The NBA’s Western Conference standings are shamelessly weird

This NBA season has been weird.

It’s been weird like a Shameless episode– you know, in that uproarious, laughing-while-covering-your-eyes, shaking-your-head-and-looking-at-the-floor kind of way.

LeBron still looks really weird in a Lakers jersey, the Rockets look really weird sucking, and perhaps most arrestingly, the Nuggets are in first place. The Nuggets. 

Like, come on man, we didn’t need to see that.

The Western Conference standings as a whole are indecent.

Five playoff teams from last year– the Rockets, Spurs, Pelicans, Timberwolves and Jazz, currently sit on the outside looking in.

How many of you called that? No one? That’s what I thought. 

The Rockets have as many losses (15) as they had on April 5 last year, when they were 64-15!

The Grizzlies spent some time atop the standings, as did the Clippers, who like Fiona in Shameless, are somehow keeping it all together despite a rambling, incoherent half-wit as their patriarch (sorry, Doc Rivers. That was a little harsh. But still).

Then there’s the Kings, who’ve spent the past decade passed out like Frank on the kitchen floor, but are finally dusting themselves off and making something of their lives with a terrific young core.

The Warriors have had their share of family issues all year, especially after Draymond and KD started feuding like teenage girls. They haven’t looked like themselves since the beginning of the season, and recently had their car stolen by the Jazz.

At this point, predicting the end-of-season standings is an extremely daunting task, and the idea of putting money down on who’ll be the champ seems downright laughable. 

Instead, be like Frank: take things day to day. Be what you need to be at the time you need to be it. Check in on the betting info for today’s games at SBD, and try to control what is right in front of you.

Case in point: we wouldn’t bet on the Nuggets ending up in first place at the end of the year, but on a night-to-night basis, Nikola Jokic has made audiences blush his a brazen takeover of the stat sheet.

His face is all over the team’s stats page, as he’s leading the Nuggs in every major statistical category except blocks. Smh. Dude just can’t get enough of himself.

This season kind of reminds us of 2015, when the balance of the league was shaken up by an upstart Golden State, and Atlanta somehow won 60 games.

The NBA was different that season than most years–it was uncut, unabashed, anything goes. Up was down, down was up, and you know what? That’s when the league is at its best.

The NBA is typically as predictable as an episode of Full House, but when teams like the 2015 Warriors or 2018 Nuggets rise up and shock the system a little bit, it’s kind of nice. 

It’s kind of like moving from Canaryville to Lincoln Park. And doing it … what’s the word? 

Wantonly?

Unabashedly?

Ahh, it’ll come to me.

Related Posts

• 
  Where will Dillon Brooks end up next season? Five teams who make the most sense
• 
  NCAA Tournament Cinderellas Fairleigh Dickinson, St. Peter’s define North Jersey fearlessness
• 
  The rise, fall, and rise again of the Cleveland Cavaliers: How they built a winner in the post-LeBron James era