This is the final installment of the 2010-11 Season Preview. After traveling around the country, we finally hit the division where four of the five teams reside in California. While the division is weak overall, it does contain the two time reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. Oh, and the Suns can’t be overlooked with Nash at the helm. The other three teams (Clippers, Warriors, and Kings) are all trying to rebuild, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t make some noise, but this season is probably a bust for them. So strap on your seat belts, cause here we go!
Golden State Warriors
PG: Stephen Curry (Jeremy Lin)
SG: Monta Ellis (Charlie Bell)
SF: Vladimir Radmanovic (Reggie Williams)
PF: David Lee
C: Andris Biedrins (Dan Gadzuric)
Coach: Keith Smart
Breakdown: We’ll see how David Lee fits in with Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry, but overall this team has the potential to almost make the playoffs. Coach Keith Smart has a talented young team to mold, and it’s anyone’s guess as to how he’s going to do. This is a young team overall, so I expect that they’ll be a fun team to watch, but they will make their fair share of mistakes. It’s a rebuilding year for the Warriors, but they’ll make the most of it.
Prediction: 35-47
Los Angeles Clippers
PG: Baron Davis
SG: Eric Gordon (Randy Foye)
SF: Ryan Gomes (Rasual Butler)
PF: Blake Griffin
C: Chris Kaman (DeAndre Jordan)
Coach: Vinny Del Negro
Breakdown: This is a team with a lot to prove. Blake Griffin wants to prove that he’s the future of basketball, not John Wall. Baron “Boomdizzle” Davis needs to show that he’s still got it, and Eric Gordon wants to take his game to the next level. Kaman is a center who is consistently underrated, so expect him to try to dominate. And coach Del Negro wants to make the Bulls regret unceremoniously firing him last season. The Clips are missing a few pieces, but they’re building a pretty solid core for the future.
Prediction: 33-49
Los Angeles Lakers
PG: Derek Fisher (Steve Blake)
SG: Kobe Bryant (Sasha Vujacic; Shannon Brown)
SF: Ron Artest (Matt Barnes)
PF: Pau Gasol (Lamar Odom)
C: Andrew Bynum (Theo Ratliff)
Coach: Phil Jackson
Breakdown: They lifted banner number 16 yesterday and then followed that up with a last second victory over a Yao-ful Houston Rockets. Newcomer Steve Blake proved why the Lakers acquired him by drilling a 3 point shot at the end of the game after a feed from Kobe. The Lakers are basically the same team as last year with a much deeper bench. Kobe might be a year older and slightly injured, but the team around him might be the best he’s ever had. And with that, I’m going to confidently predict their record for this season (you heard it here first):
Prediction: 70-12
Phoenix Suns
PG: Steve Nash (Goran Dragic)
SG: Jason Richardson (Josh Childress)
SF: Grant Hill (Jared Dudley)
PF: Hedo Turkoglu (Hakeem Warrick)
C: Robin Lopez (Channing Frye)
Coach: Alvin Gentry
Breakdown: Umm, the Suns still lack a big man (as usual), but they’ve also still got Nash, so they’ll be ok. However, Nash himself expressed doubt that they would make the playoffs this year, so it’s hard to say where his head’s at. Like never before, Nash is going to have to take on the scoring load for this team while simultaneously getting his teammates shots. I think he’s going to go all CP3 on us this season and handle the ball even more than he did before. It’s going to be an interesting time out in the desert.
Prediction: 41-41
Sacramento Kings
PG: Beno Udrih
SG: Tyreke Evans (Luther Head)
SF: Omri Casspi (Francisco Garcia)
PF: Carl Landry
C: Samuel Dalembert (DeMarcus Cousins)
Coach: Paul Westphal
Breakdown: Lastly, we get to the Kings. In the early 2000′s they were strong rivals to the Lakers, but recently things haven’t gone their way. The current edition is extremely young and talented (e.g. Evans, Casspi, and Cousins) with Udrih and Landry entering their prime years. They might out-hustle a lot of teams, but they still need better discipline. It’ll be up to coach Westphal to guide this team to relevance…but probably not this season.
Prediction: 27-55
-Shogun
