Golden State Warriors
Last year: Riding the scintillating shooting of guards Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jarrett Jack, Golden State raced to its best season in two decades, compiling a 47-35 mark and earning the West's sixth seed. Then they turned even more heads with a 4-2 series defeat of Denver in the first round of the playoffs and gave San Antonio all kinds of trouble in a 4-2 Western Conference semifinals defeat. Curry had one of the best 3-point shooting seasons -- some argue the best -- in NBA history. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound point guard set a league record with 272 made 3s while shooting 45.3 percent from long distance.
This year: A slightly-revamped Warriors squad appears destined to finish within the West's top six again, though they'll operate under a more risk-reward-oriented umbrella this year. General manager Bob Myers sacrificed depth for up-front talent when he traded away three bad contracts and allowed Jack and Carl Landry to sign elsewhere in free agency. The resulting cap room opens things up for Golden State next summer and allowed Myers to sign tenacious wing defender Andre Iguodala to a four-year, $48 million deal and lock up big man Andrew Bogut through 2017. At full strength, the Warriors' mix of perimeter weapons (Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Harrison Barnes) and inside forces (Bogut, David Lee) can give even the West's best fits -- just ask San Antonio. But Curry and Bogut have both had ankle problems, and Jack and Landry's departures water down a once-stout bench.
Reliable: Klay Thompson. Curry's scoring ability is no secret. But Thompson's own offensive skill and the attention it draws from defenders forge open looks for Curry in many instances. Thompson started all 82 games last year and scored 16.6 points per game on 42.2 percent shooting, earning all-rookie first team honors. The second-year Washington State product made 211 of 526 3s (40.1 percent) and developed great synergy with Curry in what's become a lethal backcourt.
Liable: David Lee. The Warriors' starting power forward's 18.5 points and 11.2 rebounds per game last season saw him named to his second All-Star Game, and his 53.5 career shooting percentage ranks sixth among all active players. Yet for all Lee can do with the ball in his hands, he's regarded as one of the league's worst without it. If Bogut can't remain healthy, Golden State doesn't have any options for effective post defense unless Lee drastically improves. He doesn't fit congruently with coach Mark Jackson's spread-the-floor system, either, leading some to speculate he'll be traded, perhaps for a better rim-protecting big man.
Forecast: The last time the Warriors attained back-to-back playoff bids, Curry was 4 years old. His younger brother Seth, whom Golden State signed to its training-camp roster as an undrafted free agent, was 1. That 20-plus-year streak is likely coming to an end, as the Warriors are poised for a season very similar in record and position to last year. While they won't be as deep, they'll be even better defensively with the addition of Iguodala and the health of Bogut. The boys from Oakland aren't quite ready to contend Oklahoma City or San Antonio on a consistent basis, but they're just a few paces behind among the second tier of Western Conference contenders that includes the Clippers, Memphis and Houston.
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Los Angeles Clippers
Last year: Until the playoffs actually began, the Clips looked like a dark horse candidate to emerge from a wide-open West. Then Blake Griffin injured his ankle during practice, and a physically superior Memphis team beat Los Angeles up in a 4-2 Western Conference first-round victory. Still, with Griffin and point guard Chris Paul serving as the anchors once again, the Clippers posted a franchise-best winning percentage (.683, 56-26 overall) for the second straight year and solidified themselves as an NBA power just two years after their fifth losing season in a row.
This year: The Clippers appear to be on the uptick after landing former Celtics coach Doc Rivers and, consequently, re-signing Paul to a five-year, $107 million extension. That was Los Angeles' No. 1 offseason goal, yet they went further and added J.J. Redick, Jared Dudley and Darren Collison to become even deeper. As a result, the Clippers appear on track for a third straight postseason berth. The last time this franchise achieved that, it resided in New York and was called the Buffalo Braves. What they do if they make it there is the bigger question; Los Angeles, for all its firepower, has yet to show it can make a deep playoff run.
Reliable: Jamal Crawford. Even 14 years into his NBA career, the 6-foot-6, 185-pound flex guard showed he's still got it when he ranked second on the team in scoring behind Griffin without starting a single game last season. Playing a similar role with three different teams the past four campaigns, he's averaged 15.8 points per game and inserted himself annually into the sixth man of the year conversation.
Liable: DeAndre Jordan. Spending his entire career so far with the Clippers, Jordan has morphed into one of the NBA's top interior defenders. The 6-foot-11, 250-pound center clogs up the lane and redirects shots with his outrageous 7-6 wingspan. He scored a career-high 8.8 points per game while starting all 82 of them. But Jordan becomes a liability when he steps to the free-throw line. Last year, he shot a measly 38.6 percent, and that's not even the worst mark of his career. As a strong, physical big, he's going to get fouled. When Los Angeles has a fourth-quarter lead, it's going to be hard for Rivers to keep Jordan on the floor.
Forecast: The "other" Los Angeles team would appear the favorite to win a Pacific Division with two teams (Phoenix, Sacramento) in the midst of rebuilding and another preparing to retool (Lakers) next season. Golden State will give the Clippers all they can handle, but if Los Angeles' starting five stay healthy and hungry, it's their division to lose. A Western Conference regular-season title may even be in sight, depending how Oklahoma City, Memphis, San Antonio and other frontrunners' seasons shake out. The next step for this franchise isn't regular-slate glory, though; it's getting to the conference finals -- or further -- for the first time in its 43-year history.
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Los Angeles Lakers
Last year: Cold-cocked by injuries, aging and the ongoing Dwight Howard saga, the latest series of the Lake Show was abysmal by Los Angeles standards. The Lakers limped -- quite literally, really -- to a 45-37 finish and were swept out of the Western Conference first round. Free-agent pickup Steve Nash and usually-reliable Pau Gasol combined to miss 55 regular-season games, Howard's discontent hung in the air all year, and Kobe Bryant tore his left Achilles tendon April 12 and is still recovering from that season-ending injury. With the transcendent shooting guard sidelined, longtime postseason nemesis San Antonio swept the seventh-seeded by an average margin of 18.75 points per game on the way to the NBA Finals.
This year: Lame-duck, transitional campaigns are about as foreign to Los Angeles as a snowstorm, yet that's what the Lakers walk into this week when they open against the Clippers. No one's quite sure when Bryant will return, Gasol and Nash aren't getting any younger, and general manager Mitch Kupchak's No. 1 goal this offseason was to sign free agents to cheap, short-term contracts and create hefty cap space for a 2014 overhaul. Nick Young, Chris Kaman, Jordan Farmar and former Timberwolves forward Wesley Johnson are nice additions, but they're not the superstars of years past that rallied around Bryant and brought Los Angeles five titles between 1999 and 2010.
Reliable: Chris Kaman. With the Dwightmare legging it out of L.A. to join the Rockets, Kaman sits in prime position to earn more minutes in the post -- certainly more than the 21 per game he received as a reserve in Dallas last season. Even with that limited court time, he scored 10.5 points per game and pulled down 5.6 rebounds. Like the Lakers' core, he's older (31) and is four years removed from a 2009-10 campaign in which he nearly averaged a double-double and earned his only All-Star appearance.
Liable: Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant? As long as he's out, certainly. And once he's back, even more so. Even entering his 18th year, Bryant remains at the epicenter of all things Lakers. If his absence bleeds into the regular season, every night he's sidelined threatens the Lakers' already dim playoff chances. But he can't come back too fast and be ineffective, either. There may be no other professional athlete that thrives upon outside doubt more than Bryant, and the 35-year-old will have plenty to draw from this season. But trying to do too much in a past-its-peak body also could land Bryant back where he is right now; watching instead of playing.
Forecast: Even with an offseason for it to sink in, it seems awfully bizarre that Los Angeles' ceiling is the seventh or eighth seed in the playoffs. But if Bryant, Gasol and Nash don't remain healthy all year -- there's a very realistic possibility one of them goes down at some point -- the Lakers will be further in danger of missing the postseason for the first time since 2004-05. In the long run, that may not be so bad for them. A reputedly strong 2014 draft class awaits, and the sooner next summer comes, the sooner Kupchak can begin spending the cash he saved this offseason.
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Phoenix Suns
Last year: Phoenix's attempts at remaining respectable while revamping the roster went sideways in a hurry last year. Free-agent pickup Michael Beasley was a bust. Interim coach Lindsey Hunter didn't do any better than his predecessor, Alvin Gentry, who was fired midway through the season. The results: a West-worst 25-57 finish and a new general manager and head coach.
This year: To the say the Suns are rebuilding this year doesn't quite do their bleak outlook justice; they're more starting over from scratch after demolishing what was left of the previous foundation. Jeff Hornacek is in as coach. Ryan McDonough took over as general manager. With those two crafting the roster now, Phoenix said goodbye to Beasley, Wesley Johnson, Jared Dudley, Louis Scola and Caron Butler and continued stockpiling 2014 draft picks. Monday, they sent Marcin Gortat, Shannon Brown, Malcolm Lee and Kendall Marshall to Washington for big man Emeka Okafor and a protected first-round draft selection. Their one source of current -- as opposed to future -- hope is in the backcourt, where Eric Bledsoe (trade) joins Goran Dragic to form a projected high-tempo tandem.
Reliable: Goran Dragic. The sixth-year point guard out of Slovenia led Phoenix in scoring with 14.7 points per game last year and connected on 44.3 percent of his field goals, and his 7.4 assists per game tied with Russell Westbrook and Jameer Nelson for ninth in the NBA. Dragic is a joy to watch fly around the court and chuck bounce passes between defender's legs -- a welcome sight for a franchise that's fallen on hard times.
Liable: Alex Len. The Suns drafted the 7-foot-1, 256-pound center out of Maryland fifth overall in this summer's draft, hoping he can be the first building block around which to add pieces in subsequent years. He had what the team dubbed "precautionary surgery" on his right ankle and spent most of the summer rehabbing before playing limited minutes during the preseason. Marcin Gortat is ahead of Len in the pecking order, so McDonough sees no point in rushing the rookie to full participation. If Phoenix decides to deal Gortat as most pundits expect them to, Len's roll will increase -- provided he can get 100 percent healthy.
Forecast: The Suns have a good chance to claim one of two dubious distinctions this season: they'll either edge equally-downtrodden Sacramento for fourth place in the Pacific or, if fortune favors them, they may have the best chance in next year's NBA Draft Lottery to select Andrew Wiggins. Dragic and Bledsoe will be fun to observe, but that's about the only enjoyable facet Phoenix fans can look forward to this year.
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Sacramento Kings
Last year: Rancid, dismal, laughingstock -- take your pick of characterizations for Sacramento's futility the past seven years. 2012-13 was especially painful with the organization's entire future in jeopardy. While the sale of the team from the Maloof family to principal owner Vivek Ranadive kept the Kings in Sacramento, the on-court product wasn't nearly as positive for the basketball-loving locals. Fans spending an evening at Sleep Train Arena had a better chance of seeing a DeMarcus Cousin tantrum than a Kings victory. They went 28-54 and finished 13th in the 15-team Western Conference. And that win total is their best since 2007-08, direly enough.
This year: Almost everything about the Kings is new this year, save for preseason expectations. Ranadive brought in Pete D'Allesandro to serve as general manager and former Warriors coach Mike Malone to replace fired head coach Keith Smart. Sacramento also added Carl Landry in free agency, brought in point guard Greivis Vasquez in a trade that sent Tyreke Evans to New Orleans and drafted Ben McLemore and Ray McCallum in hopes of building a strong nucleus for the future. That's what 2013-14 will be about more than anything else; wins can come in subsequent years.
Reliable: Greivis Vasquez. The Venezuela native started 78 games for the Hornets (now the Pelicans) last year and led the NBA in assists while scoring 13.9 points per game -- not bad for his first season as a starter, on a team without many premier scorers, no less. He walks into a similar situation in Sacramento after essentially replacing Evans, who just wasn't clicking with the team that drafted him in 2009.
Liable: DeMarcus Cousins. The fourth-year big man also happens to be the cornerstone around which Sacramento hopes to build itself back into a playoff contender. Even after a season where he possessed a poor attitude that overshadowed his 17.1 points and 9.9 boards per game, the Kings signed him to a four-year, $62 million extension this summer. They're apparently banking on him keeping his emotions in check; Cousins' 17 technical fouls led the league, and he received a team-imposed suspension stemming from frequent clashes with Smart.
Forecast: Sacramento could, in all reality, finish last in the Western Conference and still have a better season than it did last year. Victories won't come on the scoreboard as much as they'll present themselves in observable developments: Cousins' maturation and continued growth into an elite-level scorer, Vasquez and Thomas' guard play and the introduction of McLemore to NBA life. But Kings fans may flock to Sleep Train just to relish the retaining of a club that appeared headed to Seattle at one point not too long ago. That's all they'll have to celebrate for at least the next couple years.
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