The Season is Here

Your weekly NBA Pacific Division Update

By Tara Sadat-Tehrani

Frederic J. Brown / Getty Images

The time has come, and the NBA season has started.  Rankings and predictions were made all of preseason and during training camp, but how have teams done keeping these projections of their performance in mind.  For the NBA Pacific Division, the predictions and guesses have been quite on point with a little surprise for some teams, but I believe that there is always rust when it comes to the beginning of an 82-game season.  Let’s see which teams are on the road to success in the West, and which others may have no hope even though there has only been up to four games.

First place goes to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers did lose to the Lakers opening night, but since then, they have put the Warriors to shame and “Lob City” has yet to leave its game plan like originally wanted by Doc Rivers.  Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have had chemistry from anywhere on the court, and the Clippers should come out as No. 1 in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference based on their talent and other analyst opinions.

Golden State Warriors take second.

 This is a whole new team this year.  People doubted the trade of Monta Ellis two years ago, but the team has only improved.  Andre Iguodala has brought tenacity, and Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have already showed that they are going to play their best this year.  With the Warriors’ fan base and young exciting team, there is a huge chance that they will make it far in the West this year. 

The Phoenix Suns have been the most shocking so far this season after three games coming in at third.

 No one has paid attention to the Suns for the past years after Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion left the team.  The team’s struggles just kept going, and nobody noticed them like they used to.  But with players like Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Archie Goodwin, anything can change.  Give them a couple of seasons for this roster to spark and change people’s views of the Suns.  Hopefully they can keep this streak going, but it’s likely that their chemistry won’t outlast the rest of this competitive West.

Lastly, the Los Angeles Lakers (2-2) and the Sacramento Kings (1-2) place last, but that should not be a shock for most NBA fans. 

The Lakers had an impressive performance against the Clippers without Kobe Bryant, but without their franchise player, clutch moments will probably not come in clutch times.  The Lakers need Kobe Bryant even if he does not fully come back with his star power.  They need his support on the floor either way.  The Sacramento Kings, on the other hand, need to make more changes and mature before the team have any chance of having a new appearance in the West, let alone the Pacific Division.

Overall, the West once again is looking like a dominant conference that will have close calls when it comes to entering the playoffs.  Forgetting about predictions and analysts, it is time for these teams play their hardest and win games if they want to live up to what people think of them. 

Sacramento Kings: Far From Royal

Your Weekly Update on the NBA Pacific Division

By Tara Sadat-Tehrani

Injuries have overpowered the NBA the last few seasons, and each team has suffered from losing top players and rebuilding around their secondary players to become stronger.  Recently, the struggling Sacramento Kings, lost newly acquired Carl Landry due to surgery on his hip flexor. 

Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images

Carl Landry has been a prominent player in the NBA for teams like the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors. His addition to the Kings could build them as a team. It has been an endeavor for Sacramento to form team chemistry with talented draft picks and veterans. 

With Carl Landry being out three to four months, the Kings would have to make some moves and acquire other players to make them a team that can even stand a chance in the Western Conference.   

So what exactly are the Kings doing with this new injury and the lack of leadership that has been recognized to help them strive and become a new team with a new reputation?

What they should do is look into talented players on other teams and make them more of a face on their team. Unfortunately, Sacramento has young faces like Jimmer Fredette, who has failed to reveal his athleticism and star talent like he did in college at BYU.  It may not be his fault that he has not succeeded in the NBA, but, since he was drafted three years ago, he has not been able to prove himself. 

This is where a problem arises for the Kings. Do they trade a young player like Fredette to gain more young players that may end up having the same problem as Jimmer? 

As we can see, injuries are not the only thing affecting the Sacramento Kings and its lack of desire to become a top team in the West. Hopefully, with a new coach like Mike Malone, the team can prevail and make some changes to its roster. 

Sleep Train Arena was once one of the loudest venues many years back and with new acquisitions, young stars, and healthy players, the Sacramento Kings can bring this enthusiasm back in Northern California.

Kings and Suns Head Into Season Filled With Question Marks

By Ryan Raigrodski

For several years now, the Sacramento Kings’ franchise has gotten used to one thing, losses upon losses. For the past few seasons, they have sat in the bottom of the West where fans wonder, even before the season starts, how high of a pick they will get in the draft.

AP Photo/ Steve Yeater

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns have been consistent contenders for years, since signing point guard Steve Nash. While they did not make the playoffs last season, they still were in the hunt most of the year. Now that they have lost the face of their franchise to the division rival Lakers, however, fans of the Suns have about the same expectations that Kings fans have had for the first time in a while.

Besides John Salmons, the entire Kings starting lineup consists of players that they have drafted over the past few seasons. All of these players may start, but they have huge question marks that they have been unable to answer.

Isaiah Thomas put up solid numbers as the starting point guard last year but still is very undersized for the position and has trouble guarding anyone. Tyreke Evans won rookie of the year several seasons ago, but tends to hold on to the ball too much, taking too many shots and missing many of them. Center Demarcus Cousins has huge athletic ability, but has a bad attitude and work ethic that many remember from his days at Kentucky. Finally, starting power forward Thomas Robinson, who was drafted with the fifth overall pick this season, may have been the second best player in college basketball last season, but many wonder if that game can translate to the NBA.

The way that the Suns roster is built certainly is not like the Kings, but has similar question marks. The Suns roster is filled with veterans who have proved they can play consistently at a solid level, but no player on their roster has been able to truly stand out as a star or big-time player throughout their career. Their starting lineup consists of Goran Dragic (point guard), Shannon Brown (shooting guard), Jared Dudley (small forward), Luis Scola (power forward) and center Marcin Gortat. All have made strong contributions to the teams they have played for throughout their careers, but none of these players have been able to get over that hump and take their game to the next level.

The major question for the Kings is clear; can their young players overcome their issues and take their games to the next level? Suns fan will ask, can any of these players change from contributors to all-star players this season? If the Suns and Kings cannot answer their teams’ major questions with a yes at the end of the year, they can look at another year of drafting in the lottery.