Dallas Mavericks: Predicting the Western Conference standings

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SALT LAKE CITY, UT – JANUARY 21: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers handles the ball against Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz on January 21, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Not Quite Contenders (but really could be)

These teams are not going to be the top of the conference at the end of the year, but I do think they will have a chance to win the West. This is such a strange year and there are several teams with a chance of winning it all.

6. Portland Trail Blazers

Another team that really didn’t do much this summer, the Portland Trail Blazers, should still have their spot cemented firmly in the playoffs. I know the Blazers are a commonly selected team to drop off at some point, but as long as Damian Lillard continues being one of the best players in the league, I am not too worried.

The major addition the Blazers made over the summer was Hassan Whiteside, who will start at center until Jusuf Nurkic comes back from his injury. They also added Mario Hezonja, Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver. Key losses include Maurice Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu and Evan Turner.

The Blazers won 53 last year, but I think they will fall a little bit, down into the 48-50 range.

5. Los Angeles Lakers

The L.A. Lakers are one of the most popular teams in the league and one of the most frequent picks to win it all this year, thanks to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, of course. These two are legitimate superstars in the league and will be nearly impossible to stop once the playoffs come around.

The main concern I have with the Lakers is that Davis and LeBron have both had some injury issues in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised to see each player miss some games for rest purposes and even see LA alternate them a little as well. For this reason, I don’t see the Lakers being a top three seed in the West, at least from the regular season.

The Lakers could still end up with right around 50 wins.

4. Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz are maybe the hottest non-L.A. team in the league after this summer. Utah has been a playoff regular for the past couple seasons, but has not been able to make the splash into the next rounds. This year, they pulled out all the stops in order to give their team the best chance possible to win it all.

The idea of the Jazz winning it all is only farfetched if you look at their history instead of their roster. With a great returning duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert holding things down, they also added one of the best shooters in the league, Bojan Bogdanovic, and one of the most underrated point guards, Mike Conley. This team is going to be dangerous.

I could see the Jazz winning a solid 51-54 games this year.

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