Western Conference Playoff Seeding Predictions

fordronken

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A lot has happened to the Western Conference in the last few months. One of the most fun ways to break it down is to guess how the playoff seeding might end up if teams went in with the rosters they had right now.

Here is my guess:

1. Phoenix
2. Dallas
3. San Antonio
4. Denver
5. Houston
6. Utah
7. Lakers
8. Warriors

I think that Amare Stoudemire will be on a tear in the regular season this year. He's going to be better, health-wise than he was last year. He'll be more athletic and more determined than ever. Getting one of the top 2 seeds will be big, because after the top 6, the west gets ugly in a hurry. Finishing number 1, though, means we can wait out Dallas and San Antonio and cruise to the conference finals.

I put Denver over Houston even though I think Houston is a better team. I just think that Yao and T-Mc get injured too much to be able to win enough regular season games. Plus, their defense will be worse with the Van Gundy departure.

I don't know that the Lakers and Warriors won't be worse than they were last year, but who's going to take those seeds? Sacramento? Memphis? Yech. I do think that if Memphis were in the east, they'd be able to make the playoffs. They may still be able to in the West, but it would depend on the health of Baron Davis.
 

dreamcastrocks

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I think the Suns will be 3rd this year, behind Dallas and San Antonio. Not sure why though.
 

slinslin

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I don't think San Antonio will win more than 55 games in the regular season.

I am actually concerned that the Jazz, Nuggets or Rockets could finish with like 54-55 wins if everything goes their way and finish ahead of San Antonio which would lead to another Suns-Spurs Round 2.

I think we will win 61-63, Dallas will win 58-61, San Antonio 53-57, Utah, Denver and Houston 48-55

I'll give New Orleans the #7 spot if they keep their roster healthy and #8 will be between Memphis, Golden State and Los Angeles.

Clippers without Brand are out, Portland with or without Oden didn't have a shot, Seattle has no chance, Sacramento has no shot, Minnesota has no shot. All these teams will compete with Atlanta for our lottery pick. In the East I'd say Atlanta, Milwaukee, Philly and Indiana look bad.
 
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YouJustGotSUNSD

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I think houston is going to be very surprising this season. Lakers wont make the playoffs if they dont do something drastic. Memphis could be the darkhorse if they stay healthy. I have no idea how the warriors will do without a dominant center and with richardson gone.
 

Cheesebeef

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I think the Suns will be 3rd this year, behind Dallas and San Antonio. Not sure why though.

i'm with you, for pretty much the same reason... probably lack of depth and one of our starters possibly being out for 15-20 games this season.
 

elindholm

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same depth we had the last 3 years basically.

Not really -- seven players now instead of eight. I know that this board has now turned on James Jones with a passion, but he was a member of the rotation, and the minutes he played were ones that let someone else rest.

Anyway I'll say

1. Dallas
2. San Antonio
3. Phoenix
4. Utah (division winner)
5. Houston
6. Denver (since Camby can't repeat last year's miracle health, and/or they are facing a major salary dump)
7. Los Angeles Lakers
8. New Orleans
 
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slinslin

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Not really -- seven players now instead of eight. I know that this board has now turned on James Jones with a passion, but he was a member of the rotation, and the minutes he played were ones that let someone else rest.

Tucker will be part of the rotation, won't play a lot but not much less than Jones either and its hard to imagine anyone possibly playing worse than Jones did for half the season.

Lets remember, we won 60 games with a starting SF shooting 25%FG at the end of december.
Even if Hill misses games, plug Diaw, Tucker or Barbosa in the starting lineup and we will still be fine. We were on 15 game winning streaks with a player in the rotation hurting the team more than helping.
 

azirish

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This is a seeding list, not a wins list. Dallas and San Antonio cannot both have a higher seeding than the Suns. So the only way the Suns end up with a third seed is if either the Jazz or Nuggets win more than the Suns.

In any case, I think the Suns have a very strong likelyhood of winning the Pacific for the fourth straight year. The Lakers don't impress me, the Clippers without Brand are not a playoff team, and I'm skeptical that the Warriors off season moves are going to work.

I don't think the Mavs will win 67 games, but they should be in the 60 win range. The Spurs are good for 60 and might catch the Mavs. Rockets look like a plus 50 team (they won 52 last season), but I'd be shocked if they catch the other two.
 

Bufalay

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suns are 4th behind houston utah and dallas.

San antonio sucks
 

SunsTzu

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This is a seeding list, not a wins list. Dallas and San Antonio cannot both have a higher seeding than the Suns. So the only way the Suns end up with a third seed is if either the Jazz or Nuggets win more than the Suns.

1. Mavs
2. Suns
3. Spurs
4. Jazz

That was the seeding for the '07 playoffs. Remember the NBA changed the seeding format after the Clippers and Grizzlies tanked in '06 for the right to have HC against the #3 seed Nuggets and avoid the #4 Mavs. Now your division title just means you are given a top 4 seed, but the seeding is based on wins.
 

azirish

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suns are 4th behind houston utah and dallas.

San antonio sucks

Early last season the Jazz looked really good, but not so impressive later on. They lucked out on their seeding since the Warriors shot so badly.

Nov 13-4
Dec 9-5
Jan 8-8
Feb 8-2
Mar 9-6
Apr 4-6

The Jazz looked awful against the Spurs.
 

arwillan

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I think houston is going to be very surprising this season. Lakers wont make the playoffs if they dont do something drastic. Memphis could be the darkhorse if they stay healthy. I have no idea how the warriors will do without a dominant center and with richardson gone.


i think the lakers will be in. you dont have the best player on the planet on your team and not make the playoffs, you just dont. especially when he can go out and score 50 points 4 games in a row on demand
 

azirish

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i think the lakers will be in. you dont have the best player on the planet on your team and not make the playoffs, you just dont. especially when he can go out and score 50 points 4 games in a row on demand

That was what the Wolves thought...

Baring injuries, here's my view:

LOCK

Suns
Spurs
Mavs
Rockets
Jazz
Nuggets

NO WAY

Sonics
Clippers
Kings
Blazers
Timberwolves

MAYBE

Warriors
Lakers
Hornets
Grizzlies (only if Conley wins ROY and Darko most improved)
 

elindholm

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Tucker will be part of the rotation, won't play a lot but not much less than Jones either and its hard to imagine anyone possibly playing worse than Jones did for half the season.

Jones was truly awful only through the end of December, 29 games if I counted correctly. That's about 1/3 of the season. And even then, he was averaging about 12 minutes per game with the DNPs factored in.

Do you really think Tucker is going to get those minutes consistently? Based on what? And how about the other 2/3 of the season, when Jones's minutes jumped up to 20 per game?
 

arwillan

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That was what the Wolves thought...

Baring injuries, here's my view:

LOCK

Suns
Spurs
Mavs
Rockets
Jazz
Nuggets

NO WAY

Sonics
Clippers
Kings
Blazers
Timberwolves

MAYBE

Warriors
Lakers
Hornets
Grizzlies (only if Conley wins ROY and Darko most improved)

garnett's scoring is not even in the league of kobe's.


my predictions:

1)suns (good regular season team, playoffs=?)
2)mavs
3)spurs
4)jazz
5)houston
6)lakers
7)Denver
8)Golden State/memphis/LAC


for the east:

1)Cleveland
2)Boston
3) Detroit
4)miami
5)chicago
6)washington
7)toronto
8)orlando
 
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YouJustGotSUNSD

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Think we inspired Jerry Brown.

From EVT:
http://blogs.eastvalleytribune.com/view.php?blogId=39

September 14, 2007

Weird summer in the West



Jerry Brown

Training camp is still a few weeks away, but the normally wild, wild NBA Western Conference has become milder thanks to off-season trades, shake-ups and injuries:
*Minnesota wasn't even a playoff team when Kevin Garnett was around, but now foes who come up against the T-Wolves won't have to deal with The Big Ticket either. That makes it more like a night in Memphis, which is always nice.
*The Lakers remain a mess. Kobe Bryant not only didn't get any marquee help (unless you're a huge Derek Fisher fan) but now he has to come back and play with teammates he tossed under the bus and intimated weren't good enough to win.
*The Clippers chances of rebounding from last year's disappointing season were lost when Elton Brand was lost, perhaps for the entire season, due to injury. Add that to the loss of Shaun Livingston, and the Clip Joint won't be the same.
Tim Thomas and Chris Kaman -- both with rich contracts in their back pockets -- will be leaned on heavily. Good luck with that.
*Anybody know what the plan is in Sacramento? Get back to me, please.
*Seattle loves Kevin Durant, but with no Ray Allen or Rashard Lewis, the growing pains will be there, along with all the off-court distractions about the team possibly leaving town.
*And now Portland's plan to rise from the ashes is on hold with the news that Greg Oden will miss his rookie season due to microfracture surgery.
Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Utah, Golden State and Denver made minor upgrades. Houston could be much improved. So while the rich get richer, and the road to the playoffs might even be easier.
 

Cheesebeef

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We were on 15 game winning streaks with a player in the rotation hurting the team more than helping.

um, I'm not sure what you're talking about as far as streakS, considering that during the second major winning streak, JR was actually on fire (pretty much the only month of the season where he could be depended on every night).
 

elindholm

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The point isn't how Jones shot or how consistent he was, since those numbers can be looked up and evidently won't convince the naysayers anyway. The point is that he was getting minutes, and I think it's a huge reach to state at this point that Tucker will absolutely be ready to step in and take a comparable load.
 

Cheesebeef

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The point isn't how Jones shot or how consistent he was, since those numbers can be looked up and evidently won't convince the naysayers anyway. The point is that he was getting minutes, and I think it's a huge reach to state at this point that Tucker will absolutely be ready to step in and take a comparable load.

i agree with this as well.
 

YouJustGotSUNSD

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James jones averaged 18 min in 76 games played. I think its wise to assume Tucker will not get this time of time.

However I think the simple fact that Tucker has literally been around the world with nash this summer will play a big factor in that. His chemistry will be that much better with the team leader, allowing whatever minutes D'antoni was going to allow to slightly increase.

Optimistically, 10 min a game for 60+ games wouldn't be a surprise.
 

Nasser22

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This is a seeding list, not a wins list. Dallas and San Antonio cannot both have a higher seeding than the Suns. So the only way the Suns end up with a third seed is if either the Jazz or Nuggets win more than the Suns.

In any case, I think the Suns have a very strong likelyhood of winning the Pacific for the fourth straight year. The Lakers don't impress me, the Clippers without Brand are not a playoff team, and I'm skeptical that the Warriors off season moves are going to work.

I don't think the Mavs will win 67 games, but they should be in the 60 win range. The Spurs are good for 60 and might catch the Mavs. Rockets look like a plus 50 team (they won 52 last season), but I'd be shocked if they catch the other two.

Yes, San Antonio and Dallas can both be ahead of us as long as there are 3 division winners in the first 4 spots.

Dallas
Suns
Spurs
Jazz
Rockets
Denver
LA
NO

is my prediction, and another 2nd round loss.
 

jbeecham

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My Predictions for the Western Conference:

1. Phoenix
2. Dallas
3. SA
4. Denver
5. Utah
6. Houston
7. Warriors
8. Lakers

I'm really hoping the Suns can get the #1 seed & avoid both SA & Dallas in the 2nd rd. I don't know if they can win more games than Dallas in the regular season, so this prediction is wishful thinking for now.

For the East:
1. Boston
2. Detroit
3. Chicago
4. Miami
5. Cleveland
6. Washington
7. Orlando
8. Toronto
 

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