Time for another Power Poll and this time I’m going with three teams from the West which is somewhat outlandish, but not really when you really think about it. I’m going from having OKC at No. 4 to maybe somewhere in that No. 9 thru No. 11 range. But of course, I only pick eight teams. I no longer can hang on to the pipedream this Thunder team is a serious contender, although Golden State does have some injury issues.
1 Houston Rockets
2 Golden State Warriors
3 LeBron
4 Toronto Raptors
5 Portland Trail Blazers
6 Boston Celtics
7 Philadelphia 76’ers
8 Indiana Pacers
A great regular season for the Houston Rockets. They turned out to be everything the Thunder hoped to be back in 2012 when the Thunder made the Finals with James Harden.
Harden is easily my regular season MVP.
Daryl Morey is easily my NBA Executive of the Year.
Clint Capella is my Most Improved Player of the Year, but I have Steven Adams on my list in the top four.
Mike D’Antoni is third on my NBA Coach of the Year ballot with me going 1 Terry Stotts of Portland and 2 Dwayne Casey of the Toronto Raptors.
Meanwhile, the Thunder with a team that at the beginning of the season was thought to be a legit challenger in the West is currently 17 games behind the Houston Rockets as I write.
Now, one of two things can or should perhaps be written at this point, but there’s still some basketball to be played so I’ll just keep my thoughts to myself for the time being.
June 29, 2017 after the Chris Paul trade: