By LOGAN RIPLEY
Sports Editor
Scaling the National Basketball Association is never right when the season has yet to begin. But in the case of the 2016-17 season, we know that nothing seems to be just.
The Western Conference Finals pitted the best regular season team of all time, the Golden State Warriors, against the still thriving, but not accomplished, Oklahoma City Thunder.
During the regular season, the buzzer-beater of the century was made from just past halfcourt by Stephen Curry.
Time and time again, Oklahoma City fell to Golden State, with Curry becoming victorious, but not winning the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Oklahoma City went home without another championship last season, but were the closest since the young duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were in the NBA Finals against the super-team Miami Heat in 2012.
Fast forward to 2016, Durant is gone, and Westbrook is the last one standing on the demolished Thunder roster.
Durant decided if you can’t beat them, join them.
He made the move to Golden State, which is being called the most insane thing to happen since “The Decision” which featured LeBron James signing with the Heat in 2010.
With the Thunder on the outside looking in, and the Warriors out ahead of everyone, the Western Conference has become a 100 yard dash featuring Usain Bolt.
The super team, Warriors, will make it to the Western Conference Finals, but will they be plagued the same way the Miami Heat were in the first year of their formation?
Looking at the best of the rest, the Clippers are still one of the best teams in the league and have yet to realize their potential.
With a team consisting of Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and the most dominating defensive center DeAndre Jordan, they will be hard to out in the playoffs.
They need to check into their star power to win games this season, while developing bench players because there are going to have injuries again this season.
Therefore, the Warriors and Clippers are numbers one and two in the West, but in third is a team that was the second-best team in the league last season, the San Antonio Spurs.
Gregg Popovich would tell his team to not listen to the noise with Golden State, but the players know they are in an uphill battle to reclaim the top spot in the west.
The Spurs are not themselves this season, though they still have Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge.
While also utilizing Tony Parker and Pau Gasol, they are faced with the challenge of playing without Tim Duncan for the first time since the mid-’90s.
The Spurs still have the offense and defense to contend highly in the West, but not so much when going up against the Warriors.
The bench could be a key factor in carrying them through the season, but San Antonio needs to find a clear target when the game comes down to it.
The NBA has yet to see if Leonard can be the star he is hyped to be. This may be the season you either claw to him and stay or decide to find a new team.
With one, two and three being Warriors, Clippers and Spurs respectively, there are still teams in the West not to sleep on.
Don’t sleep on the Portland Trail Blazers, who made a lot of noise last year in the playoffs. Portland hosts Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, who are the most dynamic backcourt in the NBA, and that includes Golden State.
This is true because the team as a whole is these two players, while the Warriors now have at least four number-ones, and are disqualified because of that.
Portland could take a huge leap forward this season and make it to the Western Conference Finals. But they could also lay an egg and barely scrape into the playoffs.
The dilemma of whether or not they will be good is the reason they are the ones to watch outside of the Warriors.
The Eastern Conference is not as cut-and-dry when entering the next three teams after the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA Finals and finally brought home a title for Cleveland.
James answered the prayers of many last year, but this season could be a completely different story.
The Cavaliers need to begin the transition from James’ team to Kyrie Irving’s team. The main reason they won last year is because of the play by their star point guard.
He carried Cleveland to the win the Finals and decimated Curry with cross-over after cross-over. Irving also sealed the championship with the huge three at the end of the game, again on Curry.
James will need to stay healthy to get his team to the playoffs and the Finals again, but Irving will be the reason for a win or a loss in 2016-17.
After the Cavaliers, the slate of teams does not get worse, but bunch up more so. If your team is not on the list, there is not an apology because they could certainly be at the end of the season.
The Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and new-look Indiana Pacers are the teams to watch outside of Cavaliers.
These three teams could change position very easily; that is the mystery of the eastern conference.
It will be a fight until the end and the last day of the regular season will play into the positions of the teams in the playoffs.
The West has the best team in the NBA followed by the East, but this set of teams has the gift of defense. The Celtics, Raptors, and Pacers all play excellent defense, and that is the reason they will be close in the standings.
In the end, one team is allowed to face Cleveland, and that will be the Pacers. With the additions of Jeff Teague and the emergence of Myles Turner this team could be very good.
They won’t make is past Cleveland, and Paul George will have the same fate, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good for the league.
The Pacers will be a good thing for the underwhelming Eastern Conference and will jump start the conference once again.
Just like the Detroit Pistons in the mid-2000s, defense and solid shooting will carry the Pacers to a deep run in the playoffs in 2016.
2016-17 will be another year of dramatic endings, and escalated battles, but nothing is in question more than the Warriors.
Will they beat the record of 73 wins set last year, or will they stay in the sixties instead?
Can they overcome the thrown togetherness of their team and unite as one, or will Durant realize it’s not as fun as he thought it would be?
If the preseason tells the tale, the Warriors will be fine, and could have the top two scorers in the league squaring up next to each other.
They could also go down as the best team of all time, with multiple titles to follow after this year.
Only time will tell.
