Western Conference Preview

Long time since I last made a post. For this entry I will be looking at the “Best of the West,” aka the Western Conference. I do not want to get too much into the comparison of the two conferences, but there there are a few aspects that should be gone over.

Firstly, for the past 10-15 years the West has been the most dominant conference. For example, at the end of the regular season the 9th seeds (missed playoffs)  for the Western and Eastern conference were the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks. Let’s compare these two teams. Phoenix had a record of of 48 wins and 34 losses, compared to 37-45 for the Knicks. Phoenix played strong for the majority of the season, while New York showed glimpses of talent, and seemed to give up at some point in the season. Furthermore if Phoenix was siutated in the Eastern Conference, they could have possibly been a top three team.

But enough of the comparison, I will probably dedicate a full post to that in the future. On to the West.

The San Antonio Spurs are the defending NBA champs. They have not missed the playoffs in 17 years, since Tim Duncan was drafted. I believe they are one of the best “teams” in NBA history. Everyone knows their role, and no one is willing to put them self before another. It will take something really special to take these tested Spurs out of contention, so let’s look at some of the possiblities.

Even though I said San Antonio has the best “team” in all of basketball, sometimes one or two unique/versatile/dominant talents can overthrow and surprise the greats. I am going to list the four teams after the Spurs (in no particular order), who have the chance of dethroning the reigning champs.

Houston Rockets

They lost two key pieces. Chandler Parsons and Omer Asik. Though this might initally look like a step backward, we have to wait for the season to start in order to measure chemistry. The two previously mention ex-rockets deserved the ball, but playing with James Harden and Dwight Howard, touches came rarely. Perhaps Harden and Howard will shine when they do not have to worry about Parsons and Asik needing the ball. Patrick Beverly has a huge potential, and is a lock down defender, same with Terrance Jones. Have the best Center and Shooting Guard on one team should count for something in the NBA.

Golden State Warriors

This team is tricky. They have two dynamic scores, in Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry. With the mix of solid role players and a coach with a high basketball IQ, the Warriors have a lot of potential. But with nothing to show for it the splash brothers can become forgotten really easily. A 1-2 punch at both guard positions is fairly rare. If Curry can lead his team by example, the Warriors will be a team no one can defend.

LA Clippers

The Clippers are one of the more exciting teams in the NBA. Many finishers, who can dunk, shoot, or both. The team’s success is going to be on one person’s shoulders, Blake Griffin. Chris Paul is the best true point guard in the game, but Blake has to be more consistent and reliable if he wants his team to succeed. Defence is their biggest issue, but Coach Doc Rivers is a defensive specialist. I think they’re one piece away from winning it all.

OKC Thunder

The youngest franchise in the NBA. The league MVP. The Thunder have been somewhat of a Cinderella story since leaving Seattle. Striking gold in recent drafts, they have the talent, but their head and their heart is no match for the Spurs. Russell Westbrook is too emotional, and Durant is too passive. They need to mature as team, rather than individually. This team is my pick to win it all in 2015. I think the Thunder understand this might be one of the last chances they have as a group together. I do not see management keeping this core together for the 2015-2016 season, unless they have championships rings on their fingers.

The next tier of teams are the ones who are simply playoff teams or playoff contenders. They either have too much to prove, or I am simply underestimating them. These teams include: Dallas, Memphis, Phoenix, Portland, and Denver. These teams have the potential to make noise, and shake up the standings, but do not expect a championship from an of thee teams.

And in the bottom tier are teams in the rebuilding stage. Most of them had good picks in the past draft. most of them will not make the playoffs, and definitely do not expect a championship for any of these teams in the next few years. These teams include; LA Lakers, Minnesota, Utah, Sacramento, and New Orleans.

Let me know your thoughts

Forecasting the Future

This post is dedicated to the current roster of the Toronto Raptors, and how I see this coming season unfolding.  I will discuss some of  the main players.

One of the two longest serving Raptors is Demar Derozan. He has probably accomplished the most out of any Raptor over the past 6 months. In February he was selected to represent Toronto in the NBA All-Star game. He was also selected to represent team USA in the FIBA World Cup. He is taking strides to becoming a Superstar, and next season will be a make or break for him to achieve such a status.  Next up is the second player to be serving as  Raptor, Amir Johnson. He is the most charismatic, and is always involved with the community. He is not expected to make much improvements next season, but is seen as a very important mentor for the younger generation of “big-men.”

Kyle Lowry is the most important acquisition for the Toronto Raptors in the past 2-3 seasons. He as emerged as emotional leader for the young and experienced team. In a point guard driven league, there are a few players who can get the better of Lowry. It is now a matter of waiting to see if signing him long-term was a good idea. The last two players I am going to mention are a pair of third year players.  Terrance Ross and Jonas Valanciunas are no longer the youngsters on the team. They have 2 years of experience, and need to play to suit. They have high expectations, Ross, after scoring 51 points in a game last season. And Jonas fared extremely well in his playoffs.

Female Superstars Coming out of Canada

I know this blog was supposed to be about basketball. However, I wanted to broaden the subjects that I covered, especially since the majority of basketball news is not generated during summer.

Keeping up summer trends, I wanted to touch on the Wimbledon Tournament happening in London, England. Through watching this tournament I got to see some facts about Canadian Athletes. Our two youngest, most promising, tennis stars made a large splash in England. Milos Raonic, a 23 year old, who grew up in Thornhill Ontario, surprised many by making it all the way to the semi-final. Though his story is huge for Canadian tennis, there is an even bigger story.

Eugenie Bouchard, a 20 year old Quebec native has shocked the world. She made the final, but lost valiantly to a tough opponent. But she knocked out several worthy tennis stars on her way to 2nd place.

This brings me to my point, that ties to the title of the post. It seems like female athletes in Canada fair much better against international competition, compared to  their male counterparts.

Seeing how there is global trend of soccer fans, let’s look at the history of Canada in FIFA. As of June 2014 the Men’s National team was ranked 110th. They have seen a large decline since 2007, when they were ranked 55th. The women on the other hand are ranked 7th in the world, on a steady improvement over the past 5 years.

Just to prove this is not a coincidence, I also checked out the FIBA rankings.The Canadian women are ranked 9th compared to the men, ranked  25th. Comment with thoughts.

Jennifer, Quinn. “Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard bowed but not broken.” The Toronto Star 5 July 2014, sec. Sports: n. pag. Print.7

http://www.fiba.com

http://www.fifa.com