Pacific Specifics

A title much easier to read than say beckons me to share my thoughts on the season outlook for NBA teams in the Pacific Division.

Los Angeles Lakers: To get the obvious out of the way: The Lakers have improved a great deal this offseason and will certainly be legitimate contenders for the Larry O'Brien trophy, as they continue to prove that the draft is for squares. The one thing I will say that may raise some eyebrows is that I don't think Dwight Howard's acquisition has all that much to do with it. Dwight's an absolute talent on both ends of the floor by virtue of his size and athleticism alone. Couple those attributes with decent hook shot and work-in-progress Duncan-esque bank shot he's trying to cultivate and you have a man who's going to improve any team for which he suits up, to put it mildly. I only mean to point out that Lakers have traded, much to the euphoria of Sixer fans, the only center in the NBA whose name can justifiably be said in the same sentence as Dwight Howard in Andrew Bynum.(Unless that sentence is: Unlike Sammy Dalembert, Dwight Howard prefers to dwell in the paint.) Simply put, having a big man in the middle was never a problem in Los Angeles and I feel the Lakers' imminent success has a lot more to do with other new Lakers joining Dwight and the perennial Kobe in purple and gold.

For the record, I do think Howard is a better fit for the Lakers than Bynum was, which is saying something. Dwight runs the floor a bit better and will likely mesh more with the Princeton offense. Dwight's touches, should he be content with them, should come from boards and he should see plenty touches on pick and roll plays from a man who seems to define it for a generation; Steve Nash. Bynum likely is the better scorer at the position, but a team as suddenly deep as the Lake-show should fare just fine with Dwight down low. It's fair to at least wonder if Dwight will be reticently resistant to being the third or fourth option offensively (Kobe, Pau, Nash himself?), but winning can be the best panacea for those kinds of issues, and the Lakers will be doing a lot of that.

Steve Nash's pedigree speaks for itself, quite frankly. A genuine floor general with still some gas in the tank at the helm of a veritable all star team. After years of clawing an otherwise pretty pedestrian team into contention with some help from Amare Stoudemire, he will have more weapons than he'll know what to do with in L.A. Visions of his pick and roll with Dwight, pick and pop with Pau, and just plain playing with Kobe is hard not to salivate over. The talent around Nash alone will lighten his load and with his court vision and scoring ability in his own right, he, in turn, takes pressure off his teammates (Pau should flourish with someone getting him his shots in his spots. In addition, the Lakers still have whom I consider one of the better back up points in the league in Steve Blake.

Antawn Jamison received a measure of vindication after putting in his time as a lone vet on a rough Cavs squad. Dan Gilbert likely had high hopes of Jamison finally being the Robin that (Batman) LeBron James never had. Obviously that never came to pass. Jamison showed class in playing hard night after night and will now have the best chance of his career to capture a ring. Jordan Hill and Jodie Meeks have proven that while inconsistent, they can contribute to a team with the right guidance and much success will depend on World Peace's mindset and conditioning, but Kobe has some pieces around him that should help lighten his load and unlike the past couple of seasons, the Lakers have a true bench and point guard. Should Kobe trust his teammates enough to take some of that burden off him (and he clearly has a habit of rising to the occasion and making writers who question him look pretty foolish), he should be able to lead his new teammates down Hollywood's Redemption Road towards a championship.

Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers have once again proven that they're no longer content with being perceived as the little brothers of the Staples Center and have had a solid off season in their own right.With the acquisitions of Lamar Odom and Jamal Crawford, LOB City should prove to have more dimensions to it than highlight dunks. Blake Griffin must prove a similar point if he wishes to show that he's up to the task of being the future of this team. His hard work is evident, as he showed flashes of a fifteen foot jumper and some post moves, but as of this writing he's still very much the raw, hard working, super athlete who jumped over a car and turned "Mozgov" into a verb, rather than a basketball player. Griffin has yet to even approach his ceiling and potential as a player, so don't read into this as too harsh of a critique, but there's no denying that his game has yet to reach the level of his vertical leap.

Blake Griffin did his part in turning Clipper culture from miserable to hopeful and Chris Paul turned hopeful into prideful. Chris Paul has led by example and injected toughness and winning expectations into a once lost franchise. Never was this never-say-die attitude more evident than during the Clips' unprecedented Game 1 comeback against the Grizzlies this past postseason. The new chip-on-our-shoulder attitude seems to run deep as they appear to have a roster filled with blue collar bad boys (using that term loosely) Matt Barnes, DeAndre Jordan, Caron Butler, and potentially Kenyon Martin to help continue the mental makeover. Grant Hill and Billups' veteran leadership should work wonders with the youth in the lockeroom, and time will tell just much those two can contribute on the floor.

Crawford should fill the scoring void left by Nick Young's absence exceptionally and you'd have to believe that Lamar Odom can only improve upon a failed season in Dallas as he once again calls Los Angeles home. You can't overstate the importance of the role Mo Williams played as the unsung backup last season. His absence puts more pressure on Billups to be healthy, Bledsoe to develop, and Crawford to run an offense when CP3 is catching a rare blow. Other than that I see the Clips team that appears to be growing into itself right on schedule and will look to advance at least one round deeper into the playoffs this time around.

Golden State Warriors: With the movement of Monta Ellis and Dorell Wright, the final remnants of Nellie ball appear to be behind us. The true Mark Jackson era has officially begun in Oakland, and as expected there's a lot of impetus on molding youth from scratch. The status of this team is a relative question mark because, quite frankly, so many of these players are largely unknown. Brandon Rush, Jarrett Jack, and Charles Jenkins have performed nicely in complimentary roles, but more will surely be asked of them this season on this team than there ever has been before. Klay Thompson will look to build off a solid season while Carl Landry will seek to prove that his issues with Monty Williams were an isolated incident and he's ready to commit to playing hard on both ends of the court. The Warriors have high hopes for Harrison Barnes and his ability to do a little bit of everything on the floor and there's a tremendous cast of vets to guide him along the way.

David Lee is a double double machine and Richard Jefferson is another jack of all trades type that any team would love to have. The major concerns surrounding this team has to do with the fact that they seem to have invested a lot of their potential in some very injury prone guys. When healthy, Andrew Bogut is as good as any center in the league. I realize the implications of that statement and stick by it. Andris Biedrins is a nice reserve big man and looked like a future all star when the Warriors were thumping the top seeded Mavs in 2007 (the last time he was healthy), but he hasn't been the same since. In addition, the man worthy of being the face of this franchise, Steph Curry, is always one ankle tweak away from sitting out half the season. Couple these rather ominous "what ifs" with the fact that we're not entirely sure how Mark Jackson will use all of these pieces even if he has them all at his disposal and we're left with yet another rebuilding season for the Warriors, with flashes of brilliance and high hopes for next year. Here's hoping that they stay healthy enough for the outlook to be that bright.

Sacramento Kings: On paper, these guys don't look half bad. A lot of young up and comers with nothing but upside ready to ruffle some feathers amongst the West's elite. The only problem is, this game isn't played on paper, and on the basketball court this team has a lot of issues. The ebb and flow of DeMarcus Cousins' maturity aside, this team is full of players who need the ball to be successful and no one who wants to share it. This team had all but tuned out Paul Westphal, so there's something to be said for Keith Smart having his first full season as head coach, but there's a real log jam of score first guards on that team which the addition of Aaron Brooks doesn't help and Thomas Robinson walks into a program where the inside touches will likely be made by Cousins and Jason Thompson. The bottom line is that a lineup of Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, Aaron Brooks, and Marcus Thornton looks great on a fantasy team, but likely won't translate to real wins in the competitive West.

Phoenix Suns: If you'll excuse the obvious word play, as one sun sets another one rises. Steve Nash leaves the Valley of the Sun, but Alvin Gentry and management have done a tremendous job of ensuring that this team won't quietly fade off into the... well you get the idea. Former reserve Goran Dragic returns to Phoenix after cutting his teeth in Houston and after excelling in Houston, should be able to acclimate well to being the point man in Phoenix. The Suns have shown they have no real intentions of slowing the pace of play by signing swing man forward, Michael Beasley, who should rebound from an off year in Minnesota within a less stringent offense. For a time, Markieff Morris and Marcin Gortat seemed to be the lone bright spots in Phoenix (excluding Nash, of course) they should continue to perform. I'm sure the Suns would prefer to have Eric Gordon rather than Shannon Brown in their back court, but the potential for Telfair, Wes Johnson, and Shannon Brown to improve is present and worth mentioning. The signings of Scola and O'Neal are eyebrow raising, and you have to wonder if they can keep up with the rate of play. I think you have to wonder if Jermaine O'Neal has anything to give period, quite frankly. Scola struggled last season under McHale and failed to contribute consistently in any facet of the game. You have to wonder how he'll fare under Gentry. Maybe the organization sees him a safety valve in half court sets, a la Elton Brand in his first years in Philly, but we all know how that looked for a while there. The post Steve Nash era will have it's rough spots, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Game of Thrones

Before you get too excited by the title of this article, I feel obliged to let you know that I've only seen the show once and was pretty darn confused by what was going on. I do know that in the middle of the episode a midget was walloped in the head with a mallet of some kind and wound up dozing through an entire battle. A bit sophomoric, I admit, but I'd be lying if said I didn't think it was really a very humorous moment. Anyway, from what I gathered, the show is all about four or five kingdoms fighting over control of the world, or at least a good chunk of it's land. While I suppose the concept of this show can serve as an allegory for not only the NBA, but professional sports as a whole, I'm going to zoom in my lens of a analysis a bit and focus on the in flux basketball hierarchy in the state of California.

California is no stranger to tectonic shifts of both the literal and metaphorical kind, and already I'm sure you've been preached to ad nauseum about the positives of Chris Paul's addition to the Clip-show and what it means in relation to the transitioning Lakers, who in the wake of the acquisition of CP3 have lost some of their luster and look a bit more like slowtime than showtime by comparison. And while an article focusing on a "Battle of Los Angeles" is about as catchy as can be and lends itself to the rarely used "Rage Against The Machine Pun Collection" (it exists), I urge you, in this shortened season, to take a closer look at L.A.'s California counterparts in Golden State and Sacramento, whose franchises may also be on the rise.

As if on cue, the hands of fate have seen fit to grant this article the backdrop of back to back overtime loses for the Heat to two of the very teams I'm to discuss. I'm not a fan of admitting this, but a team's performance against a complete Heat squad is about as good of a litmus test for success and heart as there is at this point in the season and thus far, California has yet to disappoint.

I'll start with the Clippers. Honestly, there's not much to tell you that you probably don't already know. Chris Paul, as he would anywhere in the league, makes all the difference in the world. The man is responsible for the birth of LOB City. (Worse nicknames have stuck, but let's see them in the playoffs before we start doing backflips of exuberance.) A war-tested floor general with some of the best vision the league has to offer, arguably second only to Kobe Bryant and maybe Wade in his ability to take over a game on both ends of the floor at the drop of a hat without becoming reckless. (Before I get arguing tweets, Durant is right there when Westbrook gives him a chance, Dwight's just barely not on that level, and Dirk and 'Melo don't do it on defense.)

Paul's Punnett square has long proven to bear this trait that appears, in time, to have become recessive (science metaphor created with the indirect assistance of LeBron James) and he demonstrated biology at work most recently against the Heat as he willed his team to victory despite a pretty poor showing by Blake Griffin.

Let's be honest, though, a poor showing by Griffin is better than the best game of some players' lives. Griffin is still a phenom, so take this opinion with a grain of salt, but he's had a really hard time this year handling latent double teams in the post. Unless shots have been created for him on the break or in the half-court, he has been struggling with his decision making in the post, forcing shots, turning the ball over, settling for jumpers and not kicking the ball out when he should. The presence of Paul and the sudden presence of a supporting cast long since absent have prevented this squad from taking a very minute, yet important, step back in my opinion.

Caron Butler seems healthy this season and is flourishing as the third option on that team. His All-Star abilities are often overshadowed by the success of his own teamates, but the importance of Butler's injection of "Tuff Juice" into this franchise cannot be overstated. Mo Williams has acclimated nicely to his bench role, and Billups fills the multi-purpose 2 position well, so far. The Clippers suddenly find themselves very deep at the guard position. Bear in mind that young upstart, Eric Bledsoe, has yet to play a second this year. The Clippers have some pieces that can maybe be used to pick up a back up big man for DeAndre Jordan, but even if they don't, having so many heady guards on the same squad can only be an asset.

The Lakers are different. I suppose the jury is still out regarding how positive these changes are, but you can't help but be intrigued by the new style and glimpses of greatness that this team displays more often then not. I feel like I've mentioned Mike Brown's attention to defense often enough in these articles to skip mentioning it, so take that for granted. As a result of swapping the power of zen for the power of meticulous hard work, we see a Laker team that is grittier than any Laker squad I've ever seen. Barnes, Murphy, World Peace (*sigh*), and McRoberts are players whose blue collars at one time seemed to clash with the purple and gold, but now these players provide a hard-nosed toughness under Mike Brown not apparent in past incarnations of perhaps the most decorated franchise in league history. Just to be clear, I'm not saying the Lakers weren't tough, I'm just saying they resemble the bad boy Pistons of lore more so than the smooth, flashy game commonly associated with Laker-ball.

Offensively, Kobe's getting 30 points per game and recently wound back the clock for 48 against the Suns, whose defense is not as poor as it used to be. Maybe the amount of shots he's hoisting to get these numbers is a little disconcerting. And news of pain killing injections constantly being pumped into his wrist has to be a bit of a red flag and make you wonder just how long he can keep up his level of play, but Kobe is Kobe. He'll go until they drag him off the court and the system appears to get him the ball in the post easier than the triangle did, so until proven otherwise, I consider Kobe's 32-year-old glass of Gatorade half full.

Bynum has been an absolute monster since his return from suspension and he appears to be raising his already solid game to another level under this more traditional offense. Pau Gasol's versatility as a big now becomes a nice change of pace for the otherwise unrefined Lakers and he continues to be an integral cog in the the Laker machine. Steve Blake's minutes compared to Fisher's will be interesting to monitor as the season unfolds.

The Lakers have a new chip on their shoulder and it will be interesting to see if the new blend of glitz and muscle will pay dividends come playoff time. If World Peace resolves to stop shooting threes entirely, I'd say they have a shot.

The Warriors appear to have fully recovered from the hangover of Nellie-ball and have a new attention to defense under first-time head coach, Mark Jackson. The Warriors have had their share of growing pains, but players seemed to have committed fully to Mark Jackson's vision and have shown flashes of true promise.

The pieces there are strong. Ellis and Lee are two of the most underrated at their respective positions and, more importantly, these players seem to be fully invested in Mark Jackson and vice versa. Jackson's deep rotation reminds of how Rick Adleman gets the most out of what's put in front of him. This team has no quit and Jackson wants to give everyone on his bench a role. He just may have the skills to do it. As a former player, Jackson seems to have a horse whisperer type of presence in the locker room and some real camaraderie appears to be forming in Oakland. If Jackson can get this squad running on all cylinders consistently and injuries under control, look out league.

My only issue with Jackson is that he's been quoted several times as saying the Warriors are a "random" offensive team. While having that kind of trust in your players to "just play" is admirable, I wouldn't mind, as a fan, a bit more of a formal system. With that said, a "random" offense is the kind of set in which Nate Robinson can thrive, which may prove important if Curry shuts down his ailing ankles for any extended period of time, and they seem to know to run through Monta through crunch time. The Warriors are a gang of lost boys who appear to have found their Peter Pan (without the tights) and in the long term have a chance to spoil the dreams of some contenders this season.

The Kings have cut ties with unpopular Paul Westphal and his crazy rotations and seemingly appeased a frustrated Cousins. Keith Smart is not a long term answer to coaching woes, and no one on this team passes the rock. But on paper, the talent and potential of this team can't be denied, from Evans and Thornton all the way down to the young rookie, Isiah Thomas. Fixing this team's woes may be as simple as teaching the players to share. That won't happen overnight, but winning their first game under Smart in dramatic fashion with an excited bench and fans alike has to be a good sign. Look for subtle improvements for the Kings this year. Perhaps the return of the master of the little things, Chuck Hayes, will spark a change in Sac-town's mindset. Whether it was his fault or not, Westphal screwed up the King's book. Keith Smart brings about a new chapter and a chance for these young princes to get on the same page and live up to their "Kings" moniker.

In California, we're witnessing a game of thrones, indeed. Perhaps the path to ascension is more up for grabs than it appears.