NSL Division Preview: Pacific

The Pacific division is slated to be one of the least winningest divisions in the �tough� Western Conference and probably the hot favourite to have the least wins in the whole league by a fair margin. It�s a mixture of teams looking to compete, reset or are have the best player on their roster still playing in college which will lead to some interesting line-ups, trades and general chicanery. Let�s take a deeper dive into the squads.

Los Angeles Clippers

Roster

PG: Ayo Dosunmu, �

SG: R.J Barret, Benedict Mathurin, Corey Kispert, Pat Connaughton

SF: Kelly Oubre, Even Fournier, Duncan Robinson, Trey Murphy

PF: Paolo Banchero, PJ Washington, Tari Eason

C: Dwight Powell, Daniel Theis

A team that looked to be a tier below the true contenders in the West and destined for a second round exit year after year made one of the bigger moves in league history moving arguably the best player in existence, Giannis Antetokounmpo, for youth sand a brighter future. As much as I hate where the player ended up and the value of the deal the Clippers managed to get back who I think will be a future star in the league and an automatic bucket from day dot in Paolo Banchero. It�s hard to pick where the Clippers end up at this stage as they still have the vets from their contending roster and a whole roster full of decent talent but nothing spectacular (besides the aforementioned Banchero). Andrew is one of the more patient GMs the league has, happy to sit on his team when others would�ve made multiple moves but I have a feeling he is far from being done in the trade department and this roster will look much younger and prospect rich than its currently constructed sooner rather than later.

Projected: Middle of the Pack

Sacramento Kings

Roster

PG: Russell Westbrook*. Jayden Nowell

SG: Buddy Hield, Josh Okogie, Rodney McGruder

SF:  Bojan Bogdanovic, Kyle Anderson, Troy Brown, Joe Ingles

PF: Yuta Watanbe, Damian Jones

C: Nikola Vucevic, Mason Plumlee

QB: Matt Ryan

Klemm and the Kings are one of the more interesting teams in league, this is due to never knowing what their GM will say in the chat or trade in the blink of an eye. The squad is built around two ageing �stars� that love offence but still haven�t figured out their also a defensive side of the game. Westbrook and his albatross contract was happily passed off by Portland and to the Kings where he can play a more dominant role, something this declining 2k darling will love. If there�s one thing to know about the Kings is that they�ll never stop trying to win games which is a breath of fresh air in the league. Voodoo is as hungry for boards as ever and hunts them down like his cheques depend on them (which they do) and the franchise will go as far as these two players can take them. There�s some nice role players on the roster and if Klemm can figure out the formula for this squad I think they can catch a few teams off guard every so often.

Projected: Play In Team 

LA Lakers

Roster

PG: Cade Cunningham, Immanuel Quickley, Aaron Wiggins, Kennedy Chandler

SG: Grayson Allen, Austin Reaves, Shake Milton

SF: Lonnie Walker, Danilo Gallinari, Juan Toscano-Anderson

PF: Julius Randle. Mike Muscala

C: Kristaps Porzingus, Precious Achiuwa

A tanking side that�s fed up with losing is an exciting prospect for the league, behind one of the more exciting young stars the NSL has to offer. Cade Cunningham can do it all on the basketball and allot will be asked of him by the Lakers GM as it should. Porzingus is a monster big man that can stretch the floor which is always a bit of a worry with 2k as it can be dominant or lean towards useless, luckily KP leans more on the dominant end of the spectrum as long as he can stay on the court he will produce. The Lakers have decent talent on the top end but aren�t very deep and lacking top tier talent on the wings which good be detrimental with all the high quality swings that stalk through the western conference. If healthy this team could be a surprise but any loss of some of that top end talent and things could grind to a halt quickly.

Projection: Outside the Play in looking in

Golden State Warriors

Roster

PG: Kyrie Irving, �

SG: Zach Lavine, NIckeil Alexander-Walker

SF: Jerami Grant, Joe Harris, Wenyen Gabriel

PF: Derrick Jones Jr, Oshae Brissett, Anthony Gill, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Moritz Wagner, Isaiah Todd

C: Jericho Sims, Bruno Fernando 

A team with a penchant for wanting as many ours power forwards as possible is the strongest team in this very mediocre division. The off season was a wild one for the Warriors with them shipping out former number 1 draft pick and franchise centrepiece for the mercurial Kyrie Irving. If he can stay on the court he will be the star Golden State and Zach Lavine have been screaming for. Titlesorbust is really living up to the name with his roster going all in on the championship behind hid big 3 of Irving, Lavine and Grant. The backcourt could be the highest scoring in the league and it will be on the GM and coach to try and coax out enough pints from the rest of the roster to produce a winning score. I�m personally quite interested to see how well this team can go forward and what moves they look to make to vault into the highest tier of contenders. 

Projected: High Play in/Play off seed

Phoenix Suns

Roster

PG: Anfernee Simons, Cole Anthony, Killian Hayes

SG: Talen Horton-Tucker, Shaedon Sharpe

SF: Saddiq Bey, Jayden McDaniels, David Roddy, Caleb Houston, Kevin Knox, Gary Payton

PF: Bol Bol, Nassir Little, Aleski Pokusevski

C: Nick Richards

The Suns love young boys, wait that doesn�t sound right. Phoenix like guys with very little experience so they can groom them into men they want, hmmm that�s not right either. Laddas doesn�t like his team to be old and they certainly are not that (that�s better). This team was torn down to the bare bares not very long ago but you wouldn�t realise that�s looking at it now. It�s brimming with high picks, lottery talent and youth galore. I imagine Wemby is firmly in this ball clubs sights but it would only take a few of their players to take the next step for this team to be better than most bottom dwellers.  Expect this team to consolidate some of its younger talent in higher end talent at some point but this season will be all about watching Laddas�s wall flowers grow.

Projection: A lot of time spent brushing up on French