll have missed the playoffs.
So unless some big trade takes place, at this point the Clippers should easily be a top 3 seed come playoff time!
