Western Conference Pre-season Preview

Same thing as the Eastern Conference, just this time its the Western Conference Predictions.

1.  The Thunder: They pretty much stood pat, but given that all the important guys are young, that only means they have the luxury of getting better by doing absolutely nothing.
2. The Lakers: Assuming they can get their myriad talented players working together in a cohesive manner, they could make a run at the Thunder. If not, this could be a fun 24/7 melt-down watch unit. And if these last 18 months showed us anything, its that as talented as Dwight is, he is a bit of an immature and indecisive individual. This should be interesting either way.
3. The Spurs: They always find a way to stay good, I do not think that this year will be different. On a side note: Their age does eventually have to catch up to them right?
4. The Clippers: They should be able to outplay the Grizzlies this year, although the fact that Vinny Del Negro (the guy who forgets to put CP3 back into the game) is still the head coach does not bode well for their playoff potential. 
5. The Nuggets: The addition of Iguodala makes the Nuggets a matchup nightmare; they could push for the 4th seed. They have no shot at a ring of course, but they sure could make another teams road there much harder.
6. The Grizzlies: Once again, their beastly front-court makes them a force to be reckoned with and a game planning issue for much of the league.
7. The Jazz: They looked good, especially when Favors got on the court, they should be able to ride him and the rest of the young guys to the playoffs again.
8. The Mavericks: Dirk may be old, and he may not have as much help as he could have had things gone differently, but teams with superstars like him do not usually miss the playoffs. If the team gels quickly, they could easily finish higher.
9. The Timberwolves: Love is great, but Rubio needs to be healthy for them to be good, and who knows when he will be back to 100%. Also, Kirilenko and Roy are most likely going to be non-entities, the signings would have been better if the year was 2009. The T-wolves will probably miss the playoffs once again. 
10. The Trailblazers: If they can avoid injury's (not a strong suit of theirs) they can contend for the 8th seed. Expect them to fall short though.