How the West is won
Chris Paul coming to Houston and Paul George going to Oklahoma City continues the congregation of stars in the toughest conference
The Rockets won Wednesday. Crushed it. They landed ‘The Point God.’ They kept their freeagency recruiting tools intact. They gushed about narrowing the gap with Golden State by pairing Chris Paul with James Harden and gaining the incentive players would have to join them.
By Friday, the ground beneath the NBA’s Western Conference shook again. Though the impact of Wednesday’s bombshell would remain, it seemed far more distant than 48 hours removed.
The whirlwind of NBA dealmaking began early but only picked up speed as the balance of power continued to shift west like settlers moving across the plains.
The Warriors are perhaps not shaking in their Under Armours, but everyone else has to know how tough it will be just to get to take their shot at the champions with as many teams worthy to be the topranked contenders as there will be Western Conference All-Star team “snubs.”
Highway robbery
Less than a year since Kevin Durant’s July 4 defection from Oklahoma City to hop on the Golden State juggernaut and return it to championship levels, the Thunder landed the Indiana Pacers’ Paul George in a deal even more stunning than the Rockets’ days earlier.
The Rockets always had a chance to land Paul as a free agent. The only thing less anticipated than the Thunder winning the George sweepstakes was that they got him for the bargain-basement price of Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
The Thunder did not have to give up a building-block pick. They did not sacrifice a prospect likely to become a replacement star. They did not lose a player off last season’s rotation who will be particularly difficult to replace. The deal seemed so lopsided, and not just in comparison to the demands apparently made of the Boston Celtics, the Oklahoma City Police Department tweeted that there had been reports of a robbery.
There is the potential that George will bolt Oklahoma City as a free agent after the season. It has been known to happen. Until MVP Russell Westbrook accepts a supermax offer, there is that potential for him, too. But for now, a team the Rockets eliminated in five postseason games jumps all the way into the West’s upper echelon, non-Warriors division.
It is a growing club. The Minnesota Timberwolves already had landed All-Star Jimmy Butler, added point guard Jeff Teague and set their sights on Paul Millsap, another Eastern Conference All-Star.
The backed-to-the-wall Pelicans made Jrue Holiday a five-year, $126 million offer he was not about to pass up, giving New Orleans a chance to make the Anthony Davis/DeMarcus Cousins partnership work.
The Timberwolves and Pelicans were lottery teams. The Thunder were a sixth seed. All could move up considerably. If the Utah Jazz hang on to Gordon Hayward and Joe Ingles — a big if — they will not be going anywhere and would be strengthened by the addition of the still under-appreciated Ricky Rubio.
Battling on two fronts
It is getting crowded near the top. If the pressure to close the gap on the Warriors was not significant enough, the pursuit from the teams coming from behind should have the Rockets and others battling on two fronts.
Millsap could dramatically shift the balance of power even more by joining lottery teams Minnesota or Denver. He would fit ideally next to either gifted center, Karl-Anthony Towns of the Timberwolves or Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets. But the TWolves already are to be considered factors in the loaded West. Adding Millsap to the Nuggets’ tremendous offense would put them there, too.
It was not as if the West has not long dominated. Though these things seem to go in cycles, the roll has lasted since Michael Jordan’s last Bulls run. Since then, the West has won 13 of 19 titles. Last season, it went 246204. Most of the lottery teams stockpiling young, future stars — save the on-going process in Philadelphia — are in the West.
The East has the Cavaliers, who still have LeBron James. The Celtics have many assets, having chosen to again save draft picks and young prospects for something better (or having been rebuffed by the Pacers and Bulls in the pursuit of their nowdeparted stars.)
The Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards are trying to hang on to what they’ve got, which was not nearly enough. Other than the ascendant Milwaukee Bucks, the rest of the East is in some level of rebuild.
James could choose to stay home on nights it is cold outside and still be expected to make it nine consecutive trips to the NBA Finals.
The Warriors might still be considered nearly as much of a lock, but that says far more about their greatness than the competition to survive the “Hunger Games” battles around them. But Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was only half right when he said the “it’s a weapons race in the NBA.”
The days since the Rockets landed Paul have demonstrated that the battle is being waged in the West while the East seems to be waiting in the hopes LeBron James moves to Los Angeles.