West Teams By Tier. Instead of 1 through 15

[Tackle [enjin:6628750]]

There is still to much to shake out for me to be comfortable saying this team is number 1 and that team is number 7. So I thought the most appropriate way to rank teams is by tier.

Tier A
OKC: Pretty comfortable putting them here. They have relied heavily on a sixth man who can score in bunches, and i'm not sure where they get that from this year. Durant is the best player in the conference and Westbrook isn't far behind.
SA: Not going to underestimate them. Don't care if there old. Really only two of them are (Duncan and Ginobili)

Tier B
Memphis: Not sure how much the loss of Hollins as a coach will effect them. If they can keep their defense at the top of the league they will be right back where they left off.
Clippers: Even with adding Doc and adding some nice pieces I can't put them in Tier A yet. they go as far as Blake and CP3 take them even with the bench overhaul.

Tier C
Denver: Losing Iggy and Karl. probably still a playoff team but they lost some important pieces, and a big playoff series they should have won. Not scary anymore but still good.
Houston: Adding Dwight makes them better but not a top 4 seed. McHale will have fun with this team. As much as Dwight will demand media attention if this Becomes Harden's team they will be tough. If they become Dwight's team they can be dismissed.
Golden State: Adding Iggy to fill their hole at the 3 could bump a good team into Tier B. He wont need to score just be Iggy. If Curry takes another step forward they could easily be Tier B by the end of the season.
Us the mighty Pups: we are going to be pretty good. If we can maintain a defensive level we had at the beginning of last season we are going to be real dangerous. That is going to be hard to do, and I don't see us getting out of the first round unless our team defense is very good. We are deep and our top 3 players (Rubio, love, Pek) are going to get better. I would put them up against any other top 3 in the west with confidence. if they can D up a team they can be Tier B as well.

Of tier C I can only really see Denver falling out of the playoffs.

Tier D
Portland, Utah, Dallas could push for the 8th seed but Portland is a few years away. Dallas is terribly flawed, and Utah is going to miss Millsap and Jefferson, Kanter and Favors aren't ready to fill those holes yet.

Tier F
Lakers: it feels so good to put them here. Not even 26 year old Kobe could save these guys.
Phoenix: Bad
Pelicans: Not quite bad

[Tackle [enjin:6628750]]

HAHA forgot Sacramento. Easy to do.

[Jakapoo [enjin:6588675]]

I am down with everything, except maybe the Pelicans are in tier D. they are better than Sac, Lakers, and Phoenix. O_O

[MinnesotaJock [enjin:6589402]]

I just am not excited as a lot of people are about the Thunder and the Rockets. Let's take a look at the Thunder. They probably have the best 1-2 duo (except Lebron & Wade - Lebron & a Penguin would still win). They still have Ibaka, a good defensive presence and improves offensively every year. Thabo is a solid starter too. They also drafted a solid big man in Steven Adams that will soon likely replace Perkins (I think that Penguin I mentioned earlier could replace Perkins and they would be better. Here's their problem though; they have ZERO bench production. Unless they trade for someone during the season, I have a hard time seeing them win more than 50 games...I really do.

On to the Rockets. Kind of on the same note, the Rockets should have a great starting lineup. Hopefully Howard will be 100%. I like Harden and Chandler Parsons did great for me in fantasy basketball. Lin is okay and Beverly was a nice surprise during the playoffs. Also got rid of some baggage with White. Other than that, their bench looks pretty poor. I think Garcia is underrated and was tortured in Sacramento. But with Omer unhappy, I don't see him focusing on winning. Combine that with the inexperience and youth of their bigs, I don't see them getting past the second round in the playoffs.

The Warriors will definitely be the team to watch. If they can stay healthy, I think they can make a strong push come playoff time. The 2011-2012 Nuggets had a winning percentage of 58%. The 2012-2013 Nuggets had a winning percentage of 70%. That's +12%! Why the difference? There were a number of things, but a large majority was because of Andre Igoudala. What was the winning % of the Warriors last season? 57%. If everyone stays healthy and having AI now, I think they could easily win 55-58 games like the Nuggets did last season.

Speaking of the Nuggets, I just don't see them doing a lot. They will be solid, but with losing Karl and a couple of their key guys, I see them fighting for an eighth seed. The Grizzlies kept their core and will most likely by in the 4-7 range.

I think after looking at other teams in the West, I really underestimated the depth we have. Even though we have a decent amount of injury plagued players, I think we have the depth unlike last season to overcome that. With our roster, and maybe I am being too optimistic here but I don't see 3-6 seed being out of our reach for us. All I know is the anger, depression, and hope through these years of not making playoffs will definitely bubble forth come playoff time and will be exciting as ever to see.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I just am not excited as a lot of people are about the Thunder and the Rockets. Let's take a look at the Thunder. They probably have the best 1-2 duo (except Lebron & Wade - Lebron & a Penguin would still win). They still have Ibaka, a good defensive presence and improves offensively every year. Thabo is a solid starter too. They also drafted a solid big man in Steven Adams that will soon likely replace Perkins (I think that Penguin I mentioned earlier could replace Perkins and they would be better. Here's their problem though; they have ZERO bench production. Unless they trade for someone during the season, I have a hard time seeing them win more than 50 games...I really do.

On to the Rockets. Kind of on the same note, the Rockets should have a great starting lineup. Hopefully Howard will be 100%. I like Harden and Chandler Parsons did great for me in fantasy basketball. Lin is okay and Beverly was a nice surprise during the playoffs. Also got rid of some baggage with White. Other than that, their bench looks pretty poor. I think Garcia is underrated and was tortured in Sacramento. But with Omer unhappy, I don't see him focusing on winning. Combine that with the inexperience and youth of their bigs, I don't see them getting past the second round in the playoffs.

The Warriors will definitely be the team to watch. If they can stay healthy, I think they can make a strong push come playoff time. The 2011-2012 Nuggets had a winning percentage of 58%. The 2012-2013 Nuggets had a winning percentage of 70%. That's +12%! Why the difference? There were a number of things, but a large majority was because of Andre Igoudala. What was the winning % of the Warriors last season? 57%. If everyone stays healthy and having AI now, I think they could easily win 55-58 games like the Nuggets did last season.

Speaking of the Nuggets, I just don't see them doing a lot. They will be solid, but with losing Karl and a couple of their key guys, I see them fighting for an eighth seed. The Grizzlies kept their core and will most likely by in the 4-7 range.

I think after looking at other teams in the West, I really underestimated the depth we have. Even though we have a decent amount of injury plagued players, I think we have the depth unlike last season to overcome that. With our roster, and maybe I am being too optimistic here but I don't see 3-6 seed being out of our reach for us. All I know is the anger, depression, and hope through these years of not making playoffs will definitely bubble forth come playoff time and will be exciting as ever to see.

Agreed with pretty much all of this. Good post. Also, I'm not feeling the Clippers like everyone else is. No frontcourt depth and their wings are good but overhyped in my opinion.

[Tackle [enjin:6628750]]

I think the depth in the west has been a bit overhyped. All of the playoff teams from last year have some serious question marks or outright flaws. That bodes well for us. Especially if we come out strong. No one is scary good, and a lot of people have forgotten how good love is.

[Leado01]

As much as I hate to say it - I don't see any team that includes Kobe Bryant not competing. I also think you might be underestimating Houston a bit.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

with OKC its now a lot about Ibaka, with no Harden/Martin they need him to step up once more, he is still only 23 years old and my guess is that he will play few minutes more than last year with stats of 17pts/10reb/3,5 blk and OKC will be still probably best in the west (definitely before playoffs with Popovich limiting minutes of his best players)

i would move GSW to B, but maybe there are some questions about Bogut health first, but man GSW looks scary now

with Houston, well i dont like D12 at all but they still deserves to be B imho

and with Denver and Memphis i am not sure if i would not move them one tier lower

[Tackle [enjin:6628750]]

I had a hard time moving teams up that made drastic changes in the off season a la Houston. Golden state is scary but I feel there success in the playoffs was do to a player having an unsustainable run production wise more than bieng a great team. Thats why I put them in tiers. There really isnt a drastic differeence between A and B and B and C.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Tier A: OKC, SA

Tier B: Hou, Clippers, GS, Mem

Tier C: Portland, Denver, Wolves, Dallas

Tier D: Lakers, NO

Tier E: Utah, Sac, Phoenix