Another week, another division; this time around, the media is all eyes and ears for this much-anticipated West-Coast affair. The NBA Pacific Division rivals the Northwest in terms of competition but far exceeds in the realm of publicity. The Pacific Division’s room for improvement is on a whole other scale.
In terms of actual winning basketball, the Los Angeles Clippers and the former dynasty, Golden State Warriors, are the recent teams who keep the division afloat in a jungle that is the Western Conference. However, the Los Angeles Lakers underwent a facelift fitting of the city by acquiring former first overall pick, Anthony Davis, putting LA in playoff contention instantly.
The Sacramento Kings are loudly knocking on the door to the playoffs like a police officer issuing a warrant. De’Aaron Fox is the budding star a desperate for success fanbase deserves.
Now, as far as the last team goes, who knows? The Phoenix Suns are full of youth, but its star player Devin Booker doesn’t want to be double-teamed in pickup ball nor compete with the FIBA USA team. Regarding a team not warranted of much excitement outside of its fanbase, they do have an interesting piece at the center position with Deandre Ayton in his second season.
Room for Improvement: Pacific Division
The Clippers and Warriors are the only teams with playoff success in the Pacific division over the past seven seasons. For a team with 16 championships, the Lakers are on quite the drought for a playoff appearance. Even with LeBron James as the marquee free agent signing in 2018, the gold and purple jersey donning franchise missed the playoffs for the sixth year. This year, however, can’t possibly end disappointingly with Anthony Davis on the roster.
The Suns will finish as the worst team in the conference but might be fun to watch at times. Over in Sacramento, the Kings are on a positive track to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
Phoenix Suns Key Improvement
Although never a franchise defined by championships, the Phoenix Suns weren’t discussed with such a mocking tone from fans, media, and even former players. Back in the mid-2000s, the Suns pushed the pace and envelope of NBA offenses. Sadly, the innovative days of Mike D’Antoni and Steve Nash are long gone.
The Suns are now a constant lottery team. Unfortunately, the Phoenix franchise doesn’t utilize the opportunities of habitually drafting in the top-10 of the draft. Coming off a 19-63 record, the second-worst record since the team’s inception in the NBA, there are some positive pieces to the puzzle.
However, despite the additions of quality veterans, the core is still a youthful, yet unseasoned, bunch of unproven players. Devin Booker is discussed as a scoring specialist in certain NBA circles. Unfortunately for Suns fans, seemingly, he doesn’t focus much on any other facet of the game.
At this point in the team’s time-table of building a winner, it’s imperative Booker asserts himself on defense. Although the Suns aren’t a hot topic, recently Last Word on Pro Basketball took the liberty and discussed Booker’s defensive woes. So for now, we won’t dig deeper into a beating-a-dead-horse eye-sore of a subject.
The Suns aren’t anywhere near competing for a playoff spot unless Ayton and Booker rocket launch themselves with stellar play on both sides of the ball.
Sacramento Kings Key Improvement
The USA Men’s FIBA team finished seventh place, elite players or not. De’Aaron Fox, a last-minute dropout, could have changed the disappointing outing. Coulda’ woulda’ shoulda’ aside, the blossoming point guard is primed for another promising season after an impressive sophomore campaign.
The Sacramento Kings, even with increased expectations, in light of having a surprisingly good season, isn’t free of questioning whether the team is ready for the postseason. There is a fresh face on the bench. The former Los Angeles Lakers darling Luke Walton is now at the helm of another young team following a let-down of a season in LA.
Arguably, the Kings’ young core rivals the Lakers before the Anthony Davis trade. No matter how promising the Kings’ core may be, the potential for a playoff appearance is in limbo. The Kings aren’t favorites for a playoff berth, despite a pleasantly surprising 39-43 finish last year. At least one fresh-faced team is on the verge of playoff status as the Lakers slingshotted themselves into contending status upon the arrival of Davis
Admittedly, blocks and steals don’t encapsulate a great defensive player. Nonetheless, accumulating a low block count infers a significant lack of rim protection. Last season, in spite of Fox’s decent defensive display, the Kings finished 24th in the league in total blocks.
If the young Kings continue the fast-paced offense and somehow crack a top-15 defensive rating, it’s plausible the Fox show debuts in the playoffs.
Los Angeles Lakers Key Improvement
The Los Angeles Lakers are no longer on the “live and learn with the youth” team trajectory. After finally acquiring the disgruntled star Davis last June, in what many deemed as a ridiculous public display of tampering, the path to NBA Finals success is in the Lakers’ scope.
Last season, LeBron James wasn’t engaged on defense. It’s clear; there were many clips floating around which shined a light on the king of basketball playing opossum on a facet of the game he once excelled at in his prime. With Davis on the roster, a defensive stud, there is an expectation from the star forward which sees James stepping it up a few levels.
This quote from Davis should be encouraging for the Lakers’ organization and fan base.
“The offensive end will come around, but defensively, I want to hold myself, teammates, including LeBron, accountable in order for us to take on the challenge of being the best we can defensively. In doing so, we’ll have a good chance of winning every night. I want to make sure me and LeBron are on the All-Defensive Team.”
Statistically, James wasn’t a scarecrow in any defensive category. However, as the outright best player on the team, it’s discouraging watching him take multiple plays off in such a shameless fashion. If the Lakers want to excel, James must exert significant effort on defense.
Without James’ commitment to take defense seriously, the Lakers are in danger of slipping out of title-contending status. It’s imperative James sets the tone for the rest of the Lakers with a sudden display of aptitude on defense. The offense will give the Lakers a shot at contention; while the defense (specifically Jame’s defense) is the deciding factor of whether or not LA gets a taste of NBA Finals success.
Los Angeles Clippers Key Improvement
Once again, after a stunning offseason, the Los Angeles Clippers distanced themselves from the cheap, close to the Lakers only due to the two franchises being arena neighbors, and an absolute afterthought of a team, identity. The team’s solidly built infrastructure is not of coincidence.
Sure, California natives Kawhi Leonard and Paul George wanted to play for their home state, but staying loyal to one’s state isn’t the sole factor in acquiring the two superstars. It starts at the top. From the legend of Jerry West to the prestigious tutelage of Doc Rivers, the Clippers set quite the precedent.
However, the Clippers aren’t without blemishes. First, George’s shoulder injuries are nothing to take lightly. Second, Leonard’s leg was not 100 percent during the 2019 Finals. Considering the San Diego State alum’s recent injury history, the Clippers must monitor his wear-and-tear with a zoomed lens.
Winning on the road is a real divider between the contenders from the pretenders. Last season, the Clippers were only three games above .500. History has shown a handful of games can drastically change the NBA landscape, especially down the final stretch of the season. Besides injury scares, an uptick in road wins a crucial improvement for the Clippers to take its first step into uncharted territory: the NBA Finals.
Golden State Warriors Key Improvement
With Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston all off of the Golden State Warriors’ payroll, a new era is among the NBA. Unfortunately, the new-look Warriors are off to a rough start. Klay Thompson is reportedly out until February or March, due to his torn ACL suffered in game six of the 2019 NBA Finals.
The injury is no doubt a devastating blow to a team capable of clinching a spot in the NBA Finals. However, in light of Thompson’s injury, the already shallow bench of the Warriors is now even more gutted. Without playing a single game of the 2019-20 season, it’s apparent the team will struggle with its second unit.
Despite the struggle of the bench’s performance, there is one stat that correlates with the lack of talent on the roster. Turnovers have been an issue for the Warriors. Although, the room for error was laughable with four NBA All-Stars on the roster. To put the stat in perspective, the Warriors finished outside of the bottom 10 once in turnovers during the three-title stretch.
In addition to Stephen Curry needing to score like an efficient version of Allen Iverson, the Warriors must avoid turnovers. Newly acquired guard D’Angelo Russell is another key to the Warriors protecting the ball. Coming off a career-best 13.6 turnover percentage, Curry does have some help.
If the Warriors want to contend for homecourt advantage, the paramount of improvements is toning down the Warrior’s Achilles heel: turnovers.
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