By Mr. Shamir

Biggest Surprise: San Antonio winning the Midwest. With the talent stockpile in Dallas, and losing Derek Anderson to the Blazers, along with another year of David Robinson getting older, not to mention a 19-year old starting point guard in Tony Parker, to be the two seed is a tremendous feat. Runner-Ups: Sacramento, Seattle.

Biggest Disappointment: Phoenix. A 50 win team last year, with plenty of talent still this year failed to make the playoffs. The future does look brighter, especially with the development of Shawn Marion, but the present has been a lot uglier then it should have been. Runner-ups: Houston, Golden State.

The Playoff Race: This is almost as good as it gets. Personally I would have preferred a Dal/Por 4/5 matchup and a LA/MIN 3/6 matchup, but you can't always get what you want. SA should be able to take out the Sonics with or without Robinson, but no one said this series was going to be easy even with him. Seattle is a talented team, especially when Baker has played as he has. The intrigue is of course on the top three teams. Sacramento, San Antonio, and Los Angeles. It's safe to say that there is no switch that is going to be flipped, and none of these teams will hit the run that the Lakers had in 01, or SA in 99. However all of them are playing better of late, and in Sacramento's case extremely well till these two surprisingly tough battles against Utah. It will be a battle, and a very fun battle to watch. The wild card is Dallas. A team whose record is similar to the rest of the elite in the west, but is less playoff tested. Are they ready to compete? Early results appear to be positive, but things get more difficult for all these teams in the second round. Prediction time. Although the first two games would point to an LA three peat, I'm going to pick the Sacramento Kings. These first two games should have been a wake up call for the Kings who the Jazz now have the complete attention of. The second round will feature a nice battle between them and Dallas. Los Angeles and San Antonio will be a battle(provided David Robinson is healthy). What it comes down to is which team will be ready to handle the Western Conference Finals after a battle in the second round, and I see the Lakers/Spurs victor not having enough in the tank to finish the battle in the third round after a brutal fight.

Breakout Players: Dirk Nowitzki. Turned the big three in Dallas into the big one and two other all stars. Runner-ups: Shawn Marion, Steve Nash, Wally Szczerbiak, Peja Stojakovich.

Underrated Players: Brent Barry tie Cuttino Mobley. Barry might belong in the Breakout Player category, but I'll leave him out of it for the time being, as I'm curious to see what he'll do next year. Mobley has been terrific again, and gets no recognition for it. Runner-ups: Shawn Marion, Bonzi Wells

Overrated Players: Antawn Jamison. Clearly this year for Jamison and the Warriors has been a tough one. Jamison has too much talent to not be able to improve this team when it was as healthy as it was. Changes must be made with this team in several areas, but all the changes in the world will mean nothing if Jamison can't go and play the way he has shown to be capable of. Runner-ups: Larry Hughes, Jason Williams (the perennial candidate for this award).

Players to look out for in the next year or two: This list starts off with Hedo Turkoglu. The Kings forward can do it all and has shown he's ready to step into a starting (and starring?) role. The question is for what team? And what position? Runner-ups: Lamar Odom, Corey Maggette, Quentin Richardson, Michael Olowakandi (catching a pattern here?), Chauncey Bullups, Pau Gasol.

Teams on the Rise: The Dallas Mavericks. I would put the Clippers this year except they are ALWAYS a team of the future. Until they one day become a team of the present I will exclude them from all team on the rise debates. As for the Mavs, they are young, terrific, and getting better all the time. Might only be a matter of time before they own the west. Runner up: LAC (I'm sorry I just couldn't resist. This team has too much talent to screw this up.)

Teams on the Fall: Utah. Made the playoffs probably for the last time, and making the most out of their stay thus far. Runner Ups. Denver, Phoenix (for the short term anyway), Seattle.

Teams to watch in the Offseason: The Clippers. Sterling has shown the lack of signing players that deserve it (at least in terms of market value). Could this be the year he lengthens his arms and makes the clippers a powerhouse for the next decade? It all starts this offseason, either a change in the Clips reputation, or a restarting of their pathetic cycle.

West Coach of the Year: Greg Popovich. I can't believe I'm saying this. Personally I hate Popovich and screamed with joy when I found out he was leaving a certain part of the power he had in San Antonio. But this team is on top of the Midwest, and with a young point guard, and no significant talent around Duncan, Popovich has to start being given some credit, as much as I shiver in disgust by saying that. Runner-ups: Rick Adelman, Jerry Sloan, Alvin Gentry.

MVP of the West: Tim Duncan. Bar none. No one has carried his team further this year with less. There's no one close in the west. Runner Ups. Gary Payton, Chris Webber, Dirk Nowitzki, Shaquille O'nel(Being the best player in the world always makes you a candidate).

Overall: I'd say this year was a huge disappointment. Early signs appeared that this would be the year the East begins to get back on track after a horrible showing last year. Instead the conference derailed even further. In the West we've seen teams that are powerhouses like LA, Dallas, and Sacramento, with the Spurs, but we've seen other teams like Minnesota and Portland stall. Sure there have been some nice surprises. Clearly the young teams in the East that sit on the top of the standing deserve lots of praise, but was their achievements simply becoming better then the teams previously ahead of them? Or did the competition simply fall enough for them to get within reach with only a little improvement? Until this conference gets healthier, it will be tough to say exactly what level it is at a whole, but early signs are not promising. Hopefully the playoffs will make up for the year, which resembled the collective state of the league's players. Lots of potential, but not quite the production we should be expecting from the highest level of basketball in the world.