Questions for Western Conference contenders
On Wednesday, we talked about the seven Eastern Conference contenders: Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Miami, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, and Boston.
Today, we’re going to run through the biggest questions for the Western Conference contenders. Checking the standings and scanning my brain, a first question immediately rises:
Are there more than three Western Conference teams who could actually win the title?
I’m not sure there are. I have legitimate concerns about how Dallas, Utah, and Denver could make it to the Finals (without their best players going absolutely nuclear). The Timberwolves and Clippers are still at least a year away. And the Lakers have to survive the public romance between LeBron and Cleveland before they survive a seven game series… so they’re out, too.
That leaves us with three teams!
Memphis Grizzlies
Can Ja Morant keep this up?
He’s averaging 27 points, six rebounds, and seven assists per game this year. He’s leading the league in shot attempts inside ten feet — at 6’3, 170 pounds.
In the playoffs, help-side defenders are going to come over a bit harder in the regular season. Nothing about Ja has shown that he’s afraid to back down from physicality. But small guards can only take so many hits, bumps, and bruises, and Morant’s constant rack attacks may come back to bite him.
The parallels between Morant and early-career Derrick Rose are stunning, but it was around this time in Rose’s career when the knee injuries started to pile up. Morant is certainly better at switching gears and protecting himself. Still, I can’t help myself from gasping every time he gets a little too high in the air.
The Grizzlies have shown us what they can be without Morant in the lineup. Ja just takes them to their highest outcomes, and they can’t reach the Conference Finals without him.
Golden State Warriors
Is Jonathan Kuminga the secret ingredient to another Warriors’ title?
The core of Steph-Klay-Draymond at full strength is indescribable. Add Andrew Wiggins into the mix, and you’ve got a solid veterans all around. Jordan Poole has shown us what he can be in an advanced role and plays a great safety valve in Steph’s rest.
Jonathan Kuminga, the no. 7 pick in 2021, might be the super role player that pushes the Warriors over the top. At the All-Star break, the Warriors dropped a five minute cut of Kuminga’s best plays — slashing, rim-protecting, and posterizing slams that give Golden State an injection of youthful athleticism that they’ve been sorely missing.
I can imagine Kuminga flying in for a tip dunk in a close game, or bodying up a perimeter player to shut down an opponent’s set. Kuminga and the Warriors have grown comfortable with each other this season. That trust just might swing a playoff series if he’s given the opportunity.
Phoenix Suns
Is Chris Paul cursed by the Basketball Gods, destined to never win a championship?
Last weekend, TNT reported that Chris Paul would be out for the next six to eight weeks due to an avulsion fracture in his right thumb. That would put him out for the rest of the regular season, with a possibility his first game back is Game 1 of the first round.
This is the same Chris Paul that hurt his shoulder in last year’s playoffs; the same Chris Paul that knocked the 2018 Rockets out of the Finals with a hamstring injury; and the same Chris Paul that battled several injuries in key playoff moments with the Clippers.
Phoenix made sure that CP3 got paid. But did they know that they were giving $40 million to the no. 1 player on the Basketball Gods shit list?
I’ve grown to love Chris Paul, and I’d be ecstatic if the Suns won the championship this year. I just really need to know if Chris Paul is cursed, or if he’s just getting this season’s injury out of the way early.