Rank the west assuming all teams are healthy

[tonydelk]

Clippers
G: Pat Beverley, Lou Williams
G: Rodney McGruder, Landry Shamet
F: Paul George, Mo Harkless
F: Kawhi Leonard, JaMychal Green, Wilson Chandler
C: Zubac, Montrezl Harrell, Kabengele

Lakers
G - LBJ, Rondo, Cook
G - Danny Green, Avery Bradley, Caruso
F - Kyle Kuzma, KCP
F - Demarcus Cousins, Jared Dudley
C - Anthony Davis, Tyson Chandler, Javale McGee

Very tight rosters.  Demarcus Cousins is a wild card.  Rondo and Bradley are both good reserves.  Decent depth.  I think the Lakers could possibly have the better starting unit with the Clippers having the better bench.  I don't think one is better then the other by a wide margin but I choose the clippers.  They have a lot more shooting then the Lakers.  I can see some games where the Lakers get slaughtered because they are having a poor shooting night as a team.  When that happens look out.

[RJ87]

Blown away by the Clippers depth

G: Pat Beverley, Lou Williams
G: Rodney McGruder, Landry Shamet
F: Paul George, Mo Harkless
F: Kawhi Leonard, JaMychal Green, Wilson Chandler
C: Zubac, Montrezl Harrell, Kabengele


That bench is awesome. Two 6th man of the year finalists in Harrell and Lou Will. A starting caliber SF in Mo Harkless. A shooter in Shamet. A defensive role player borderline starter in JaMychal Green. Talented 3rd stringers at C and PF.

The defense in the starting lineup with Kawhi, PG13 and Beverley is insane. McGruder is a fine fit next to them. Another hard working defender. Solid part time starter with Lou Will coming in off the bench playing 28mpg.


Best defense in the NBA.
Best bench in the NBA.
Two legit stars in Kawhi and Paul George.
Lou Will as 3rd scorer.

Agreed. Though, I think Shamet will get the starting nod over McGruder. He'll have no shortage of open 3's playing next to Kawhi and PG.

[zeitgeist49]

1. Clippers
2. Lakers
3. Jazz
4. Rockets
5. Warriors
6. Nuggets
7. Spurs
8. Pelicans

I'm glad the Celts are in the East. The order is based on predicted regular season wins. Depending on seeding, if Klay returns, I see the Warriors going farther in the playoffs than the Rockets and Jazz. I believe the Pelicans will surprise many fans. I expect that the Lakers will rest James towards the end of the regular season and he'll be rested come playoffs. I believe it's a tossup as to who comes out of the West ... Clippers or Lakers, b/c the rotations are generally shorter in the playoffs. Barring significant injuries, I don't see anyone from the East beating the Clippers or the Lakers, at least this year.

[ETNCeltics]

I think a lot of folks are short-selling Denver. Jokic is a beast.  I can see Denver winning 60 games, and if someone other than Jokic can step it up a bit, they'd be a tough out if they had home court. Especially if the LA teams had to play each other the series before.

IMO, LAC is superior to LAL. LAL's bench is straight garbage, and LAC looks like possibly the deepest team in the league now. LAL need LBJ & AD to stay healthy and rested for the playoffs if they're going to have a shot to get back to the finals.

[Pvictor11]

1. Clippers
2. Lakers
3. Jazz
4. Rockets
5. Warriors
6. Nuggets
7. Spurs
8. Pelicans

I'm glad the Celts are in the East. The order is based on predicted regular season wins. Depending on seeding, if Klay returns, I see the Warriors going farther in the playoffs than the Rockets and Jazz. I believe the Pelicans will surprise many fans. I expect that the Lakers will rest James towards the end of the regular season and he'll be rested come playoffs. I believe it's a tossup as to who comes out of the West ... Clippers or Lakers, b/c the rotations are generally shorter in the playoffs. Barring significant injuries, I don't see anyone from the East beating the Clippers or the Lakers, at least this year.

So the blazers who Just got to the WCF miss the playoffs the following season but the Pelicans get in?
Some people are vastly overrating Zion and this Pelicans team. Zion will have a very tough time shooting in the Nba with that slow release. His jumper was easily blocked 2 or 3 times in that summer league opener

To me they don't even sniff the playoffs. Even the Kings and Mavs should be better than the Pelicans

Edit: 300 posts. Yeah! 700 left to that precious star!

[action781]

1. GSW - Steph, DA Russ, Klay, Draymond, WCS is a stud starting 5
2. LAC - Not far behind GSW
3. LAL - Not far behind LAC
4. Houston - When CP3 is healthy, this team has played really competitive ball.
5. Denver - I think their young players will improve enough to push them over Portland this year
6. Utah - This is not an indictment on them, but rather just my thoughts on how strong the other teams would be *if* healthy (which in some cases is unlikely or we already know are not)
7. Portland - Very solid team

*huge drop*

8. Spurs - Always play well, having Dejounte back is nice addition.
9. Dallas
10. Kings
11. OKC
12. Pelicans
13. Minnesota
14. Phoenix
15. Memphis

[wdleehi]

If everyone is healthy

1) Clippers
2) Warriors
3) Houston
4) Denver
5) Lakers
6) Utah
7) Portland
Spurs
9) Thunder
10) Kings
11) Dallas
12) T-Wolves
13) NO
14) Phoenix
15) Memphis

[Androslav]

1) Clippers
2) Houston
3) Lakers
4) Denver
5) Utah
6) Portland
7) Warriors
Spurs
9) Kings
10) Dallas
11) NO
12) T-Wolves
13) Thunder
14) Memphis
15) Phoenix

[Walker Wiggle]

I know this exercise is specifically for "when healthy", but I see a possibility of the Lakers missing the playoffs. Even when Lebron was healthy last year, people don't realize what a catastrophe he was on the defensive end. Meanwhile, the rest of that team will struggle -- to put it very diplomatically -- to defend on the perimeter. The miss-the-playoffs scenario involves some bad injury luck for sure, but it's far from impossible given recent history of Lebron and AD. I'm just saying I could see things going very badly out there.

[Who]

I am impressed by the Spurs depth. I have them ahead of the Blazers and maybe the Jazz at this point.


G: DeJounte Murray, Derrick White, Patty Mills
G: DeMar DeRozan, Bryan Forbes, Lonnie Walker,
F: Rudy Gay, Marco Belinelli
F: Aldridge, Marcus Morris, DeMarre Carroll
C: Jakob Poeltl, (Aldridge)


That backcourt might be the deepest in the league. The signings of Marcus Morris and DeMarre Carroll give them two bigger forwards to help when Aldridge switches over to center. A little light at SF behind Rudy Gay but DeRozan can play some there and they got lots of guards.

[Who]

I read that Klay Thompson had his surgery and is expected back on the court for the Warriors in 5-7 months. So a return date of December, January or February.

Edit: That information seems to be wrong.

This isn't likely to be a career-altering injury, but Thompson will assuredly miss a majority of the 2019-20 season, making him an unattractive target in re-draft formats. ACL tears tend to involve a 6-9 month timetable, so we wouldn't really expect to see him until after the All-Star break. For what it's worth, Thompson's agent said he'll be targeting a 5-7 month timetable, but that seems overly aggressive.

- Wojnarowski

6-9 months would be January, February, March, April.

[pearljammer10]

1. Clippers
2. Jazz
3. Houston
4. Lakers
5. Denver
6. Spurs
7. Warriors
8. Portland
9. Dallas
10. Kings
11. NOP
12. Memphis
13. Wolves
14. OKC
15. Suns

[Who]

1 Clippers
2 Warriors

3 Lakers
4 Nuggets
5 Rockets

6 Spurs
7 Jazz

8 Thunder
9 Blazers
10 Kings

11 Mavericks
12 Wolves

13 Pelicans
 
14 Grizzlies
15 Suns