As the #1 Lakers fan that I know I find it next to impossible to believe how everyone seems to be predicting a Lakers-Cavs finals....or Lakers-Magic rematch.....or Lakers-Celtics rematch......I usually only come up against hate for the Lakers and these days I am ironically the one saying "WHOAAAAA" folks....The Lakers ARE the 2-time defending Western Conference Champs but to just assume a 3rd straight is short-cited IMO....here is my breakdown of what some consider PRETENDERS to the thrown whereas I would classify this group as legit CONTENDERS for the West....San Antonio Spurs (#7 seed.....1st round vs Dallas)....if it was not for a gent named Phil Jackson then Greg Popovich would be the most celebrated coach in the game today......Pop is a 4-time NBA champ and his Spurs won 50 games this year for the 11th straight year (you Raptors fans kn
ow that the Raps have never won 50 in their entire history!)...we know of the Big 3 in SA (Duncan/Manu/Mr Eva Longoria) but this team plays great team defence and is much deeper then just 3 guys plus a coach.....George Hill and Richard Jefferson contribute 12 ppg each and the bench features SOLID role players like Matt Bonner/DeJuan Blair/Mason jr/Antonio McDyess......every year I say I will believe the Spurs are eliminated when I see them walking off the floor having been defeated for a 4th time in a series and this year is no exception.....
Phoenix Suns (#3 seed.....1st round vs Portland)......aside from the Spurs I feel like this team gets slept on the most....OUTSTANDING 2nd half of the season and they moved all the way up to the #3 seed which means drawing a Roy-less Portland team and also means avoiding the Lakers until the Conference Finals....lead by Nash/Stoudemire this group can shoot the 3 BIG-TIME.....they have 6 guys who make the 3-ball at least .393% of the time and 5 guys who are over .400%
Denver Nuggets (#4 seed.....1st round vs Utah).....not too long ago (around the same time the Raptors were the #5 seed in the East with their sights set on the #4 seed.....ahem....
......) everyone would have had the Nuggs as the #2 seed in the West and a LEGIT contender to the Lakers.....a very pedestrian end to the season has bumped them to the #4 seed and a TOUGH first round vs the Jazz but this is such an explosive team - especially at home - that you have to consider them a true contender....we know what Melo and Billups bring to the table but they get big-man contributions from K-Mart/Nene/Bird Man plus they have instant-offence off the bench with JR Smith and his 15.4 ppg
......) everyone would have had the Nuggs as the #2 seed in the West and a LEGIT contender to the Lakers.....a very pedestrian end to the season has bumped them to the #4 seed and a TOUGH first round vs the Jazz but this is such an explosive team - especially at home - that you have to consider them a true contender....we know what Melo and Billups bring to the table but they get big-man contributions from K-Mart/Nene/Bird Man plus they have instant-offence off the bench with JR Smith and his 15.4 ppg 
(#2 seed.....1st round with tough Spurs team) this team struggled from 3pt range last year and they added Tim Thomas to address that and Dirk and J-Kidd have been lights-out from downtown this year....they have their own instant-offense off the bench with "The Jet" Jason Terry and their in-season acquisition of Caron Butler and Haywood was a big-time move to secure a scorer like Caron and a legit force down low in Haywood......Rick Carlisle may be the most underrated coach in the Association.....
Utah Jazz (#5 seed.....1st round vs Denver).....speaking of BIG TIME coaches how about Hall-Of-Famer Jerery Sloan.....his Jazz teams always share the ball and put out consistent efforts and have always been TOUGH in Utah......this years squad has all of that (lowest opponents ppg in the league and also #1 assist team in the league).....the Jazz have a TOUGH road in this years play-offs as they draw the Nuggets in the first round and if they can survive that they likely have Lakers in round 2.....Tough team with a difficult road but Jerry Sloans teams have never backed down and this unit will surely be a TOUGH out in these play-offs....... 
oh and by the way.....the #8 seed Oklahoma City Thunder will play the #1 seed Lakers in the opening round.....this OKC team won 50 games and was the last team to qualify for the play-offs in this incredible conference.....there used to be a time when the #1 seed had an "easy" first round match-up vs an overpowered #8 seed but drawing a team with 50 wins under any circumstances in the first round is a nightmare......Go Lakers Go.......but make no mistake....the road to a 3rd straight Western Conference crown is T O U G H.....
