Free Agency: Moves by Lottery Teams Make the West Fiercer than Ever
By John Lugo
The undying argument of playoff positioning is that it’s much more difficult for teams to get to the postseason in the West than it is in the East.
The 2013-14 season can stress that idea to an even higher degree.
Though the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets have taken a step back, with L.A. losing franchise center Dwight Howard and Denver losing general manager Masai Ujiri, coach George Karl and Andre Iguodala, it’s not a lock that they’ll miss the playoffs next year. However, it is a safe bet that a few teams that did miss it last year, looking at their summer moves, can make the race to postseason play as intense as it’s ever been.
LaMarcus Aldridge finally has help in the frontcourt for a legitimate playoff run. (Photo/Flickr.com)
Portland Trail Blazers: Portland’s duo of LaMarcus Aldridge and Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard, along with other key pieces Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews, found themselves needing help where the bench failed to step up. This summer, though, the Blazers have made move after move that slowly erase the glaring holes they saw last year. First-round draft pick C.J. McCollum is a combo guard that was known for lighting up offensively in nearly every dimension from transition to 3-point range, averaging almost 24 points at Lehigh. Aldridge finally has his partner at the center spot in Robin Lopez from the New Orleans Pelicans and the team also acquired Thomas Robinson from the Houston Rockets. Along with Meyers Leonard, the frontcourt has great potential, especially on the defensive end. They picked up quality depth by signing forward Dorell Wright, veteran point guard Earl Watson and have another first-round pick, Allen Crabbe, that can play himself into a role next season. Seeing this team on paper, it’s easy to see them sneaking into to the seventh or eighth seed out West.
Minnesota’s chances at the postseason hinge on Kevin Love’s health. Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com
Minnesota Timberwolves: The Wolves kicked things off the right way and concluded draft night with forward Shabazz Muhammad and center Gorgui Dieng in a trade with the Utah Jazz for Trey Burke. Though it can be seen as overpaying, free-agent signing Kevin Martin provides the great outside shooting they missed very much last season. Retaining Chase Budinger and Nikola Pekovic and adding great depth in forward Corey Brewer and big man Ronny Turiaf has the frontcourt alongside All-Star Kevin Love ready to take on the league. They have scoring from all positions, top-notch inside defense and young legs that can have them competing beyond Game 82 next year. Considering they got the No. 9 pick due to injuries to Ricky Rubio, Love and Pekovic, health may be the biggest factor for them.
Tyreke Evans’ willingness to be a sixth man provides a huge scoring punch from the bench. (Photo Credit/SacramentoPressMedia/Flickr.com)
New Orleans Pelicans: New Orleans needed a new look to go along with its new name, so they went out and hit a home run in the backcourt. Trading away lottery pick Nerlens Noel to the Philadelphia 76ers for All-Star guard Jrue Holiday was a no-brainer move. With the addition of Holiday, guard Greivis Vasquez was expendable and they turned him into combo guard and former Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans. Adding those two with a healthy Eric Gordon and sharpshooter Anthony Morrow makes scoring a non-issue and that’s not even adding the improvements Austin Rivers can make. They lost center Robin Lopez in the trade for Evans, but Anthony Davis should be logging more minutes and can soften the hit. Injuries were an issue last season with this team, but if healthy, don’t be surprised to see them in the playoff race near the end of the season.
My current Western Conference rankings (if all teams healthy):
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Los Angeles Clippers
4. Golden State Warriors
5. Houston Rockets
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Memphis Grizzlies
8. New Orleans Pelicans
9. Portland Trail Blazers
10. Utah Jazz
11. Denver Nuggets
12. Los Angeles Lakers
13. Dallas Mavericks
14. Sacramento Kings
15. Phoenix Suns
Kobe Bryant and the Lakers can easily find themselves in a much tougher race for the playoffs than last year. Photo Credit: Keith Allison (Flickr.com)
With only the top five teams as basically locks to make the playoffs, there are so many variations that can occur. With this type of depth in the West and the lower-seed Eastern Conference teams consistently having .500 or worse records, will this race prove to be another example of the NBA needing to look into eliminating playoff rankings by conference?