Thunder lead West pecking order

Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks may be the hottest story in basketball, but when it comes to intrigue, the West is still the best.

Before the season, we said that the hierarchy in the Eastern Conference could be summed up as the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and everybody else. That's pretty much how things have shaken out. The Heat and Bulls have raced out in front of the competition despite both playing road-heavy schedules and missing key players for long stretches. Not just any key players -- Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose, two of the five best performers in the league.

So while the post-All-Star East promises to become increasingly top heavy, the West is as much of a hodgepodge as ever. Before the season, we used our SCHOENE projection system to group teams into a general pecking order. With the conference race seemingly wide open, let's revisit those projections and look for teams that have shown upward mobility and teams that have moved closer to skid row.

Here were our preseason groupings:

The favorites: Oklahoma City Thunder
The contenders: Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs
Other playoff teams: Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers
Fighting for a playoff spot: Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves
Headed for the lottery: Golden State Warriors, New Orleans Hornets, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz

How do they shake out now?

To read the full story about the Western Conference pecking order, plus gain access to all of ESPN Insider's NBA content, become an Insider today.

• Recommend0
• Email