Pacific Division Preview 2020-2021

The NBA just came off its wildest season to date. Coming off the virtual draft, teams are excited and ready to go for the season. Training camp and preseason games are ongoing in the shortened offseason. Fans are ready to go to games for a somewhat normal season. The Pacific division is the best division in the NBA. Los Angeles Lakers are the favorites in the division and are trying to defend their NBA championship.

Golden State Warriors: This team was obviously in a transition year with Kevin Durant leaving for the Brooklyn Nets. With the injuries to Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. Last year was a year to grow young players. They did receive the number two overall pick and selected James Wiseman. The center coming out of Memphis is athletic and will be a top big man in the league. The night Wiseman was drafted the Warriors took a blow. One of their core players Klay Thompson tore his achilles and will not play this season With Steph Curry being healthy and Draymond Green healthy as well. These Warriors will not be the same as last year. They will need to make some adjustments defensively with Klay Thompson out. They will call on Kelly Oubre to be the defensive replacement. Offensively, the Warriors will have to make a team effort to replace Thompson’s production. The Warriors will be a playoff caliber team at 43-29.

Los Angeles Clippers: After losing a 3-1 lead to the Nuggets in the playoffs. Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers parted ways and he became the head coach of the 76’ers. Ty Lue former coach of Lebron James. An NBA champion head coach became the new Los Angeles Clippers head coach. In the offseason, the clippers extended Marcus Morris and Paul George. One issue that they did not not get resolved is finding a playmaking point guard. Patrick Beverley is great defensively but does not have a lot of playmaking ability. New acquired guard Luke Kennard will have to assume the role of playmaking and scoring average point guard number. An interesting move or non-move I should say is not signing back Montrezl Harrell. Winner of the sixth man of the year. They did try and make up for not signing him by signing Serge Ibaka. The Clippers are a top team in the West, and they should be considered as one of the best teams in the entire NBA. I predict they will go 48-24.

Los Angeles Lakers: Coming off an NBA championship teams always want to try to go back to back. Most teams fail at this, but this Lakers team might have got better for their title defense bid. They added several good players to the roster. They added Montrezl Harrell, Dennis Schroder, Marc Gasol, and Wesley Matthews. When it comes to who they lost in the offseason. I would say they lost two guys that made an impact on this team. Rajon Rondo at point guard. They got Dennis Schroder, but he is more of a scoring point guard and the lakers will miss Rondo’s basketball IQ and passing ability. The other player is Dwight Howard. He obviously played a backup role, but his interior defense will be missed. Marc Gasol should fall into the backup center role, but he is aging and has gotten a tick slower. These Lakers should be favorites to win the whole thing again. My prediction for the regular season is 55-17.

Phoenix Suns: Welcome Chris Paul to the Phoenix Suns. A generational point guard that will compliment Devin Booker. The Suns also signed Jae Crowder which will provide some shooting to the mix. The Phoenix Suns arrived in the bubble with a outside chance at making it to the top 8 teams. The Suns went 8-0 and made it interested but failed to be apart of the top 8. Their goals would be to make the playoffs. DeAndre Ayton should be a presence down low and will be a great player for the Suns. This team will be a top 8 team and make the playoffs. I predict this team will go 43-29.

Sacramento Kings: I do not think this team will be good. Luke Walton will be on the hot seat if the team does not do well. Guards Buddy Hield and DeAaron Fox showed growth last season and will be great player, but this team has those two guys and that is pretty much it. Marvin Bagley III has been injury prone. He only player 13 games last year. Hopefully he can provide a offensive spark like he did at Duke. I predict your team will go 29-43.