The Golden State Warriors are the best team in the NBA and they added a few more elites players that are looking for a ring.
The balance of power was already in the Western Conference’s favor, but they tipped even more in their favor this offseason.
LeBron James will play his first season in the West after signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Can LeBron push the Los Angeles Lakers to 49 wins?
Here are our over/under season wins total picks for the NBA’s Western Conference.
The NBA regular season kicks off tomorrow. The Celtics are at Cleveland and the Rockets travel to the defending NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors. Both are must-watch games for any NBA fan.
Picking regular season over/under prop bets in the NBA’s Western Conference takes some skill this season. You have unbelievably stacked teams like the Warriors, Thunder and Rockets, but you have to factor in the chances teams will rest their stars in a few games this season. A team that has already ‘been there, done that’ like the Warriors and Spurs, will probably rest their guys. The Thunder who legitimately look like they are having fun this preseason, have something to prove and may not rest as many stars.
Can rookie Lonzo Ball push the Los Angeles Lakers to 34 wins?
Here are our over/under season wins total picks for the NBA’s Western Conference.
As a fan of the Indiana Pacers, I knew this day was coming, but I wasn’t ready.
Paul George made it official, he wants out of Indianapolis. He wants to head back home to Southern California and play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Pacers new general manager Kevin Pritchard has a huge issue on his mind. Do they let him play next season, hope he makes the All-NBA team, so they could offer him much more money than any other team, or do they trade him now for some picks and/or another established star?
In 2010, Pritchard lost his job in Portland for a few dumb moves (and drafting Greg Oden over Kevin Durant). I’m sure he assumed a day when he needs to figure out the George problem would come, but probably didn’t think the news of George wanting out of town would leak before the 2017 NBA Draft.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have made a couple head-scratching moves. First, they traded Dion Waiters for Iman Shumpert’s flat top and J.R. Smith’s ability to get into VIP rooms. Then today, the Cavs traded a couple protected first-round picks to Denver for Tomofey Mozgov (who apparently survived that Blake Griffin dunk).
I get why the Cavs are making trades, but they feel like panic moves. LeBron James is battling knee and back problems and they need to right the ship in a hurry. It clearly wasn’t working out with Waiters and he needed a new home, but the deal they received could be more toxic than helpful.
Will these move put Cleveland one step closer to being a title contender or is it a step backwards?
Denver’s 2013-14 season was derailed the prior season. Danilo Gallinari was having his best season as a pro, but tore his ACL in April of the 2012-13 season. That injury cost him the rest of that season and all of last season. He is now healthy and Denver might finally get to reap the benefits of the main prize in the Carmelo Anthony trade.
The Nuggets have a difficult road in the Western Conference. There are at least ten teams that deserve to make the postseason, but only eight will make the cut. Can Denver surprise us and make the playoffs?
We will be posting a team preview for every team up until the start of the regular season.
Here is the 2014-15 NBA season preview for the Denver Nuggets.
Dwight Howard trade rumors have been on the stove for the last 18 months. It was only a matter of time before the big man would whine his way out of Orlando.
Orlando finally orchestrated a four-team trade in which Dwight Howard would be paired with Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash on the Los Angeles Lakers. If he even hints that he doesn’t want this move to garner ‘Shaq to Los Angeles’ comparisons, he is delusional. He is duplicating the same career path as him. I hope this doesn’t mean a sequel to “Kazaam” is in the works.
Which teams are in the deal? The players involved may surprise you (one of the players is currently playing on Team USA). The other thing that may surprise you is the lack of assets Orlando will receive in return for Howard. This deal will leave you scratching your head to why they didn’t trade with Brooklyn or Houston, who had better prospects on hand.
Let’s make it easy and list which players will go to each team involved in the trade.
Los Angeles Lakers: C Dwight Howard, F Earl Clark and G Chris Duhon
Philadelphia 76ers: C Andrew Bynum and G Jason Richardson
Denver Nuggets: F Andre Iguodala
finally…
Orlando Magic: F Arron Afflalo, F Al Harrington, C Nikola Vucevic, F Moe Harkless, and future protected first-round draft picks from each team. (2014 from Denver, 2015 from Philly and 2017 from L.A.)
I like the hauls that Philadelphia, Denver and L.A. received in this deal. They sent distant future protected first-round picks for pieces to help them immediately…but Orlando’s return is mild. I can see Howard signing an extension with the Lakers. Kobe and Nash will be retired in a few seasons and it will be his team.
Orlando’s main goal was the get Howard out of town. Former GM Otis Smith should have pulled the trigger at the trade deadline, but they didn’t, so they had to settle for this deal.
You know what you’re getting from Afflalo and Harrington, solid guys, but nothing to build a team around. Harkless was the first-round pick in this year’s NBA Draft. He’s a nice young talent who needs a lot of molding. The biggest problem I have is that the draft picks Orlando will receive in this deal is so far out in the future that current GM Rob Hennigan may not be around to enjoy them.
I hope Orlando has a plan to sell a ton of Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis merchandise. I don’t see the Amway Arena selling out, even with a J.J. Redick bobblehead promotion. Orlando has a very long road to recovery in their future. You will see Mr. Hennigan at the NBA Draft Lottery selection show for the many years to come.
The Magic play in L.A. on Dec. 2nd and D’WHINE Howard will be back in Orlando on March 12th…please circle those dates accordingly.
