Midwest Preview - bellsduck

[bellsduck]

Western Conference Midwest Division Preview
Dallas Mavericks
Top Returners:
Loy Vaught 21.4 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 1.6 bpg
Scottie Pippen 24.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 5.9 apg

Key Additions:
Luther Wright 11.5 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 1.0 bpg

The Dallas Mavericks have to be considered among the playoff favorites in the Western Conference this year. Any team with a front court tandem of Scottie Pippen and Loy Vaught would be. While Pippen and Vaught seem to have a good year or two left, they are getting a little long in the tooth. In an effort to shore up some interior weakness in rebounding and shot blocking the Mavericks made an off-season trade picking up Luther Wright. While Wright showed flashes of greatness that earned himself a hefty pay raise after his initial rookie contract was over, his progress has seemed to stall and in fact had a poor training camp. Time will tell if Wright is the savior that the Mavs were hoping for.
Prediction: Western Conference 1st round

Denver Nuggets
Top Returners:
Yinka Dare 14.8 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.5 blg
Tim Hardaway 13.6 ppg, 6.2 apg, 2.2 spg

Key Additions:
Steve Smith 9.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.6 apg

The Denver Nuggets fresh off a 1st round playoff loss look to be a borderline playoff team again this year. Shawn Bradley has a year more experience, but offensively is scaring no one. Yinka Dare earned a big 2nd contract, mostly for his defense, but is surprising effective offensively as well. Losing Marshall will hurt, but Denver didn’t feel that his play was worth the overall contract while the team was rebuilding. Denver will be looking to Dejan Bodiroga to replace Marshall’s production, but that may a stretch. Reports from camp indicate Tim Hardaway may see an increase in minutes this year and perhaps a return to stats heaven for Tim. Prediction: Western Conference 1st round

Houston Rockets
Top Returners:
Allan Houston 20.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 5.6 apg
Greg Ostertag 10 ppg, 11.7 rpg, 2.8 bpg

Key Additions:
Antawn Jamison 1st rd draft pick
Rod Strickland 8.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 7.4 apg

The Houston Rockets were swept out of the playoffs last year in the 1st round, but through shrewd moves ended up with the 4th pick in the 1998 draft and selected Antawn Jamison. Antawn looks to be just what the doctor ordered at SF for a team that lacks a scoring punch outside of Allan Houston. Putting too much on a 1st year player may not pay off immediately though. At the point, Houston brought in veteran Rod Strickland to compete with Greg Anthony and Eric Snow. Snow seems to be the leader in the clubhouse, but questions remain about whether he can increase scoring and reduce turnovers. At the post positions, Houston lacks the interior strength to go far in this years playoffs. Greg Ostertag and Kelvin Cato are solid contributors, but a strong veteran PF would go a long way here. Prediction: Miss playoffs

Minnesota Timberwolves
Top Returners:
Vin Baker 19.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg
Eddie Jones

Key Additions:
Glen Rice 30.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.2 apg

The Wolves lost in the 1st round of the playoffs last year. However, they added a 30 ppg scorer in Glen Rice this off-season and although Drazen Petrovic was with the team during the playoffs last year, he was acquired late in the year and maybe never acclimated. Question #1 now for the Wolves is who will be getting the majority of the minutes at the 2 and 3 spot and will their scoring be enough to overcome weakness at the Center position in that area. Rice, Mashburn, Jones, Petrovic…?
Prediction: Western Conference Semi-Finals, add a strong big man and Finals are a possibility

San Antonio Spurs
Top Returners:
Shaq O’Neal 28.1 ppg, 13.3 rpg, 4.8 bpg
Sam Cassell 14.2 ppg, 10.2 apg, 1.4 topg

Key Additions:
None

The Spurs made it to the Western Conference finals last season and lost in a heartbreaking 7 game series. Perhaps the best thing you can say about the Spurs off-season is that there were no subtractions. BUT…there were no key additions either. Even though the Spurs can claim two of the top players in the league, it was not a good Training Camp for Shaq. I still expect him to dominate, but will it be enough. With the Spurs having 3 max salary players and all key to their success, where do they go to acquire the next piece to the puzzle? That’s the question that Spurs management must answer before Shaq loses patience and demands a trade. Prediction: Western Conference Finals – but limited depth might cost them

Utah Jazz
Key Returners:
Larry Johnson 18.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2 spg
Derreck Martin 18.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.3 spg

Key Additions:
Michael Olowokandi 1st rd draft pick

Utah missed the playoffs last year after a hot start that probably misled fans. The problem with Utah is that they are good at a lot of things but not great at any one thing. Drafting Olowokandi may pay dividends in the future, but as with other young players, expecting too much immediately is never a good plan. Derreck Martin had a good Training Camp and may emerge this season amongst the league leaders in scoring. Prediction: Miss playoffs

Vancouver Grizzlies
Key Returners:
Zeljko Rebraca 14.1 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg
Chris Webber 24.0 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 4.7 apg

Key Additions:
Emanuel Ginobili 1st rd draft pick
Gary Payton 8.7 ppg, 10.6 apg, 2.7 spg

How did the Grizzlies miss the playoffs last year? Years of losing followed one after another led to a string of draft picks like not seen before. Rebraca, Webber, Jerry Stackhouse,Stephen Jackson,Tim Duncan, and now Manu Ginobli. Stackhouse might be the only bust of the group. At some point tough decisions will have to be made regarding who will be kept for salary cap purposes. For the next couple years though there are still 1st rd draft picks available plus MLE’s to offer every off-season. Although TC wasn’t outstanding for the Grizzlies this team is still young at an average age of 23.7 years. Prediction: Western Conference 2nd round

[FlDuckFan]

Very well done i like it.

[duckyoubeavers]

Very well done i like it.

i agree. possibly a 3

[lukeyrid13]

Well done. Now I want to read up on all the divisions.

[Hkate001]

Well done. Now I want to read up on all the divisions.

[UOducksTK1]

Do Central! :p

Nice job.

[bellsduck]

I suggested to Skyhooker that she do something like it for her Division.
I think she's working on it.

[pistolpetejr]

How do I look now?