The West Conundrum

[cowhide]

I don't know where any of those teams will end up but one can say the West is packed with good teams and it is going to be a dogfight to get out of the West. I am excited about this season to see how the Jazz put the pieces together and to see how and if they can compete for a playoff spot.

 

[LogGrad98]

A conversation usually involves responding to what the person said, not repeating exactly what I said.

Actually it's more formulating an answer to something they said instead of simply reformulating their statements.

 

[HermanG]

Can all these things be simultaneously true?

• Spurs improve their record after adding Wemby
• Rockets improve after adding FVV+Brooks+Amen+Cam
• Jazz improve after adding Collins, Keyonte, Hendricks and Sensabaugh (and also by not tanking the rest of the way next season)
• OKC improve after adding Chet and Wallace
• Lakers improve after all their applauded offseason moves
• Suns improve after adding Beal (plus Durant wasnt there full year)
• Nuggets stay as class of the conference

Thats 7 of the 15 teams in the West who are very realistically expected to improve or hold their record. The only one we really expect to fall right now are Blazers, but they already finished bottom 3 in the West last year so its not like they can "make much room" for those on the rise.

Even if you dismiss 1 or 2 from that list being true it still raises this question:
Where does that leave the other teams... Grizzlies, Kings, Clippers, Warriors, Wolves, Pels and Mavs?

All those teams have expectations attached to them, and apart from maybe Grizzlies and Kings the rest of them have some major future concerns going forward if they fall to make way for the teams on the rise. So the question is:
Who or what gives in?

Interesting to go back to this summer of 2023 thread and review what actually happened between those two seasons in the West.

• Spurs improve their record after adding Wemby
  • FALSE. They ended up with the exact same 22-60 record as the year before
• Rockets improve after adding FVV+Brooks+Amen+Cam
  • TRUE, by a large margin. They went from 22 to 41 wins
• Jazz improve after adding Collins, Keyonte, Hendricks and Sensabaugh (and also by not tanking the rest of the way next season)
  • FALSE as we did repeat the end of season tank against what I expected
• OKC improve after adding Chet and Wallace
  • TRUE by a large margin (from 40 to 57 wins)
• Lakers improve after all their applauded offseason moves
  • TRUE, as they went from 43 to 47 wins
• Suns improve after adding Beal (plus Durant wasnt there full year)
  • TRUE, as they went from 45 to 49 wins
• Nuggets stay as class of the conference
  • TRUE, as they improved from 53 to 57 wins and finished tied for best

Here are the West win total changes between 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons
Rockets +19 wins
Thunder +17 wins
Wolves +14 wins
Mavs +12 wins
Clippers +7 wins
Pelicans +7 wins
Nuggets +4 wins
Suns +4 wins
Lakers +4 wins
Warriors +2 wins
Spurs +- 0 wins
Kings -2 wins
Jazz -6 wins
Blazers -12 wins
Grizzlies -24 wins

So Grizzlies, Blazers, Jazz and Kings donated 44 wins to the pool, while the East teams gave 49 wins more to West teams in 2023-24 than the season before. Interesting to see what happens this upcoming season.