Golden State favorite, Houston, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and the Clippers outsiders. This Western Conference NBA version 2017-18 looks set to be more intense for ever.
Sacred twice in the last three seasons, Golden State will be favored to his own estate. The Warriors have retained their magic quartet Kevin Durant - Stephen Curry - Klay Thompson - Draymond Green, and there is no reason that beautiful California mechanics derailed. Except for a big wound, obviously. This summer, Nick Young and Omri Casspi came to strengthen the bench, which will not hurt. If watching the Warriors play is a pleasure, the excitement at the beginning of the season will come from the two Western Conference teams that have made quite impressive recruitment on paper: Oklahoma City and Houston.
Westbrook-George-Anthony, the Thunder is scary!
Not content with having last season's MVP, the middle-aged triple-double Russell Westbrook, the Thunder has in fact tied the services of Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, two of the best Eastern Conference triggers. If the mayonnaise takes over and the ego warfare does not come to the locker room, OKC can appear at the top of the Conference. As for the Houston Rockets, they struck a big blow by bringing Chris Paul, one of the League's top leaders, who had toured the issue at the Clippers. With James Harden and "CP3", the Rockets hold an extremely promising duet, even if, here too, it will be necessary to share the ball between the two stars.
Spurs and Clippers
Behind, San Antonio, who has never missed the play-offs since 1997, is still a serious competitor. Even though the Spurs did not perform as tightly recruited as some Joffrey Lauvergne and Rudy Gay as notable arrivals, they have, with Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Manu Ginobili, even Pau Gasol, and of course Tony Parker when he will be back from injury (in December or January a priori) a roster armed sufficiently to aim for the Top 5. Among the outsiders of this Western Conference, of course are the Clippers, who have certainly lost Chris Paul but retained Blake Griffin , and recovered Danilo Galinari, Milos Teodosic, Lou Williams or Patrick Beverley.
The fight for the Top 8 tighter than ever
Minnesota Timberwolves, with their extremely talented youngs Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, reinforced by the arrival of Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford, must finally qualify for the play-offs. Portland, with his duo of fire Damian Lillard - CJ McCollum, should aim for eighth place. Same for New Orleans with his racket Anthony Davis - DeMarcus Cousins. The Lakers will also have this goal in mind, with the Lonzo Ball Draft and the arrivals of Brook Lopez, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Andrew Bogut to coach the youth. Memphis, who has not upset his squad, remains a strong team, as does Utah, who lost Gordon Hayward but can still count on Rudy Gobert and rookie Ricky Rubio. Places in play-offs will therefore be more expensive than ever in the Western Conference. For Denver, Dallas, Phoenix and Sacramento, however, the season could be quite long.
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