Blazers get better as the West gets worse
Portland landed the hard-charging Gerald Wallace in exchange for the Vanilla Gorilla Joel Pryzbilla, Dante Cunningham and some 1st round draft picks. Wallace should be loved by Blazer fans, he’s an exciting player to watch.
To make things even better for the Blazers, several of the West’s best players were shipped out East, including the losses of Denver’s Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups and Utah’s Deron Williams, both of which are Northwest division rivals.
So what does this mean for the balance of power of West vs East. Here’s what I think. The East just moved past the West, with Boston, Miami, Orlando, Chicago and New York all possible Eastern Conference champions. But I feel that the West will win the NBA championship, as whoever comes out of the West (I’m betting on either the Lakers or Spurs) will have had a much easier playoff than the team coming out of the East.
Not to mention the fact that Blazers could get the Vanilla Gorilla back… things are looking good for Portland, who is one of the hottest teams in the NBA having won 7 of 8.
NBA.com Power Rankings:
1 Heat
2 Spurs
3 Celtics
4 Bulls
5 Mavs
6 Thunder
7 Lakers
8 Magic
9 Grizzlies
10 Blazers
16 Knicks
ESPN’s NBA Power Rankings:
1 Spurs
2 Mavericks
3 Bulls
4 Celtics
5 Heat
6 Magic
7 Lakers
8 Thunder
9 Trail Blazers
10 Grizzlies
15 Knicks – look for this number to change when the next ranking is released.
