Houston Rockets are going to the finals, you can put money on it.

[Brad F.]

A pretty silly thread here if you ask me. Two Houston homers trying to talk biased smack about their team.

Let's look at thw Western Conference from an analytical standpoint. I love the Western Conference in the NBA, growing up in Denver I am a big Nuggets fan and the rest of the conference has always played good basketball, with the Nugs just coming into the mix. My dad was a very big Blazer fan up until the mid nineties, so I grew up watching western conference teams all the time. I've read SI predictions, ESPN predictions, and I feel like this is going to be the tightest conference in the common era of the NBA.

Here's a quick look at the top 8 or so WC teams:

1) Spurs. I really don't need to go into depth here do I? They added talent, and they were the best team in basketball last year.
2) Nuggets. Now before you flame me for being a homer, I don't think the Nugs are the 2nd best team in the WC, they will just be seeded here because 1, they won't have much quality competition in the Northwest, and 2, the Pacific is weak and Sacramento/Pheonix/Lakers all will not match the Nuggets record. The Nuggets had the best record in basketball the second half, got Voshon Lenard back and picked up a gret defensive PG in Earl Watson. They should grab the 2nd seed.
3) Sacramento. Probably the 5th best tewm in the West, maybe the 6th, but their division is weak. The Suns lost Joe Johnson and Amare and they can still beat an improved Sacramento team for the division? I don't think so. The addition of Kenny Thomas along with Brad Miller, Bibby and Stojakovic equals a good team.
4) Dallas Mavericks. They are a more well-rounded team than the Rockets. They have a deeper bench, Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels are improving, Jason Terry is going to have a better season, and Dirk is better than Yao overall. You can make an argument that the Rockets go here, but I think the Rockets are slightly below.
5) Houston Rockets. The team did start to mesh last year, but they still have holes. Juwan Howard/Stromile Swift isn't sn entirely impressive PF tandem. SG is also an issue with David Wesely/Derek Anderson sharing time. Sura is a workhorse, and proved his worth down the stretch last season. Maybe the 3rd best team behind the Spurs/Mavs, but maybe the 4th.
6) Seattle Sonics. Rashard Lewis, Ray Allen, Radmanovic, Luke Collison, Ridnour. Good players, can they create the same output they had at the beginning of last year?
7) Pheonix Suns. Steve Nash leads a torn apart Suns team. We will have to see how Raja and Thomas do with bigger roles. Jim Jackson is solid, but I don't see this team doing much in the regular season. We'll need to watch out come playoff time though.
8) Minnesota/LA Lakers/LA Clippers/Utah/Golden State. Who knows, all these teams could creep up even into a 7 spot.

These are my thoughts. Just wanted to put some actual analysis in there for the Houston lovers.

Brad