 New Kings Of Pacific?by T-Rex I realized that I am running out of time before the NBA gives us the gift of Christmas matchups. So I need to finish this up fast! My last of these will have my rankings in it as well as some preseason awards. Golden State will progress under new ownership. Fact: Lost in the lockout mess is the number of franchises that were sold and bought during the lockout (Philly, Golden State). Golden State is a good basketball city and if they field a good team, the fans will be there. Stephen Curry is a great start, although he's injury-prone at this point. I like Monta Ellis as a 2-guard and with the current rules in the NBA, you can play with 2 small guards (LAC plans to do it). David Lee will be better. They have good shooting as well (Dorell Wright coming into his own was a feel-good story). Unfortunately, there are about 10 teams competing for 4 playoff spots and I don't think GS has enough, but they are knocking on the door. LAC will make waves this year. Fact: Oh. My. God. You thought CP3 could throw lobs to Tyson Chandler and Emeka Okafor. DeAndre Jordan and the Kia spokesperson/Funny-Or-Die intern Blake Griffin are about to look like Hall-of-Famers. It sucks that they lost Eric Gordon, but sacrifices must be made in order to get what you want. Chauncey Billups will do great with this team because at this stage of his career, he should be defending 2 guards. Caron Butler is a smart signing, but a problematic one like the Boozer deal for Chicago. It could go well or horribly. If Mo Williams and Chauncey can fill that 2 spot and balance the floor, they are 1 big away from being upper echelon. The Lakers will be fine. Fiction: "Mama told me one day it was gonna happen, but she never told me when...she told me it would happen when I was much older, but I wish would have happened then...Is This The End!!" The New Edition version doesn't fit as well. Firstly, Kobe's divorce will have little effect on his game, just his already sucky disposition. Pau will play, but they may need to trade him. Someone explain to me why Andrew Bynum is so "untouchable"? They still need a starting PG (Steve Blake is a fine backup) and Josh McRoberts was a rotation big on a 37-45 Indiana team. Like Boston, I think this team is trending down. I am not sure, other than the Dwight Howard "trade" what they can do. This is the year Nash finally says "Get me the f*** out of here". Fiction: He should though. This team is a mess. Steve Nash (f***ed up back) and Hill (old age) are your 2 best players. There are likable guys who can play somewhere (Jared Dudley, Channing Frye, Robin Lopez). There are guys who I'm not sure are better than me (Josh Childress, Ronnie Price). All adding up to a bad team. I would trade Nash and Hill to contenders for parts, but I'm not sure who can take either of them on as contracts amongst the contenders. The Sacramento Kings will be known as the Jimmer Fredette show. Fact: As well they should. HE CAN SHOOT! And not much else right now. The big difference between him and Stephen Curry is Curry could pass. Fredette is a better shooter and worse defender. Tyreke Evans is in a prove-it year (his 20-5-5 seemed like an aberration at the time) and so is DeMarcus Cousins. Speaking of selling, The Maloofs want to sell or move (or both) and Kevin Johnson is trying the biggest assist of his career. It feels like they have too many guys that do the same thing, and that means TRADE TIME! They need to make a move to lessen some logjams.
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