The Western Conference was clearly the best conference in the NBA during the 2010s. While the Spurs, Thunder, Rockets, Warriors and others all were constantly battling it out, whatever team LeBron James was on won the East for 8 consecutive seasons. However, it seems that something has changed this season, that the 2 best teams in the NBA seemingly reside in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics. So, who should win the West and what is going on with teams we thought would be at the top of the conference?
Let’s start with the champs, the Golden State Warriors. It has been a bad start to the season in the Bay Area. Besides a vintage 41 point performance a few weeks ago, Klay Thompson does not look like himself, the back to back season ending surgeries, understandably, have seemingly hampered his game. The bench has been an absolute disaster. The lineup of JaMychal Green, Donte DiVincenzo, Jordan Poole, James Wiseman, and Jonathan Kuminga is a -14 on the season, while Golden State’s starting 5 is +122. The next closest 5 man unit plus/minus is the Nuggets starting 5 with a +66 and their record is 14-7, yet the Warriors are stuck at .500 with a record of 11-11 with a starting 5 that has nearly doubled Denver’s plus/minus, that is how bad the bench has been. The 2nd overall pick in 2020, James Wiseman, has been bad, so bad the team sent him to the G-League. After missing all of last season, Wiseman has struggled to keep up with the pace of the game this season and he looks like a guy they need to have conversations about trading. A large part of Golden State's need for thinking about trading Wiseman is that Steph Curry has been simply incredible. Averaging 31.4 points, 7.0 assists, and 6.7 rebounds on shooting splits of .52/.44/.90, those are MVP caliber numbers, some of the best of the 2 time MVP’s career. He has been the best player in the league this season, after winning Finals MVP last season. Yet, the Warriors are .500. That has to change or else I expect trades could come.
I picked the Clippers to win the West, and a month in that pick is not looking good. Kawhi Leonard was injured as soon as the season started, after playing the first 2 games of the season, he then returned only to return to the injury shelf again, and when on the court Leonard did not look like himself. Paul George has also hit the injured list and there is no timetable for either player's return, so without their two stars the Clippers simply need to try and tread water. Other than that the offense is 28th in the league, only better than the Hornets and Spurs, two of the worst teams in the league. They need their role players to play better. Reggie Jackson, John Wall, Nic Batum, and Robert Covington are all players who need to produce better on offense to help Norman Powell, Marcus Morris and Ivica Zubac. However, everyone has to be better. It starts with Leonard, he has to be healthy as this has now been a problem for a lot of his career now, and he needs to be on the court to get into his groove that he was in pre-ACL tear, because 10 points per game while shooting 13% from 3 is not going to cut it. Paul George has been fantastic to start the season, however, and is proving to the world that he is an elite player, he too just has to stay healthy. The Clippers are off to a bad start and it starts on the offensive end of the court.
The way the Suns have bounced back from that embarrassing game 7 performance from last season. Sitting at 15-6 and 1st place in the Western Conference, the Suns look good even with Chris Paul and Cam Johnson missing most of the season and Jae Crowder just sitting at home, which I still do not understand why he is not playing. However, I do not care about the regular season, they had a fantastic regular season last season and were bounced in the 2nd round. Devin Booker has had a fantastic season, averaging 29.0 points, 5.8 assists, and 5.3 rebounds per game on shooting splits of .49/.37/.88, including a 51 point performance Wednesday against the Bulls. Those are monster numbers and he has done a really good job of settling the ship of a team that has lots of drama and injuries surrounding it. Lastly on the Suns, I wanted to talk about Mikal Bridges and how he has played this season because both offensively and defensively he has stepped up in a big way allowing the team to play as well as they have to start the season. There really is not much to talk about with the Suns, they are awesome, and we should acknowledge that while also being aware of what happened last season.
I wanted to talk about a few teams before we get to the team I think should be the best in the West when we get to April and May. First the Dallas Mavericks, where there simply is not enough talent surrounding Luka Doncic. Christan Wood, who they traded for this offseason, is a good offensive player at the 5 but his defense is bad, he is a poor free throw shooter, and an okay passer at best. Dallas misses Jalen Brunson, maybe more than they anticipated they would, and they need outside help to try and replace that… and I do not think signing Kemba Walker necessarily does that, I wonder if Kyrie Irving is available. The Minnesota Timberwolves have been a disaster, the Towns and Gobert pairing has not worked out, both Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell have been bad, and a team that I thought would be awesome… has not been awesome and now Towns is hurt. The Pelicans and Grizzlies are both good teams and are having a fun season and could make some noise in the playoffs, though I am more confident in New Orleans than Memphis because I think the Grizzlies need to add a star before they become a serious contender. The Kings have been a fun story and might make the playoffs though their defense is bad and their offense is coming back down to earth a little. The Utah Jazz have surprised people by being a very fun team to watch though they desperately need to get Mike Conley back because they have also come back down to earth and have struggled as of late. Lastly, I actually have to give the Lakers credit because though they stink, they have been playing better basketball as of late and Anthony Davis is all the way back, that dude is a monster.
The best team, to me, in the Western Conference is the Denver Nuggets. Jamal Murray should continue to get back to being himself, Michael Porter Jr should as well, and the players they added in the offseason, namely Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, have looked like big time additions. Denver has the 3rd best offensive rating in the NBA at 116.3 and the 7th best net rating at +2.6. This is a team that is still getting 2 of their 3 best players to full strength. Nikola Jokic is a top 5 player in the world, the back to back reigning MVP has continued to prove that even if he has not been as dominant this season as he was in years past. The starting 5 has the second highest plus/minus for a 5 man unit in the NBA, as we previously discussed. The bench also has enough depth to get through the playoffs, in my opinion. Jeff Green, Bones Hyland, Bruce Brown and Vlatko Cancar look like they are good enough to get Denver through the 82 game grind and the postseason. The Nuggets are not yet clicking on all cylinders, and yet are still one of the best teams in the West. Once they do start clicking, I do not think there is a better team out West as presently constructed.
The Western Conference is wide open and up for the taking if anyone wants it. The reigning champion Warriors have shown weak points, the Clippers are not quite back with both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George injured, and the Suns still have to prove they can win big games in the playoffs after last season’s meltdown. The Western Conference may be wide open but can any of these teams compete with the likes of the Boston Celtics or Milwaukee Bucks because right now it looks like that answer is no.
Comments