2009-10 NBA Western Conference musical preview

I hope you enjoyed the Eastern Conference musical NBA preview. Now let's take a look at the West.

Southwest Division

San Antonio Spurs (2) - "It's Not My Time" by 3 Doors Down
You may think their time as title contenders has passed. But they're still in the hunt.

Dallas Mavericks (5) - "Getting Better" by The Beatles
They re-tooled their lineup by adding Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden and Rodrigue Beaubois to their core of Nowitzki, Howard, Terry and Kidd.

New Orleans Hornets (8) - "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes
Without talented point guard Chris Paul, this team would have a hard time living.

Houston Rockets - MASH theme
With Yao Ming out for the season and Tracy McGrady missing a good chunk of games, Luis Scola may be the Rockets' best player. While that normally wouldn't be a good thing, the Rockets should fare better than one would expect when looking at them on paper (Remember the 7-game series with the Lakers last season when Yao and T-Mac were hurt?). Former Rockets player Charles Barkley said they would have the worst record in the West this season. I say Barkley is wrong.

Memphis Grizzlies - "Sweet Dreams" by Beyonce
As the song says, "you could be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare." You have plenty of scorers--O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Allen Iverson, Zach Randolph--but most of them would much rather shoot than pass (or play defense). I am guessing they will be more of a nightmare than a dream. UPDATE: Iverson has since parted ways with the Grizzlies.

Northwest Division

Portland Trail Blazers (3) - "Electric Youth" by Debbie Gibson
This young squad coming off a 54-win season should only get better in upcoming seasons.

Denver Nuggets (4) - "This Kiss" by Faith Hill
This song is for Kenyon Martin, who somehow decided it was a good idea to have a tattoo of lipstick marks on his neck.

Utah Jazz (6) - "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash

Carlos Boozer heads into the final season of his contract reportedly unhappy to play in Utah. Would it make sense for the Jazz to trade Boozer now, or to just let him play out his contract and hope to make a splash in the free agent market. FYI: The Jazz own New York's 2010 first-round draft pick.

Oklahoma City Thunder - "Fallin' For You" by Colbie Caillat
With four top-five picks -- Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook and James Harden -- since 2007, this team should be on the rise in the near future. However, many fans and analysts seem to like their present even more than I do. Here is one article about what's going down in OKC.

Minnesota Timberwolves - "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran
What the Wolves will be starving for is a few wins. It's too bad draft pick Ricky Rubio didn't make it across the pond this season.

Pacific Division

Los Angeles Lakers (1) - "We Are the Champions" by Queen
This is me paying respects to Hollywood's team not only for being the defending champs, but also because they have a good chance of repeating in '10.

Phoenix Suns (7) - End of the Road by Boyz II Men
This may be the first time in the past half-decade or so that the Suns didn't enter the season as a highly regarded championship contender. Have they come to the end of the road?

Los Angeles Clippers - "One Day" by Matisyahu
"Sometimes in my tears I drown/but I never let it get me down/so when negativity surrounds/I know one day it'll all turn around because/All my life I've been waiting for, I've been praying for..." These lyrics almost make Matisyahu sound like a Clipper fan. Which would be really rough because, despite all of the high draft picks, most of them have been busts (i.e. Michael Olowokandi), have suffered injury (as Blake Griffin did before playing a single regular-season NBA game) or have left as free agents after a few short years (a la Lamar Odom).

Golden State Warriors - "Falls Apart" by Sugar Ray
Things looked promising for the Dubs after the 2007 playoff upset of the Mavericks. Since then, they've lost some key players, including Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson (he departed early this season), and things have fallen apart to some degree. However, they may have enough young talent to provide fans with hope.

Sacramento Kings - "Bonito" by Jarabe de Palo
This franchise had a few good seasons in the early part of this decade. Before then -- and since then -- things have been less than rosy. Still, the Sactown faithful seem to maintain a positive outlook while supporting their team.