‘Paul at the Peak?’ (Associated Press)

The NBA is a vastly different beast than the NFL; in the NFL parity is King and rules year in year out - though the best do win it all year in, year out.

In the NBA the only parody is at the 7th seed and 8th seed; and even then it seems like those are set in stone after the free agent signing period has been completed.

For example: I just can’t see the Golden State Warriors really battling for that 8th seed like they did this year. That being said, did the Nuggets get a lot worse by trading their only defensive player away? In a conspiracy theorists mind that move only happened so that the Warriors and the Nuggets could continue to battle for that coveted 8th seed, but this time the Portland Trailblazers will have something to say about it.

P-town is the only “outside looking in” playoff contender in the Western Conference. Will the standings change much this next season? Short answer yes. Long answer, barely…

My thoughts on the West are as follows (yes a bit premature):

1. New Orleans Hornets
2. LA Lakers
3. Utah Jazz
4. San Antonio Spurs
5. Houston Rockets
6. Phoenix Suns
7. Dallas Mavericks
8. Portland Trailblazers

What is my reasoning?

1. New Orleans has a solid, and now playoff experienced core. They added a defensive presence that can play a wing player like say.. Kobe Bryant and with their front-line of David West, and Tyson Chandler, teams will have to try to figure out their attack.

2. LA Lakers: Sure they have Bynum returning; big whoop. He hasn’t even been cleared to play - so to get that straight that is a player whom was barely coming into a good season (not a great one) and then taking the rest of the time off, can you say RUSTY? How about, a Bill Walton type of injury that never allows a player to return to their previous form. Ya, that’s what I’m thinking. They also lost Mr. Hustle, Rony Turiaf, and rumors are swirling around Sasha Vuja*** being signed to another team so stay tuned - their salary cap is too high to sign anyone of importance.

3. The Jazz will rule the seven seas of the NBA with an iron fist as they have 2-players on what are basically “contract years” and one player whom will be trying to prove to other NBA teams that he is indeed a “max player”. Go Jazz go!

4. Spurs: the Spurs are getting old… so very old. Manu is getting great… so great. Tony Parker is getting prettier… that is his game is getting tighter and tighter. Those two alone will keep this franchise in the thick of things - but the Jazz use this year and subsequent years to finally trounce the Spurs and begin to forget about the dominance that has been shown towards them.

5. Houston: that’s right, with them at the 5-spot and the Spurs at the 4, the Rockets will finally have a chance to advance! Great news for Rockets fans! But even greater news for the fans would be if Yao and TMAC stay healthy all year long, and to up the ante a little bit more would be for their second year guys to NOT suffer a sophmore slump. Donte Green has huge upside, I have always wanted the Jazz to draft someone like him; athletic, and a slasher with a mid-range shot. Can they Rox get him in the mix? Can they continue to gel? Or will the floor fall out of the old Cadillac and they slip even further from grace…

6. Phoenix… what can I say? I was born in Arizona and have always had a special place in my heart for the Suns, it’s just too bad that the sun may be setting in the desert sooner than later. The Suns signed Matt Barnes to a contract - but don’t they already have a Barnes-esque player in Raja Bell? I can see them slowing things down a little bit now that D’antoni is gone; now that they have the Squishy-Cactus, and Sideshow Bob to play some D down on the low block. Does Nash have much left in the tank? No, not much, they will disappoint and finish the 6th seed, losing to Utah in the first round.

7. Dallas will begin to see that Kidd is overpaid, and really just.. old. After a summer of playing basketball non-stop in the Olympics, I have this suspicion that he will report to camp half-asleep and sore. Gerald Green may make some noise off of the bench, but one has to stop and think how this team will come together. Dirk, Jason, Howard, Stack, and Dampier will have to play nice with Bass, Green, and Foster - the young guns on a team that has 8-players in the league 9-years or more. Dallas, I’m afraid you missed your chance a couple years ago.

8. The Blazers will be scary good as long they can stay healthy. They added one of my favorite college players, Jerryd Bayless, and now have Oden to add to their front line. The only two things that stand in their way are as I said, injury and … uh …. the Jazz? Oh wait, they beat us 3 out of 4 games last year. So why did I put them at 8?

So put your seatbelt on, the season will be on us like a fat man in a buffet before we know it.