Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka and co. form the core of a team that just hit their stride and at a very young age. Let's look at the contenders to the newly crowned champs' Western Conference Championship title:
- Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe isn't getting any younger. He's been playing in the NBA since he was 17 years old (still think the then Charlotte Hornets regret trading him away?) and seems to become more prone to injury every season. Andrew Bynum and Meta World Peace are talented but both serious head cases that can't be counted on to be reliable, let alone clutch. Pau Gasol from all reports will likely be traded in the off season and the Lakers bench is thin and thats being polite about it. Whatever the Lakers get for Gasol won't be enough to restore them to playoff prominence. P.S. Don't think Kobe wasn't mad watching his friend former teammate, Derek Fisher, knock down clutch shot after clutch shot in the 4th quarter for OKC tonight.
- San Antonio Spurs: Everyone is talking about who has the real "Big Three" Boston, Miami or OKC. Did you forget about Duncan, Parker and Ginobli? I think the window for San Antonio is probably 2 more seasons tops. As I told my friend D Agee, the Spurs big 3 are "basketball old". Duncan looked like he was 21 again tonight in the 4th quarter but can he harness it and make it through another FULL NBA season and all the way through the playoffs? If Stephen Jackson isn't on the court for tonight's Game 6, the Spurs get blown out and are an afterthought. Again the bench is a factor for the Spurs. San Antonio needs to get young fast because that window is closing even faster.
- Los Angeles Clippers: As recently as two seasons ago we were still using the Clippers as the butt of most any sports joke...for any sport. Now they're on the way to establishing their own "big three". All indications are that Chris Paul wants to stay in L.A. and if he stays so will Blake Griffin. Eric Bledsoe could be the third piece but we need a full NBA season under their belts to make that call. Owner Donald Sterling, who has been ridiculed endlessly and openly mocked as being the worst owner in sports (yes IN SPORTS) seems to have finally loosened his grip on control of the franchise and also on the purse strings. Veterans Chauncey Billups (one of my all time favorite players) and scoring machine Caron Butler makes this a team to have to worry about.
- Dallas Mavericks: Nowitzki is still the player he always has been, just another year older. I think the Mav's caught lightning in a bottle last season and played far better than the talent now currently on their roster. Jason Kidd is clearly in the twilight of his career and now that he has his ring I wouldn't at all be surprised to see him walk off into the Texas sunset, trophy in hand. The Mavs let big pieces of their championship team walk in Tyson Chandler (the Knicks) and J.J. Barea (Timberwolves). They thought former Laker Lamar Odom was the answer and that blew up in Mark Cuban's face completely. The roster even voted NOT to give Odom his share of the playoff bonus. This team needs a couple of big pieces before they can be considered a contender again.
- Memphis Grizzlies: This team is a serious Jekyll and Hyde group. A Cinderella story a season ago, bigs Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol couldn't put it together consistently in the post-season. Rudy Gay is a solid all around PG even if he isn't on ESPN every night. Bet you didn't know that Agent Zero, Gilbert Arenas is on this team did you? I don't think the Grizzlies do either unless they're looking at payroll. O.J. Mayo has never lived up to his draft hype. The NBA is all about match ups and Gasol and Randolph create a lot of mismatches but this team is still a couple of draft/free agent classes away from the Western Conference semi-finals.
The Thunder seem poised to ride this momentum to a title. I can't see either Boston or Miami beating OKC in seven games. The fatigue will be too much for the Celts and the pressure too much for LeBron and Co.
Thunder in six.
No comments:
Post a Comment