| Tuesday, November 2
By Mike Monroe
Special to ESPN.com |
|
Since this is my last chance to do so before the regular season begins,
I feel obligated to predict the top eight teams in the West, which is a
little like trying to list the best beaches in the Virgin Islands or the
best restaurants in Provence.
|  | | Where do Derek Fisher and the Lakers fit in in the playoff picture? |
Suffice to say, even if I'm wrong on the order, I'm going to be right
about one thing: One of the top four teams in the West is going to win
the 2000 NBA title. The West is so far superior to the Eastern
Conference that I contend not one Eastern team could finish higher
than fourth in the West. Further, not more than two Eastern teams could
make the playoff field in the West.
Take that, Denberg!
Here, then, my eight Western playoff qualifiers, in order:
Portland, of course, made the greatest improvement in the entire
league. Not only did the Trail Blazers add one Dream Teamer to their
lineup, Scottie Pippen, but two, snatching Steve Smith away from the
Hawks while ridding themselves of the knotty problem of Isaiah Rider
(enough of a knotty problem all by himself) and Jimmy Jackson both
believing the starting off-guard spot belonged to him.
Since the Spurs, merely the defending NBA champs, lost Sean Elliott,
they are not quite as formidable as they were in their remarkable run to
the title. But they still have the NBA's best player, Tim Duncan, and
David Robinson, whose creaky back will be loose enough by mid-season for
San Antonio to finish with the second-best record in the West.
Phil Jackson has heaped more public criticism on the Lakers in the
preseason than Del Harris and Kurt Rambis did in two previous seasons,
which no doubt offends the sensibilities of some of the L.A. superstars.
However, it is just what the Lakers have needed. Shaquille O'Neal
remains the most powerful player in the league and Kobe Bryant one of
its most exciting, and Glen Rice is one of its best pure shooters.
Jackson will coalesce all that divergent talent into a productive,
focused unit before season's end.
Not only did the Phoenix Suns land one of the East's very best players in Penny Hardaway, they may have come up with the steal of the draft in
Shawn Marion. Jason Kidd and Hardaway are going to drive opponents nuts
this season.
The Kings were the surprise of last season. They won't sneak up on
anyone this time around, which could make things a little more
difficult. And they still will allow more points than a really good team
should. But as long as Chris Webber's preseason free throw improvement
continues, they will move up one notch in the conference standings.
The Rockets will be trying to give Charles Barkley an appropriately
enjoyable sendoff to the career he insists he is finishing this season,
his 16th in the NBA. But he and Hakeem Olajuwon are getting a little
long in the tooth, and they added so many pieces it is going to take a
while before they jell. They may finish sixth, but they are going to
be oh so dangerous in the playoffs.
I know, this is a dramatic dropoff for the Jazz. But they lost one of
their most valuable energy players, Shandon Anderson, without
compensation in the offseason, and their big three, Karl Malone, John
Stockton and Jeff Hornacek, aren't getting any younger. Their big offseason acquisition was Olden Polynice, hardly the kind of player to
strike fear in the hearts of the Blazers, Lakers and Spurs.
The battle for this final playoff berth in the West is going to be
fierce. The contenders: Minnesota and Seattle. Minnesota, which has made
the playoff field the last two seasons, has a legitimate MVP candidate
in Kevin Garnett, but so does Seattle, in Gary Payton. Garnett is 7-feet
tall. I always side with size.
Wandering the West
You want empirical proof the Blazers are the NBA's
best team? Try this: In running to a 6-0 preseason record, Portland
averaged 107.5 points per game by shooting 49 percent from the floor.
They are holding opponents to 96.7 points on 44.4 percent shooting. The
Blazers have outrebounded their preseason opponents by an average of 8.3
a game, and that is with their top rebounder, Brian Grant, out
indefinitely as he recovers from knee surgery. Seven players are
averaging double figures in the preseason -- guard Bonzi Wells (14.3
ppg), Pippen (14.0), forward Rasheed Wallace (13.7), center Jermaine
O'Neal (12.0), guard Greg Anthony (11.2) center Arvydas Sabonis (10.4)
and point guard Damon Stoudamire (10.0). And the Blazers have the
deepest team in the NBA. Only Pippen has played more than 32 minutes in
a preseason game. He played 33 minutes against the Lakers, refusing to
sit out after dislocating his left index finger late in the first
quarter. With Stoudamire sitting that one out (sore right foot) Pippen
operated at point guard for much of the game and abused old Chicago
teammate Ron Harper. In other words, Pippen appears ready to do for the
Blazers what the Rockets thought he would do for them.
David Robinson has made progress with his still back, but still has a
ways to go. He looked pathetic in a preseason game at Houston Tuesday,
getting stripped three times under the basket and finishing with only
two points. "David's not ready to go yet, obviously," coach Gregg Popovich
said. "He's getting better. He's starting to feel better as we move
along. But he's definitely not ready to go and be the player he was at
the end of last season."
Robinson has gotten used to his slow start, admitting he has needed a
good month or more to loosen up his back ever since he injured it prior
to the 1996-97 season.
"It's just a part of the process," Robinson said. "It doesn't bother
me. It makes me realize I'm mortal, but that's kind of good, too."
Imagine that: an NBA player who believes he is mortal.
Jazz are thinking about bringing Bryon Russell off the bench, even
though he has been their leading scorer in preseason and has been, to
quote Jerry Sloan, "our best player, because he's been playing with a
lot of confidence." Who would start at three? Rookie Scott Padgett or
Adam Keefe, with Hornacek at two. Why not start Russell? Because they
want him to play both two and three and they want him on the floor at
the end of each half. Seems to make sense to Sloan.
Padgett, by the way, got off to a slow start, but has gotten in better
shape and has show he can guard quicker guys at three since getting in
shape. And he can really shoot it.
You have to feel for the Grizzlies, the NBA's lame duck team. (The
transfer of the franchise to Wal Mart billionaire Bill Laurie is
expected to be approved Friday by the NBA's Board of Governors, and
nobody in the league really believes Laurie is going to leave the team
in Vancouver when he owns the Kiel Center, in St. Louis, and also the NHL's Blues). GM Stu Jackson signs veteran power forward Grant
Long to be the young team's veteran influence, and now he will be lost
four to six weeks with a serious sprain of his left knee, suffered
Tuesday in Denver.
The free throw watch: Shaquille O'Neal missed 24 of his first 31 free
throws in the preseason and Phil Jackson turned him over to Tex Winter for
re-education. "He doesn't have a rhythm when he's on the line," Jackson
said. "And it's all about finding a rhythm and the timing of being into
the shot. And when he gets that, he starts to focus on it, then he's OK.
His mechanics aren't good, his trajectory isn't good, but if he could
just find a rhythm, that might help him a little bit. But he's not there
yet."
O'Neal at least understands the significance of the gaping hole in his
game. "I realize down the stretch everybody's going to put me on the
line," he said. "I realize if we want to go all the way, it's going to
be in my hands. I like that type of pressure."
We'll see how much he likes it ...
Meanwhile, the Kings, who made just 68.3 percent of their free-throw
attempts last season, shot 81.1 percent from the line through their
first four preseason games. Sacramento is unlikely to stay above 80
percent as games accumulate, but coach Rick Adelman is convinced that his
squad will shoot better from the line this season. And Chris Webber, who
last season was under 50 percent at the line, made all five in his first
preseason game.
The Nuggets have been as disappointing as any team in the preseason,
especially to veteran Bryant Stith, the team captain and the longest
tenured Nugget. He has seen this all before, and he is frightened by the
1-6 preseason record and the lack of effort in some games. The real
problem, he said, is that a revamped lineup hasn't had a chance to
develop any chemistry because star forward Antonio McDyess has played
only 23 minutes because of illness and injury. "I'm very concerned,"
Stith said. "All I have to draw from is experience, and I remember four
years ago, we were 6-2 in the preseason and playing very well, but our
starting point guard was Eric Murdock. We made a change the last week of
preseason to Mark Jackson -- and rightfully so. But he hadn't played at
all in preseason and we never recovered the entire season. This reminds
me so much of that experience that it's scary."
Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com |  |
NBA West: The King and his court
