Western Insider: After Lakers, playoff picture not so clear

Is it too early to look at the playoff race in the Wild West? Nah. Not when it appears the race has already begun to shake out those teams worthy of going on and those counting lottery balls.

One league insider who has spent his entire career in the Western Conference doesn't see much depth in that circuit.

"Feast or famine," he said. "It's the rich and the poor. There are not a lot of middle-of-the-road teams. If you're not a playoff team, you're awful."

A scan of the standings the morning of Dec. 3 supports that notion. Only nine teams own winning records. Below those nine is a collection of squads with no real hope, save perhaps Golden State, of making a postseason run.

In a conference known for the quality of its teams from top to bottom the last several years, where non-playoff teams had records worthy of top-four seeds in the East, the dropoff is startling. None of the six teams in the bottom tier has a winning percentage above .300. The East has only one team -- yes, one -- in a similar state of disrepair.

The two worst records in the league belong to teams in the West -- Oklahoma City and the Clippers.

"You look at the standings and it's like: 'Bam, the Lakers, everybody else and then it's a big drop off," Hornets forward Ryan Bowen pointed out. "I think what we'll see in this next month going into the New Year is where teams stand.

"It's been kind of a weird start to the year, as a whole. Usually, we see a few great teams and this year it's just been one. Everybody else has six, seven, eight losses. We'll see the next month how teams separate out."

What that likely means for the playoff race is not much drama. Unlike the last few seasons, don't expect three or four teams fighting it out for the final spots. That'll be the East. And based on the starts so far, eight teams winning 50 (with a ninth at 48) doesn't appear possible again.

The Lakers look to be the class of the West, even with Tuesday's loss to Indiana, and Kobe Bryant's crew should run away with the No. 1 seed. It gets murky trying to project the other three spots in the top four. In fact, a case can be made for most of the other eight teams in the hunt in the top four.

All of the playoff contenders have at least two or three All-Star-caliber players on their rosters and have been at least decent away from home this season. Utah has the only losing road record. Surprisingly, Phoenix and Dallas sport losing marks at home.

Just about every team, except for the Lakers, has gone through something this season that explains an uneven start. Portland and Denver might be the only two squads exceeding expectations.

"Some teams have had some injuries that maybe have slowed them down," Bowen said. "I still think the West is as good as it's been. Maybe it's not as top-heavy yet. I think once San Antonio gets all their guys back and healthy, they're going to be back up there. But it's definitely been a one-team race so far."

For most of the rest, just keeping afloat has been the focus. The Spurs did so without Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. So did Utah sans Deron Williams. The Mavericks and Suns are still adjusting to new systems under new coaches, with some uneasiness attached. Inconsistency is the constant in New Orleans thus far. Houston has to navigate the next three weeks without Tracy McGrady.

"I just want us to try and win as many games as we can during this stretch," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "We've got to get through this December and first part of January where we're winning games, keeping our heads above water and then hopefully people will be back and then we can make a little run."

With a little run, it doesn't take much imagination to project New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio or Dallas as the Southwest Division winner. While the Jazz came into the season as the favorites in the Northwest, Denver -- which has taken off under Chauncey Billups' steady guidance -- and the upstart Blazers are both ahead of Utah in the standings.

Sure, a lot can change over the course of 4 1/2 months, but barring major injury, the bet here has these seven (Lakers, Hornets, Rockets, Jazz, Spurs, Nuggets and Blazers) in the playoffs. As for who gets left out, the battle for No. 8 could come down to Dallas and Phoenix, two teams that met in the West finals in 2006.

Or the Mavs and Suns can surge, pushing another from the West's middle-class out. While it may be too early to predict, one constant remains.

"The bottom line in the Western Conference," Hornets coach Byron Scott reminded, "is you've got to win as many games as possible."

• While all isn't rosy for Suns coach Terry Porter right now in Phoenix, he's still beloved in the Rose City. The Portland Trail Blazers are retiring his No. 30 jersey on Dec. 16. Porter played in Portland from 1985-95 and averaged 14.9 points and 7.0 assists.

• Bobby Jackson after the Kings battled Utah down to the wire but still lost their seventh straight game: "It is very frustrating, what do you do? I feel like something is on our back and we can't get it off."