We broke down the league for this season. Each record left its share of questions, but we whistled them all down to 3: What did the team do to improve? How does each team match up over all and with their starting 5? What is the biggest strength and weakness of each team. We broke down the Pacific Division this time. Here are the results and questions for each team!

Pacific Division Winner – Phoenix

Phoenix (57- 25)

  • The predicted winners of the Pacific Division have a ton of off-season work to do in order to not only beat their division rivals, but ultimately conquer the West. The health and revival of Kevin Durant was the first in a long series of steps to get this team moving further in the right direction. Devin Booker is another player that we have seen improve season over season. The question about his presence: Will it show up in the postseason? We won’t worry about that for now, as our focus is on the 82 games at hand, for which this team matches up very well this season. It’s the defense that will be a big question mark, as Mike Budenholzer looks to coach yet another championship-caliber team.
  • The Suns have had issues in having more firepower than Durant and Booker, and they have subpar showings in the paint vs the league. Those are 2 huge problems for both players, as this team has had to rely on early, high-volume shooting to survive the West. Although the Suns added Bradley Beal to the team, the formation of a new “Big 3” ultimately turned into the big 1 late – and Durant got burned for it. So, of the 2 gaping holes, we believe the Suns will address one of those issues with additions to the bench to help bolster their offense.
  • There is a lot of ceiling to reach for this team, mainly due to their additions between last season and this one. For starters, Mike Budenholzer takes over the reigns for another championship run (he did the same after Jason Kidd on the Bucks.) That already promises this team some sort of interior scoring and defensive plan. Bringing over Tyus Jones is a solid start, allowing the likes of Beal and Booker to slide into more natural positions to score instead of playing the point. This should allow a more free-flowing offense for specialists like Grayson Allen to shoot – something really missing down the stretch last season. Kevin Durant is the most dangerous player in the West at this point, given his Olympic run at near-100 percent health and a hunger for a revenge tour. Look for this team to come firing on all cylinders!

Los Angeles Lakers (51 – 31)

  • Take this prediction with a grain of salt: It assumes both full health and 100 competency from the top of the organization on down. Should both of these things hold, it all comes down to match-ups – a thing that the Lakers are actually set to showcase. Despite the sub-standard showing last year, the Lakers have the ability to not only beat upper-echelon teams, but steal games in match-ups we would normally expect this team to lose in. Also, despite the 3-point shooting volume (bottom 10th of the league), this team still images to score at a good enough pace.
  • The team’s best shooters are either MIA or streaky. That left this team vulnerable to a higher volume of empty possessions (Lakers don’t score, then the opponent scores), which lead to a LOT of blown leads, close games, and more-than-necessary work to do to win games. The Lakers have missed out completely on personnel that would have helped them accomplish or rectify some of those things. The wonder is – will running last year’s team back lead to the same result?
  • Rob did one thing right – They got rid of Darvin Ham. Say what you want about this being LeBron’s team. but there were personnel and in-game decisions that cost the Lakers more than a few games. JJ Reddick may not be the immediate answer, but he is a signal that the Lakers heard the fans to move on from such a disaster of a performance. This team is still powered by Anthony Davis. The Lakers just need to get enough out of its supporting cast to support what could be another full season from AD.

Los Angeles Clippers (49 – 33)

  • Steve Balmer and Tyrone Lue take the Clippers to Inglewood for the franchise’s 1st solo occupation season since being residents of San Diego (1984). The fun thing about the Clippers: they keep your off-season fun and interesting. They let Paul George go, had a “will he, won’t he” moment with Kawhi and the Olympics, opened Intuit Dome and re-signed Ty Lue to a big, multi-year extension. Some of those moves changed the outlook for LAC, some didn’t, but all were more interesting and noteworthy than their LA County counterparts. How it all affects the season, looked to us like this:
  • The Clippers are either geniuses or missed the whole train to Smartsville. They let go of the one healthy, offensive piece in Paul George for NOTHING to a team (Philadelphia) that just happened to have Kawhi-level contract money. So now that has happened, their focus has got to be getting healthy and playing defense. All signs point to Harden and Kawhi being available but season start, but how effective they will be late in the season is a huge question mark.
  • This team still is a force in the West, Kawhi is getting healthier and the team can still defend the paint. They added Derrick Jones Jr to bolster that last point, and that’s an important asset In the division and the conference. That asset will help the Clips win in the match-up category.

Sacramento Kings (20-62)

  • This projection will get us laughed out of the barbershop, or fired. However, the Kings have shown little fight in Free Agency, recovering from injury and are still looking for Fox and Monk’s games from 2023. It’s doubtful that the move they made will work in the immediate, causing the Kings to dig themselves into an inescapable, early season divot.
  • The Kings have talent. They can execute on both ends of the floor. They don’t do it consistently enough to warrant a positive trend in the winning column. Yes, 2023-24 was one of Malik Monk’s worst statistical seasons, but thus was a 6th man candidate.Yes, Sabonis had a great year… until towards the end of the season that saw the dbl-dbl machine slink away.
  • This team went out and got great veterans in Demar Derozan and Javale Mcgee. Both are proven to be plus-minute veterans at their positions, and Derozan is coming off of a stellar season in Chicago. The pace may get a little weird to start, but this team will put enough strong games together to get them moving in the right direction for next season.

Golden State Warriors (32 – 50)

  • Mike Dunleavy Jr. went out and shopped the best he could for talent to fill in the gaps for this Warriors team left by Chris Paul and Klay Thompson. As veteran leadership, volume scoring and 2nd unit offense went out the door, it has been replaced by 3 point shooting in Buddy Hield, as well as a promise by Kerr and Co. to play their younger stars. Is it too late for this newly formed squad to make one last run before Curry’s now-extended contract expires?
  • This team has a virus in its Front Office that needs to be cured, and immediately. Not only has it failed to set a decent system in place to culture it’s young talent and acquisitions, it has repeatedly failed to quickly ship what’s not working for this team. Case in point: Buddy Hield for Klay was a bad swap. Wiggins should have been shipped instead of extended. This team needs to upgrade at the Center/Power Forward position and it’s star power is dwindling. I don’t know how much longer Draymond can yell this team into competing for chances at a play-in spot.
  • The silver lining on this season: Curry got his extension. His money monkey is off his back, and he can get back to playing like he did in that Gold Medal Olympic match we all fell over for. This season will ultimately come down to match-ups, efficient shooting and blitzing defense: things thus team does well season after season.

The Pacific Division will need to be examined halfway through for how hot the shooting is compared to the rest of the league. As projected division winners, the Suns may be the hottest shooting team in the West! How hot can will they be?