Starting this season, there were obvious picks for the next Western Conference champion like the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, who is always a contender, the Dallas Mavericks who will seek to avenge an early loss in the first round of last season, and the Phoenix. Suns who added veteran Grant Hill to their lineup this offseason. Although all of these teams are still on track to be the best in the West, there are some unexpected surprises in the West this season.
There are three teams in the Western Conference that continue to surprise and improve as the season progresses: the Los Angeles Lakers, the New Orleans Hornets and the Portland Trailblazers.
The Portland Trailblazers entered the season on a sour note, as their number one pick, Greg Oden, underwent season-ending surgery before he could play his first game in a Blazer uniform. That took the wind out of their sails as they exited the gate, but not for long that their young superstar Brandon Roy put his team on his back and rallied the troops to a very impressive start with the promise of a place in the playoffs in June. .
The New Orleans Hornets have to be the biggest surprise of these three, as rookie of the year Chris Paul has emerged as a true leader and one of the NBA’s best point guards, right behind Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. If the playoffs started today, the New Orleans Hornets would be the No. 1 seed in the West, quite surprising considering they weren’t anywhere close to making the postseason last year.
Then we come to the never-ending saga of the Los Angeles Lakers, who have been the NBA’s equivalent of a drama-filled soap opera all through the offseason with questions and trade rumors about the best player in the NBA in Kobe Bryant. Even though the future of the Lakers looked very bleak and eminent for disaster when the season began, somehow, somehow Kobe Bryant and company were able to tie it all together and become one of the best teams in the league with the greatest part of credit on the rise. center Andrew Bynum, who looks more and more like the future of the Lakers and the next big NBA center.
Who will lead in the Western Conference? Who knows, but one thing’s for sure, as the season approaches the playoffs, basketball fans are in luck as it looks more competitive than ever in the West!
