Steve Kerr's take on WCF next season

Addition by subtraction

by Steve Kerr, Yahoo! Sports
July 20, 2004

Now that the dust has settled and the frenzy of the draft and the first week of free agency is behind us, it's time to sum up the seismic shift of power in the NBA. Shaquille O'Neal's departure to the Eastern Conference changed everything, and the race in the West is now wide open.

Let's take a look at the contenders.

San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs have made huge strides this summer by re-signing Manu Ginobili and solving their backup point guard woes with the addition of Brent Barry. Gregg Popovich's team will be a year better anyway, as Rasho Nesterovic will be more comfortable with his role and Tony Parker more experienced.

Barry adds the lights-out shooter the Spurs have missed in the playoffs against the Lakers, and will fill the void on the wing left by Hedo Turkoglu, who signed with the Orlando Magic. The combination of an outstanding summer and Shaq's departure leaves San Antonio as the conference favorite next season.

Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves are not far behind the Spurs. Flip Saunders' team won't change much, but it needs better health, especially for point guards Sam Cassell and Troy Hudson. The Wolves feel like they are in a natural progression toward a championship. Re-signing Trenton Hassell would help, but he is getting interest from a lot of teams around the league and the Wolves may not be able to afford him.

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Houston Rockets
Tracy McGrady joins Yao Ming. Wow, what an intriguing combination. Jeff Van Gundy's challenge will be to get T-Mac to play both ends of the floor and to take control of games in the clutch. McGrady is still young and has a lot to learn. But Van Gundy is the perfect coach to take him to the next level and Yao is the kind of big man who can dominate games and share the load. The Rockets now need a point guard to lead the offense.
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Utah Jazz
If the Jazz could win 42 games last season with little talent, how far can Jerry Sloan take them this season with the additions of Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur? What a nice transition this team has made just one year removed from the departures of John Stockton and Karl Malone. This will be a team to be reckoned with for years to come.

Los Angeles Lakers
As much as Kobe Bryant denies it, he had plenty to do with the departure of Phil Jackson and Shaq. As the old saying goes, "be careful what you wish for." Rudy Tomjanovich will take over as coach and you can expect Kobe to have the ball in his hands as often as he likes. Bank on him leading the league in scoring, but will his team have enough defense and size to be very good? They look like a playoff team, but not a very good one.

Phoenix Suns
The Suns will be better, thanks to new point guard Steve Nash and a year of maturity. But everything depends on the development of Amare Stoudemire. If he can round out his game and learn to defend and dominate, this team could be good. If not, the Suns will score a lot of points and win half of their games.

Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies were the surprise of the NBA last season, but can they take another step forward? Signing Brian Cardinal was a surprise, because the wing position was a strong point for the team last year with James Posey, Shane Battier, Mike Miller and Bonzi Wells all fighting for time.

Jerry West wouldn't pay Cardinal a reported $37 million if he were going to let him sit on the bench. Look for West to try to package some of his assets to make a play for a big man because that's the only way for this team to improve on last season's success.

Dallas Mavericks
Last season's shakeup didn't work, resulting in too many chefs and not enough busboys. And now Mark Cuban's gang is without Steve Nash and Antawn Jamison, perhaps his two most unselfish players. The Mavericks' plan is to build around Dirk Nowitzki and young talent, but it's hard to envision this team being a contender next year. Can't wait to see how Pavel Podkolzine fits into Don Nelson's beloved "small-ball" philosophy.

Sacramento Kings
The Kings have been quiet, and now they have lost Vlade Divac to the Lakers through free agency. Divac's possible departure was the reason Brad Miller was brought in a year ago and the Kings should still be very good without him. With a healthy Bobby Jackson, Sacramento very well might have beaten Minnesota in the playoffs last year, so maybe they'll just sit still and find out what they have in October.

Like everyone else in the West, the Kings' chances improved simply with Shaq's departure.

Next week I will tackle the contenders in Shaq's new conference, the East.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...YwN0bQ--?slug=sk-dustwest&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

I guess when Shaq and Kobe in the Lakers for the 1-2 punch, Lakers are heavily favored to win the west. That is true, since they have won west 4 out of last 5 years. Spurs, T-wolves, and Kings are not that dominate against each other. Rockets has the potential to join the elite.