{"id":97093,"date":"2022-10-14T17:00:20","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T17:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/anonymous-nba-scouts-unfiltered-takes-on-the-western-conference\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T17:00:20","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T17:00:20","slug":"anonymous-nba-scouts-unfiltered-takes-on-the-western-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/anonymous-nba-scouts-unfiltered-takes-on-the-western-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Anonymous NBA scouts: Unfiltered takes on the Western Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>In advance of the 2022\u201323 NBA season, we had opposing scouts size up every division.  Here&#8217;s what they&#8217;re saying about each Western Conference team, from top to bottom.  You can find East takes here. <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"northwest\">NORTHWEST<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>the <span>Nuggets<\/span> start with <span>Nikola Jokic<\/span>, who is still the best passing big, or best passer period, maybe, in the league.  He finds everybody.  &#8230; if <span>Jamal Murray<\/span> is healthy, he projects as an All-Star.  Their two-man game is really hard to guard.  &#8230; <span>Aaron Gordon<\/span> is a pretty good fit next to Jokic.  He is a willing and good defender.  \u2026 Bones Hyland showed some flashes as a rookie, but he had a habit of playing selfishly.  He&#8217;s going to get more time with <span>Monte Morris<\/span> gone, but he&#8217;s going to have to change his game.  \u2026 <span>Bruce Brown<\/span> isn&#8217;t a great shooter, but he is such a good cutter that he will get you easy baskets.  &#8230; <span>Michael Porter Jr.<\/span> is a very good scorer and an awful defender.  He&#8217;ll fire off dumb shots and make them\u2014he&#8217;s that good.  If he can stay healthy, the Nuggets are as good as any team in the conference.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Karl-Anthony Towns<\/span> and <span>Rudy Gobert<\/span> will be fine together for the <span>Timberwolves<\/span>.  The question is, are you willing to put $42 million in Gobert [who was acquired from the Jazz] on the bench in the last six minutes of close games?  There will be nights when that should happen, and Gobert will not be happy.  But I think Chris Finch will do what he has to do.  &#8230; <span>D&#8217;Angelo Russell<\/span> is a wild card.  He&#8217;s in a contract year, so maybe two out of every four games, they get a good DLo.  &#8230; Anthony Edwards looks like a star.  But they have to get him to value possessions more.  Dude, there are four minutes left;  you&#8217;re down five with 16 on the clock.  Why&#8217;d you just dribble into a step back?  \u2026 This team should make a big leap.  And if Edwards is really good, then they could be really, really good. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<ul>\n<li>I&#8217;m less enthusiastic about the <span>blazers<\/span> adding <span>Jerami Grant<\/span> than most.  I just don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s very good.  Portland probably felt the move would help entice <span>Damian Lillard<\/span> to stay  &#8230; I guess it&#8217;s saying <span>Anfernee Simons<\/span> and Lillard are both big-time scorers and ballhandlers.  Grant, <span>Josh Hart<\/span> and <span>Gary Payton II<\/span> are their wing defenders, and <span>Jusuf Nurkic<\/span> is still Nurkic.  \u2026 Maybe Portland is a little bit better this year, but probably it&#8217;s about the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I would be excited about Josh Giddey if I were the <span>thunder<\/span>.  He was a pretty damn good passer as a rookie.  &#8230; <span>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/span> knows how to score.  But on defense, you can go at him.  To me, Shai and [new Cavs guard] <span>Donovan Mitchell<\/span> are two guys who could defend but didn&#8217;t give the effort last year.  But again, if the organizational mandate is to lose every game, how can Shai be expected to kill himself?  .  .  .  Lu Dort is a very good complementary player.  Defensively he can turn it into a football game and beat the s&#8212; out of guys and not have anything get called. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Danny Ainge wants his teams to be either really good or really bad.  this <span>Jazz<\/span> team looks really bad.  They will bring in a bunch of young guys, and if one of them hits, great.  If not, move on.  &#8230; I&#8217;m not a <span>Collin Sexton<\/span> guys  He and <span>Jordan Clarkson<\/span> are similar, not in how they play, but in their role as scorers.  Still, Utah took the right offer for Mitchell.  I&#8217;d rather pay Sexton $72 million for four years than <span>RJ Barrett <\/span>$120 million for four years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<h2 id=\"pacific\">PACIFIC<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Short term I don&#8217;t think the Draymond Green-Jordan Poole incident hurts the Warriors.  There&#8217;s too many veterans on that team.  Steve Kerr is too good a coach.  And Draymond knows it&#8217;s on him now to heal any rifts in that locker room.  You definitely have to wonder what Draymond&#8217;s long-term future is, but for this season I don&#8217;t see it having any real impact.  \u2026 They have all the pieces to be great again. [34-year-old] Steph Curry&#8217;s game will age well.  He&#8217;ll be an All-Star for years.  &#8230; When <span>Klay Thompson<\/span> came back from his injuries last year, he wasn&#8217;t close to the defender he used to be.  I don&#8217;t know how far back he will get this year, but he&#8217;s still pretty athletic and a pretty damn good shooter.  &#8230; It will be interesting to see how much their young guys help them.  Moses Moody can shoot it, and he guards.  Jonathan Kuminga can play, though he looks like he thinks he&#8217;s at a level that he&#8217;s not quite at yet. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>the <span>suns<\/span> will be fine in the regular season, but was last year&#8217;s playoffs implosion a warning sign?  &#8230; they didn&#8217;t want to pay <span>Deandre Ayton<\/span>, but he&#8217;s very effective and can get better.  They may not like his attitude.  He may not like being there.  But he&#8217;s a great finisher and scorer around the rim.  I think they should give him more touches in the regular season.  &#8230; Their bench disappeared in the playoffs, and Phoenix didn&#8217;t do much to address that.  It matters because they have to manage <span>Chris Paul&#8217;s<\/span> minutes this year at age 37. \u2026 Booker is a superstar.  He&#8217;s a three-level scorer.  But he has to get more comfortable making passes when the defense comes at him.  He has to get out of that Kobe mindset where he&#8217;s just going to score over you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<ul>\n<li>If the <span>clippers<\/span> have everybody back in top form, they are the best team in the conference. <span>Kawhi Leonard<\/span> and <span>Paul George<\/span> can make shots from all different areas and have great size.  George has really improved as a playmaker.  Kawhi can defend anyone.  &#8230; Let&#8217;s see how healthy <span>John Wall<\/span> work.  If he is what he was in Houston two years ago, his pickup does n&#8217;t help much.  But if he is athletic enough to get in the paint and to defend, he can be good for them.  \u2026 Ty Lue&#8217;s go-to adjustment in games is to go small and switch everything.  I would assume they do a good amount of that.  They have a lot of switchability defensively.  If they stay healthy, they are really tough.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I really don&#8217;t know how the <span>Lakers<\/span> can make <span>Russell Westbrook<\/span> and <span>Patrick Beverley<\/span> work in the backcourt.  There&#8217;s legitimate hatred there.  That&#8217;ll be a challenge for rookie coach Darwin Ham.  &#8230; offensively <span>LeBron James<\/span> continues to be really strong, but [at age 37] he can&#8217;t play high minutes at both ends anymore.  He can still be a top player, but I do n&#8217;t think he can win the way he would prefer, with the ball in his hands every play.  &#8230; Raw is right to play Anthony Davis at the five.  It doesn&#8217;t solve all their spacing issues but it opens up the floor a little bit.  And as much as he hates it, AD can have a much bigger impact on both ends at center than power forward.  \u2026 Still, this is a play-in team.  With a very good year, it&#8217;s a sixth seed, at best.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-4\"\/>\n<ul>\n<li>for the <span>kings<\/span>, <span>De&#8217;Aaron Fox<\/span> and <span>Domantas Sabonis<\/span> both have talent, but neither has been able to maximize it.  You saw some signs of chemistry late last season, after they picked up Sabonis from Indiana.  How those two mesh will determine how good Sacramento will be.  &#8230; I like the Kings&#8217; top pick, Keegan Murray.  At 6&#8217;8&#8243; he&#8217;s got good size, good shotmaking and good decision-making. He looks like he&#8217;ll be a solid, versatile player. They can slide him to the four. They could even play him as a small five for a few minutes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Watch the NBA all season long with fuboTV.  Start your free trial today.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"southwest\">SOUTHWEST<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>I think the <span>grizzlies<\/span> take a little bit of a step back.  They rely a lot on offensive rebounding and transition.  If the West as a whole is better, it becomes harder to win that way.  &#8230; <span>Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/span> is a good, not great, player.  On defense he fouls a ton.  &#8230; <span>Dillon Brooks<\/span> is too much of a wild card.  It looks like they made an agreement with him that was like, \u201cWe&#8217;ll let you take any of the crazy shots you want, as long as you guard.\u201d  \u2026 Defensively, <span>Ja Morant<\/span> is atrocious.  He&#8217;s as bad as any big-time NBA player you will find.  But offensively, he gets where he wants, and that&#8217;s big.  His three-point shooting was better last year, and if it continues to improve he will be an MVP candidate.  His attitude and energy are something that they all feed off. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-4\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-4\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-4\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-5\"\/>\n<ul>\n<li>Who is the <span>Mavericks&#8217;<\/span> second best player?  last year it was <span>Jane Brunson<\/span>.  Now who is it? <span>Christian Wood<\/span>?  I think he&#8217;s an empty-numbers guy.  work it <span>Spencer Dinwiddie<\/span>?  I don&#8217;t know if you can bet on him.  &#8230; They need Josh Green to make a jump.  And for a little while last year he did, but he hit a slump and then he didn&#8217;t get any more touches.  Bottom line: They&#8217;re going to miss Brunson a lot.  &#8230; There&#8217;s no Big Three.  There&#8217;s a Big One.  And so there&#8217;s a lot of pressure on <span>Luka Doncic<\/span> to stay healthy, to be good and lead every night.  He&#8217;s pretty damn good, but I don&#8217;t know how far he can take them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>For the Pelicans, Zion Williamson looks like a star.  A guy who went up against him told us Zion was like a battering ram hitting him in the chest.  The question is, what is a realistic number of games for him?  55?  60?  &#8230; <span>Brandon Ingram<\/span> is insanely talented.  He&#8217;s got a pull-up jump shot that is impossible to block.  \u2026 <span>CJ McCollum<\/span> was a big get last year.  You could tell his professionalism rubbed off on them.  &#8230; But the biggest thing is, how do they make these pieces fit or do they move off of guys?  \u2026 Herb Jones was good defensively, but he&#8217;s not a great shooter.  Zion&#8217;s not a great shooter.  CJ doesn&#8217;t really shoot threes off the catch.  The spacing is not going to be great.  \u2026 I don&#8217;t know if they&#8217;re top-half-of-the-West good, but they&#8217;re in the playoffs. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-c\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-5\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-5\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-5\"\/>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-b not-size-c not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-6\"\/>\n<ul>\n<li>the <span>Rockets<\/span> are going to stink.  again.  Their spacing was horrendous last season.  Their willingness to pass was terrible.  Their defense stunk.  &#8230; Jabari Smith Jr.  can help defensively right away.  On offense, he has that high release that makes his shot impossible to get to.  If he starts making them, he could surprise people early.  &#8230; If I were them, I&#8217;d get <span>Kevin Porter Jr.<\/span> out of there and say, \u201cHey, Jalen Green and Smith, we&#8217;re going to roll with you guys.  Hey, Stephen Silas, your job as coach is to make those two guys better.  Then we&#8217;re going to get a top-five pick again next year.  And then we&#8217;re going to say, &#8216;These are our three guys.&#8217;\u201d <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>the <span>spurs<\/span> have a half dozen guys you kind of like, but nobody that you love.  This is a team built to get a high draft pick.  I mean, <span>Doug McDermott<\/span> is their highest-paid player.  &#8230; <span>Keldon Johnson<\/span> started out wild last year but played more under control by the end.  He could be the fourth or fifth starter on a good team.  \u2026 Josh Primo kind of intrigued me toward the end of the year.  If he can shoot the ball well, he that&#8217;s probably a guy who&#8217;s going to be a player.  \u2026 I hope Pop does enjoy coaching young guys.  Because they are really going to struggle to win.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>More NBA Coverages:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/template\" id=\"facebookPixel1103097776498609\">!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()\n{n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}\n;if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n(function(){\n    fbq('init', '1103097776498609');\n    fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    var contentId = 'ci02adaf2fd00024dd';\n    if (contentId !== '') {\n        fbq('track', 'ViewContent', {content_ids: [contentId], content_type: 'product'});\n    }\n})();<\/script>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In advance of the 2022\u201323 NBA season, we had opposing scouts size up every division. Here&#8217;s what they&#8217;re saying about each Western Conference team, from top to bottom. You can find East takes here. NORTHWEST the Nuggets start with Nikola Jokic, who is still the best passing big, or best passer period, maybe, in the &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/anonymous-nba-scouts-unfiltered-takes-on-the-western-conference\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Anonymous NBA scouts: Unfiltered takes on the Western Conference<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[1849,68,1848],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9828,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nikola-jokic-shares-pic-of-his-5-year-old-self-in-nuggets-gear-in-serbia\/","url_meta":{"origin":97093,"position":0},"title":"Nikola Jokic shares pic of his 5-year-old self in Nuggets gear in Serbia","date":"July 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Denver Nuggets are celebrating the summer of signing Nikola Jokic.As well they should be. The Serbian superstar is a singular basketball talent who could very well anchor the franchise's first NBA championship \u2014 that is if the Nuggets can properly build around him.Since the reigning two-time MVP signed the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":107320,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nuggets-vs-trail-blazers-nba-game-recap-october-24-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":97093,"position":1},"title":"Nuggets vs.  Trail Blazers &#8211; NBA Game Recap &#8211; October 24, 2022","date":"October 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"PORTLAND, Ore. -- \u2014 Anfernee Simons had 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, and the Portland Trail Blazers won their fourth straight game to start the season with a 135-110 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Simons had 22 points and six 3s in the third quarter alone as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.si.com\/.image\/t_share\/MTkzMDIyNTQ5MjIxNzEzMTE3\/stephen-curry-warriors-lebron-james-lakers.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97093\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}