The NBA season gets started this evening along with the World Series. It should be interesting on both counts.
The Western Conference is loaded even more than last season as Kawhi Leonard is now an LA Clipper and apparently LeBron James is healthy alongside Anthony Davis.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are in a different situation. Sam Presti traded the Thunder’s best three players this summer in Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and Jerami Grant. Paul George is now a Clipper. Westbrook is now a Rocket. Jerami Grant is now a Nugget. All three were placed on contenders by Sam Presti. It’s good to know Sam Presti made someone a contender this summer.
In exchange for dismantling his team Sam Presti now has Chris Paul’s contract, Danilo Gallinari on an expiring contract, 15 first round draft picks in the next six years, and two first round draft swaps.
It is what it is…. the Thunder are in a rebuild mode and none really know when and where Chris Paul will eventually land or how many games he will play in Oklahoma City this NBA season. Thus, it’s hard to know if you should place Oklahoma City as a No. 11 seed or a No. 13 seed. I hedged and put the Thunder as a No. 12 seed. But if Presti unloads both Paul and Gallinari in December then that would be too high a landing for the Thunder.
I have the Denver Nuggets as my No. 1 seed in the West because of Nikola Jokic, the team’s very deep roster 1 thru 12, and the addition of the versatile Jerami Grant who should prove helpful for Coach Mike Malone.
This doesn’t mean I’m picking the Nuggets to advance to the NBA Finals, it just means I think they’re structured to be the best team in the West for the course of the regular season if Jokic stays healthy and plays at the level he did last season.
The West should be a great season of fun for NBA junkies. Every game should be tough… and even OKC has a decent roster right now before the movement of Chris Paul and Gallinari.
Here’s my seeding sheet for the West regular season only.
1 Denver Nuggets
2 LA Clippers
3 LA Lakers
4 Utah Jazz
5 Houston Rockets
6 San Antonio Spurs
7 Golden State Warriors
8 Portland Trailblazers
9 Sacramento Kings
10 Dallas Mavericks
11 New Orleans Pelicans
12 Oklahoma City Thunder
13 Minnesota Timberwolves
14 Phoenix Suns
15 Memphis Grizzlies
It should be a great season of NBA hoops in the West. Let the games begin. Have fun.