PREDICTED STANDINGS FOR WESTERN CONFERENCE: 2008-09

1 Los Angeles Lakers
55-27
Kobe, Pau and Phil should build on their half-year of history and keep L.A. atop the West, especially if Andrew Bynum is healthy. Now they need to get tough and gritty enough to win it all, and that includes the Bench Mob of Jordan, Sasha, Vlad, Luke and Mihm ... but no more Ronny. | Offseason Moves



2 New Orleans Hornets
54-28
Chris Paul's breakout season ended with him ahead of LeBron James and just behind Kobe Bryant in the MVP race. Even if CP3 can't make another quantum leap, the optimists in New Orleans hope that James Posey brought his championship moxie from Miami and Boston with him. | Offseason Moves





3 Houston Rockets
53-29
Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and the Rockets should finally make it out of the first round. But along the way, expect Ron Artest to create some chemistry challenges on the offensive end. Fortunately, he'll make up for it on defense, which is where Houston will really shine once again. | Offseason Moves






4*Utah Jazz
51-31
The Jazz faithful might not like this forecast, but the team's meek exit from the conference semifinals left a bad taste and the Jazz did very little to improve in the offseason. But with a young roster this strong, led by Olympians D-Will and Booz, maybe they didn't need to do much. | Offseason Moves





5*San Antonio Spurs
51-31

Fill in the blank: 2003, '05, '07, __. If you said '09, you're probably wrong, because that's the year we should be putting the Spurs "odd-year champions" pattern to rest -- or at least that's how it looked at the end of last season, as the aging Spurs limped out of the West finals. | Offseason Moves






6 Phoenix Suns
47-35
The Suns slumped when Shaq arrived, then got hot, then flamed out. So who are the real Suns? With the noisy exit of Mike D'Antoni and the quiet arrival of Terry Porter, the hope in Phoenix is that Nash and Amare can keep their offensive mojo working while defense is added to the mix. | Offseason Moves





7 Dallas Mavericks
45-37
Jason Kidd arrived with a thud and he'll be 36 in March. But the glass-half-full view in Cuban Country is Dirk, Josh and J-Kidd have plenty left, new coach Rick Carlisle will be a tonic for their damaged psyches, and the Mavs are just 26 months removed from a spectacular run to the Finals. | Offseason Moves



8 Portland Trail Blazers
44-38
Oden, Oden, Oden. That's the story in Portland, where the rookie big man is working out to rave reviews after his microfracture recovery. With Brandon Roy leading a young, exciting team and Jerryd Bayless setting the summer league afire, expectations are through the roof in Blazerland. | Offseason Moves



9*Golden State Warriors
39-43
Corey Maggette will add scoring for the run-and-gun Warriors, but how will they replace point man Baron Davis, who took his act to the Clippers? Couple the loss of B-Diddy with the recent injury to Monta Ellis, and things aren't looking so hot for Don Nelson's bunch -- this season, at least. | Offseason Moves



10*Denver Nuggets
39-43
The giveaway of Marcus Camby made it official: Denver is rebuilding. The loss of their backstop also raises a question: How many points per game will the Nuggets allow? Still, they'll get theirs, with A.I., Melo and J.R. free to fire, creating the best pickup games in the NBA. | Offseason Moves



11 Los Angeles Clippers
35-47
The '09 Clip Show has a new cast of characters ... and we do mean characters. Boom Dizzle and The Cambyman are joined by Ricky D and J-Will plus rooks Gordon and Jordan. This is going to be really fun or a complete disaster. The movie "Semi-Pro" comes to mind. | Offseason Moves



12 Sacramento Kings
34-48
Ron Artest is gone, and this is Kevin Martin's team now. His uncanny talent for high-efficiency scoring will be enough on some nights, but to really make noise the Kings need extraordinary contributions from ordinary players like Udrih, Salmons, Garcia, Moore and Miller. Good luck. | Offseason Moves



13 Minn. Timberwolves
26-56
Minnesota has a different look this season -- and they got new uniforms, too. By acquiring sharpshooter Mike Miller and rookie big man Kevin Love for draftee O.J. Mayo, the Wolves have put some nice new pieces around Al Jefferson. But the improvement will be incremental at best. | Offseason Moves



14*Memphis Grizzlies
23-59
O.J. Mayo is one of the early-season favorites for ROY, and he'll team with Rudy Gay and Mike Conley to form an exciting young nucleus in Memphis, which has plenty of '09 cap room. But while the future might be bright, this looks like another season in the basement for the Grizzlies. | Offseason Moves



15*Oklahoma City
23-59
Season 1 will be one long, thunderous pep rally for Oklahoma's new team -- even if OKC appears to be the NBA's worst team, nothing can dampen the local optimism. What would stoke that fervor further would be measurable growth by Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook. | Offseason Moves

__________________
"If winning isn't everything, then why do they keep score?" - Vince Lombardi