The NBA champion San Antonio Spurs don’t need a whole lot. They just need to stay injury-free and hope that they can be physically ready for the playoffs when they come around. What do the other top teams in the West need to overtake the Spurs and make the NBA Finals?
1. San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs just don’t have many needs. San Antonio had all the answers for other NBA teams this past season. They were able to beat an Oklahoma City team that had the Spurs’ number over the past few seasons, especially in Oklahoma City’s own arena. The Spurs beat Oklahoma City even without Tony Parker in the second half of Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. What do the Spurs need this season? They probably need a quick power forward in the draft, someone who can more effectively neutralize Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka, who changed that series when he returned in Game 3. The Spurs need their version of Ibaka in order to continue to stay half a step ahead of the Thunder.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder simply have to build a bench, and as you’ll soon see, this is a need for all the teams that are chasing San Antonio in the Western Conference. The Thunder were basically playing the Spurs in the playoffs with three players: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka, with Reggie Jackson occasionally showing up as a fourth guy. The rest of the Thunder didn’t do very much. Caron Butler, Derek Fisher, Nick Collison, Steven Adams, Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefolosha, Jeremy Lamb – these players just weren’t able to offer much of anything. San Antonio, on the other hand, had true depth. The Thunder must be able to get more players who can contribute so that Durant and Westbrook don’t have to do everything.
3. Los Angeles Clippers
Another team that needs a bench, the Clippers need to have a more reliable backup point guard for Chris Paul, one season after Darren Collison played poorly. Collison was supposed to be the man who would spell Paul for several minutes at a time and make the Clippers an even better team, but he just couldn’t play that well. Collison was better with the Indiana Pacers a few years ago, but he couldn’t carry that form to Los Angeles. The Clippers, if they don’t land a point guard, need better wing shooters. The Clippers missed way too many perimeter shots against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs.
4. Houston Rockets
A team with James Harden, Dwight Howard, and Chandler Parsons has a lot of good things going for it, but the Rockets now need more on offense and defense. Omer Asik is a good rebounder, but he’s such a non-scoring big man that other defenses don’t have to worry about guarding his 15-foot jumper… because he doesn’t have one. Jeremy Lin needs help at point guard. The Rockets just have so many holes outside of their core, and they were very inadequate on defense against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs. Houston can use a perimeter defender if it wants to get choosy about its priorities in the upcoming NBA draft.
