Every Western Conference team is saying they got better. Who isn’t telling the truth?
By Keith Parish
The NBA is back! Actual preseason basketball games are going on, and here at Fastbreak Breakfast we have begun the annual “Butter or Parkay?” previews. Last week we tackled the Eastern Conference, and now it’s time for the scary big brother Western Conference to get their treatment.
The West has been superior to the East for going on nearly two decades, and with LeBron James crossing the divide the gap seems to be growing. But perhaps more troubling, each team in the West seems to think they actually got better from last year. Could they all be right?
The bottom of the conference should all easily improve. Honestly, it would be hard for the Suns, Kings, Grizzlies or Mavericks to be any worse. The Timberwolves are an obvious candidate to regress amid the Jimmy Butler fiasco. But what if they receive a trade package that both improves team chemistry and adds needed depth and shooting? The Rockets were criticized from moving on from Luc Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza. But don’t we trust Daryl Morey just a little bit? And isn’t it feasible Carmelo Anthony could rebound?
Certainly their are question marks for every franchise, and some teams will have to have a worse record than the previous season. But who will it be? Even the Clippers, who surprised last year with 42 wins despite losing Chris Paul and trading away Blake Griffin will have reasons to be optimistic.
So on a new Fastbreak Breakfast episode we sift through all the optimism to determine which teams truly got butter, er…, better, and which improvements are but an imitation.
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Original music provided by New Man.
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