Western Conference notes on the new season

The upcoming season is just a couple days away and I wanted to write about some of the stories to follow for the upcoming year.

Andrew Bynum and the Lakers - When was the last time that a young "project" center became the player that people thought he would be? Think about all of the big men projects drafted in the last couple of years in the first round of the draft and if you did the draft over again, would you take that player? Just off the top of my head Jermaine O'neal comes to mind who Portland drafted and gave up on and Al Jefferson looks like he might be a star. Lakers fans and the media are so high on Bynum you thought he was 20 and 10 last year before he was injured but looking at his numbers he was 13-10, which is very good for a young player but where is that headed? Watching him move, he moves pretty well for a big man but he doesn't have the scoring ability of Jefferson and he doesn't have the dexterity of O'neal, nor the tenacity. You wonder about his heart, but he is young and certainly you can 't give up on a guy that is that big and young. The problem is that fans are expecting him to put up Kareem numbers and they should be happy if he puts up 12-10 this year and not mess up the front court balance.

The Rockets - First off I don't see Artest being a problem on this team whatsoever. The team was good without him and it isn't depending on him to be the main guy or even the second guy. How did Houston get this guy for almost nothing? It seems like Houston every year makes a move that fills a major hole in the team. Artest brings them amazing toughness, a toughness that Yao and Mcgrady never will have. I don't think that you can learn it as an adult. It is something that you are raised with and Artest definitely has it. Battier, Artest and even Mcgrady when he wants to be are very good defenders on the perimeter. Yao is a liability in the middle but otherwise the team rebounds well, with Scola, Yao, Landry and Hayes all very good rebounders. Scola is crafty - can you use the word crafty for someone that isn't white or approaching 40? - I really like him a lot, he scores when he needs to and does all of the things that a team needs without the numbers. He is just a really smart player and a great compliment to Yao. You have to love Landry off the bench, he provides tremendous energy and should take almost all of Hayes' minutes. I even like Luther Head as a three point specialist. The question has always been Alston, but he looked very good the second half of last year. Look for Yao to garner some MVP talk this next year with a winning team.

The decline of the Suns, Mavericks and the Spurs - The three teams that have dominated the league the last couple of years are on the decline with aging players and not having done enough to revamp with youngsters. They are still playoff teams but not championship contenders. The Suns with the Shaq move have gained on a television personality more than a basketball player. Steve Nash will be good but his best years are well behind him and he wont be one of the top 5 point guards anymore. Jason Kidd might not even be a top 10 point guard by the end of the season. Dirk peaked the year before his MVP season. The Suns and the Mavericks are good enough to win 50 games but winning 50 games only fools fans into thinking that your team has a chance in the playoffs when it really would be better to retool and go young. As for the Spurs, they are a little bit more complicated as Parker is still young and Ginobili had his best year last year but Duncan is showing signs of age. I think that he is a the point where he isn't going to be the dominant low post player he once was. He is heading for the 18-9 type numbers this year and while the team plays great defense, that is the first thing that goes with age. His block numbers are down, his free throw numbers are down, both signs of losing movement. The supporting cast is even worse with Finley, Thomas, and Bowen all over 35 and they didn't have good years last year so you can't expect much this upcoming year.

Greg Oden - My philosophy on big men is that very few are great and then there are some servicible centers and then the rest are awful. Are there any just good centers? Guys that are good but not stars. Yao and Howard are the superstars but who do you have after that? Tyson Chandler, Andrew Bogut, Eddie Curry, Mehmet Okur, Kaman, Biedrens, big Z are all OK players but none of them are more then the third best player on their teams. I think Oden might be different. I don't think that Oden is going to be the best player on a team but I think me could be in a couple of years the second best player on the team. Maybe like Alonzo Mourning, a star but not a superstar. In a couple years 18 and 12 with good defense but not someone you can build your team around. The thing is that Portland has so much talent he could be the fourth best player on Portland in a couple of years.