west standings if everyone is healthy imo:
GSW
OKC
HOU
SA
LAC
MEM
NOP
UTA
granted, teams 3-6 will be within 1 or 2 games so take that for what it's worth.
1) GSW - continuity and I'm expecting them to keep rolling throughout the season with much tougher playoff battles
2) SAS - started the year off bad due to leonard being out, but i fully expect LMA to adapt quickly to their system and i think they start out slow, but finish strong enough to be 2nd
3) MEM - were the 2nd seed for about 90% of the season until the injury bug and midseason trade bit them in the behind. I don't really see them losing too many games next season barring injury.
4) OKC - i truly put them here because i don't expect their best guys to be healthy for a full year (mainly Durant). that will cause them to drop a few more games than expected.
5) HOU - probably the hardest team to predict. everyone talked about their supporting cast last season as being weak compared to the warriors. i'm expecting a great year, but a minor drop off. they have a ton of depth, but they pretty much had a magical season last year and i'm not quite sure if that's a set up for a down year this upcoming season or for them to be even better due to players getting healthy.
6) LAC - i hate their frontcourt depth and its even worse this season than last. they did improve on the wings with pierce and possibly stephenson, but i'll hvae to wait and see what they do with crawford in terms of balancing out their roster.
7) NOP - they will be good because of AD, but they basically kept the same squad together and made no real improvements. the squad as is will be solid, but nothing better than the teams above them.
SAC - Karl will get them in. he basically has the perfect "squeak into the playoffs, but get swept" team. that'll be enough to keep his job.
Honestly, 2-6 could go either way just like it did last season. I think it will be decided close to the end of the season. The way I have it would set up some good 1st round matchups though..
SAS / NOP
MEM / LAC
OKC / HOU
