2008-2009 Pacific Division Preview Print E-mail
User Rating: / 6
PoorBest 
Written by Phil Partington   
Sunday, 07 September 2008
2008-2009 Pacific Division Preview


The Pacific Division promises to be fairly deep next season. The Los Angeles Lakers will be the returning Western Conference champs; the Phoenix Suns look to a new coach for answers; the Golden State Warriors enter the Monta Ellis era; the Los Angeles Clippers lose Elton Brand, but pick up a slew of other great players to make a playoff run; and the Sacramento Kings finally part ways with Ron Artest.

The Los Angeles Lakers stunned a lot of fans by being much better than expected last year and pushing all the way to the NBA Finals, despite losing up-and-coming Center, Andrew Bynum, for most of the latter part of the season.  Another point to consider is that the Lakers will have star Forward Pau Gasol for an entire season. With a front line of Bynum, Gasol and Lamar Odom, the Lakers will have a long, talented front court to lean on.

In addition, whenever a team has Kobe Bryant on its roster, they’re putting themselves in a great position to win games. Add to the mix the positive development of Jordan Farmar and the Lakers are in good standing of making another title run in 2009.

Projected starting five:  C Andrew Bynum; PF Pau Gasol; SF Lamar Odom; SG Kobe Bryant; PG Jordan Farmar.  


General Manager Steve Kerr has the right idea in revamping the Phoenix Suns’ roster. The run-and-gun, play-no-defense style simply wasn’t working for them in the post season. However, the deal that landed the Suns Shaquille O’Neal may not have been the best decision. His numbers were solid (12.9 ppg, 10.6 rbpg, 61% FG in 28 games), but what the Suns really need is a defensive presence in the paint, and at 36-years-old, Shaq sometimes is an overrated defender. Even in his prime, Shaq’s biggest weakness was lateral quickness, which caused him to foul pesky penetrating guards coming from the weak side of the lane. Shaq averaged 3.4 fouls per game last season with Phoenix and 3.7 per game for the entire season (second in the league).

Terry Porter takes over for Mike D’Antoni at head coach, but the change may be too late. At this point, a drastic change in style may hinder this squad that’s so set in its ways. As great as Steve Nash is, he’s a poor defender and Porter may demand more defense from him than D’Antoni ever did. With a lineup that includes Nash and Stoudemire, however, the Suns will be competitive, but they missed whatever window they had for contending for a title long ago.

Projected starting five:  C Shaquille O’Neal; PF Amare Stoudemire; SF Grant Hill; SG Raja Bell; PG Steve Nash.


The Los Angeles Clippers have had a roller coaster summer. First, they landed star Point Guard Baron Davis, which made everyone sure re-signing Elton Brand was soon to follow. Second, Brand shocks everyone by signing with the Philadelphia 76ers instead. Third, they pull Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets for practically nothing. Fourth, they fill out the rest of their roster nicely by signing Ricky Davis, Jason Williams and others, and suddenly look more and more like a team that’s playoff bound.  

In fact, the Clippers may be one of the more intriguing teams next season and should be considered a playoff contender.  

Projected starting five:  C Chris Kaman, PF Marcus Camby; SF Al Thornton; SG Cuttino Mobley or Eric Gordon; PG Baron Davis.  


The Golden State Warriors will soon realize how much they needed Baron Davis, especially with Monta Ellis now sidelined for several months. Adding Corey Maggette might help, but certainly does not compensate for losing Davis. The Warriors have the talent to reach the playoffs, and plenty of potential breakout players, like Marco Bellineli, Brandan Wright, Marcus Williams, Kelenna Azubuike, and rookie Anthony Randolph, but they overpaid for Ronny Turiaf and are still a young team.

Projected starting five:  C Andris Biedrins; PF Al Harrington; SF Stephen Jackson; SG Corey Maggette; PG Monta Ellis.


The Sacramento Kings finally parted ways with Ron Artest, though some think they might not have gotten enough return value for him. In exchange for Artest, the Kings received Donte Greene, a late first-round pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, veteran Bobby Jackson and a future first-round pick. At 6-11, Greene has the potential of being a sleeper pick. Still, the Kings have shown a lot of promise in the past couple years, but injuries have slowed their progress at times.  

John Salmons and Greene should be able to fill the hole left by Artest at small forward, but in order for the Kings to have any shot at making the playoffs in a tough Western Conference, Kevin Martin must be healthy all season. On another note, it would be nice for Sacramento if someone out of their crop of young bigs (Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson and Shelden Williams) would emerge to offset the continued aging of Brad Miller.

Projected starting five:  C Brad Miller; PF Mikki Moore; SF John Salmons; SG Kevin Martin; PG Beno Udrih.


Predicted Final Division Standings:  

   1. LA Lakers  62-20
   2. Phoenix Suns  48-34
   3. LA Clippers  43-39
   4. Golden State Warriors  36-46
   5. Sacramento Kings  33-49



Reddit!Del.icio.us!Google!Live!Facebook!StumbleUpon!Yahoo!Free social bookmarking plugins and extensions for Joomla! websites!
Comments (1)add
...
written by Reborn7 , October 26, 2008
GO LAKERS! ALL THE WAY!!! NBA CHAMPIONS 2008-2009!
report abuse
vote down
vote up
Votes: +0
Write comment
smaller | bigger

busy
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]