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Are These Teams Improving or Getting Worse in the WC?

I think everyone here is overrating the Thunder.

Until Westbrook gets a shot he can't improve much. And I don't think he will next year

Durant is already amazing I am not sure how much better he will get.

Jeff Green has tapped out.

Harden will improve but he is still a bench player.

Cole Aldrich could help them. Who Knows.

Ibaka will improve in my opinion.

But one thing nobody is considering is the fact that this was there first good year. The NBA scouts are going to be studying them. That is what coaches do in the off-season. The weaknesses will show up next year. You will find out if they improved on those weaknesses. And I think with the improvement of a few players will help but the scouting on the team will end up canceling each other out.

Thats just my opinion but Thunder was not on teams radar this year. They surprised everyone with how many wins. I still think the Thunder are in the lower playoffs spots (5-8) until they get a low post scorer.
 
As of now, the Jazz are AT BEST the same as last year.
If the Lakers add Raja Bell on top of their Steve Blake addition, they would have improved, atleast their bench depth.

If the Jazz sign Wesley, they would have improved.
 
If we lose Matthews, our defense on the perimeter goes in the tank. Offensively, Jefferson is an upgrade over Boozer; a stronger post presence in the paint and more variety of moves, and he can shoot over people from the post, relying less on the jump shot.
That being said, losing Matthews perimeter defense would once again leave us vulnerable in that area. And we don't have Harpring around to bail us out. I like bringing Brewer back to replace Korver, and he has the athleticism to defend at either SG or SF. The Jazz already made the call last year that Matthews was the better player when they traded Brewer last year, but now Korver is gone. Brewer might come cheap, as his lack of a J is gonna drop his worth to other teams.
Mike Miller would be a great replacement for Korver; he's now realizing PT in Miami would be extremely limited for a SG or SF. Unless we dump AK, I doubt that he comes here though.
I could also see us getting Matt Barnes, who Orlando is apparently letting go. He's more of a SF, but can defend vs larger SG's (as in Kobe Bryant). Not a great shooter, but way better than Brewer. I suspect we will have competition for him though. Rasual Butler is 31, but averaged nearly 12 PPG last year and played consistant minutes; he's a SG.
 
Twin Towers said:
I think everyone here is overrating the Thunder.

Until Westbrook gets a shot he can't improve much. And I don't think he will next year

Durant is already amazing I am not sure how much better he will get.

Jeff Green has tapped out.

Harden will improve but he is still a bench player.

Cole Aldrich could help them. Who Knows.

Ibaka will improve in my opinion.

But one thing nobody is considering is the fact that this was there first good year. The NBA scouts are going to be studying them. That is what coaches do in the off-season. The weaknesses will show up next year. You will find out if they improved on those weaknesses. And I think with the improvement of a few players will help but the scouting on the team will end up canceling each other out.

Thats just my opinion but Thunder was not on teams radar this year. They surprised everyone with how many wins. I still think the Thunder are in the lower playoffs spots (5-8) until they get a low post scorer.
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Did you watch summer league? What about BJ Mullens? Also, they have the best man to man defender in the league imo in Thabo. Heat are deep and young. They're gonna be scary next year. Oh, did I mention they took the Lakers to 7 games this year?
 
Archie Moses said:
Did you watch summer league? What about BJ Mullens? Also, they have the best man to man defender in the league imo in Thabo. Heat are deep and young. They're gonna be scary next year. Oh, did I mention they took the Lakers to 7 games this year?
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BJ Mullens? really? The guy didn't even shoot over 50 percent in the Summer league. Only averaged 6 rebounds in 27 minutes in the summer league? Come on don't even mention him.

They matched up well against the lakers. And again its there first good year. And scouting reports always expose young players after they surprise people. They are for sure a playoff team but I don't think they even crack the top 4. Not even a chance.
 
You guys need to realize that TT is right on this. The Jazz lost a lot more games the season after they had been in the playoffs for the first time in a while. What saved that season was getting Korver. So don't be surprised if OKC does the same thing.
 
I would be surprised if OKC doesnt' win the division this year. I think the Jazz are a little worse than last year unless they make a couple more moves. Denver is on the decline. Portland should be better if their guys are healthy. Minnesota is a disaster. I think Golden State is also a disaster. Sacramento is on the rise and I think they are a PG away from being pretty scary. They are still a year or two away from being a playoff team but they will not be an easy W in sactown. I think NO will struggle. SA will struggle but they are still a lower level playoff team. Clippers could surprise people but I will wait until they prove something. Phoenix is worse but still will win some games. The team to beat in the west is still LA. I like their two draft picks and I think Blake is a good backup.
 
Twin Towers said:
BJ Mullens? really? The guy didn't even shoot over 50 percent in the Summer league. Only averaged 6 rebounds in 27 minutes in the summer league? Come on don't even mention him.
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He was ONE shot under .500 from the field, one shot. He averaged 16 ppg and 6.3 rebounds. That made him his teams second leading scorer behind Harden and their leading rebounder. But more than anything, if you watched him play, he looked very confident, had nice moves, good foot work and hit outside jumpers. He also had a +13 +/-. I really don't know how you can bag on that, unless you didn't watch him play.
 
Archie Moses said:
He was ONE shot under .500 from the field, one shot. He averaged 16 ppg and 6.3 rebounds. That made him his teams second leading scorer behind Harden and their leading rebounder. But more than anything, if you watched him play, he looked very confident, had nice moves, good foot work and hit outside jumpers. He also had a +13 +/-. I really don't know how you can bag on that, unless you didn't watch him play.
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Where is he going to get his minutes? They have Aldrich and that other guy everyone likes so much.
 
1. Lakers - Still stronger than anyone else in the west. Might cruise a few games, but need to stay motivated to compete with Heat. Fisher is at the end of his career, but they brought in Blake, and Artest has earned respect with the group.

2. Jazz - Deron Williams is hungry. Al Jefferson is hungry. Miles continues to improve. Fess will keep people out the paint when he plays. The X-factor, as always, is AK. If the Jazz can get reliable perimeter shooting and some defense from Miles and Hayward, they should improve or at least stay steady with last-year's team. Hopefully, Hayward has as good a rookie year as Matthews did. They need to add a wing who can shoot though. Wait til they add Tomic in a year.

3. Dallas - Chandler and Haywood offer inside defense. Dirk is Dirk. The problems are that Kidd is at the end of his career, Terry has lost a step, Marion isn't consistently effective, and Butler--while a nice offensive player--doesn't play much defense. The team barely got the 2-seed last year and should take a half-step back while they transition to more minutes for Roddy Beaubois.

4. Denver - Carmelo plays well, but the team leader is really Billups who is on the downside of his career. Martin remains injurred. Nene and Birdman also limit their front court. They're a team that's peaked and is sliding back a little.

5. Oklahoma City - Needed Durant to lead the league in scoring to make the playoffs. They're a tough, scrappy team with length. They're maturing, but they still don't have much inside game.

6. San Antonio - Tim Duncan is slowing down, but the season will depend on Manu, who was out for much of last year. Parker and Hill will split time until one of them is moved. They're still a solid, well-coached veteran team who knows how to win games.

7. Houston - Has Yao back and veteran players in Kevin Martin, Shane Battier, and Aaron Brooks. Patterson will make an impact as a rookie, but I see them winning 48 - 50 games.

8. Portland - Gains more minutes for Camby. Oden expected to come back at some point. Otherwise, not sure how they improve from last year.

9. Phoenix - Takes a step back losing Amare unless Lopez takes a big step forward. How much longer can Nash keep it up, or Grant Hill, or Jason Richardson for that matter. They went on a hot streak after the All-Star break last year. Were in 7th place otherwise. Edit: Well, if they can work Turkoglu in, they could make the play-offs.

10. New Orleans - Chris Paul is back, pushing a patched-together team to 45 wins.
 
Lakers: Worse - Just a little
Dallas: Same
Suns: Worse
Denver: Worse - Just a little
Utah: Better - Just a little
Blazers: Same
Spurs: Worse - Just a little
Thunder: Better - Just a little
Houston: Better
Memphis: Same
New Orleans: Better
Clippers: Better
Kings: Better - Just a little
Wolves: Same
 
Archie Moses said:
Who says Aldrich is going to get the minutes?
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They traded up for Aldrich so they obviously saw something. And Jeff Green isn't going anywhere. And Ibaka is going to get a lot more minutes. And they still have Kristic.

Aldrich is more NBA ready than Mullens. I did not see him play. But only averaging that many rebounds and not even a block a game in summer league is not promising. Your right scoring he might be good but they need a defensive Center down low and those stats don't show much in the summer league. He might of had good position but you can't win if you can't rebound.

Aldrich, Ibaka, Kristic are all ahead of Mullens on the depth chart.
 
Ostertag>Duncan said:
Why? Losing Matthews, Korver, and Boozer, and replacing them with Jefferson has improved us from last year? Maybe shaking things up might help, but on paper, I don't believe so.
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Matthews and Korver combibned for 16 pts/per game. That's not a major loss. Jefferson at worse = Boozer.Also means Millsap will play more. CJ gets the minutes instead of Matthews. Slight edge to Wesley. Hayward tries to replace Korvers 7/2/2 over 20 mins. That will be really, really hard. How in the world can anyone match that kind of production and average ONE made 3-PT FG per game.
 
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