WESTERN CONFERENCE

The West should be best. The question is, which team will be the best in the West?

The Jazz is still the Jazz, although Karl Malone seemed to go out of his gourd during the off-season, which he started by turning professional wrestler with his archenemy/new friend Dennis Rodman. This was followed by appearances as labor hawk, talk show host and aspiring Laker, although he regained his senses when Jazz owner Larry Miller told him, “How does a couple of seasons at $14 mil apiece sound, big guy?”

The Lakers have more talent than anyone, although it looks as if they may go out of their gourds in the preseason and sign Rodman.

The Spurs have two of the game’s four top centers and, unlike last season, may be able to field a team around them.

The Rockets have another in their series of Big Threes, making another in their series of last hurrahs, but they’re almost as old as the Jazz, and, unlike the Jazz, have been showing it.

The post-George Karl SuperSonics still have a talented roster. If the new coach, Paul Westphal, can find some magic of his own, they’ll stay an elite team.

In any case, it’ll be fast company. The four best centers--Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson--are out West now, with a bunch of bright young players: Kevin Garnett, Stephon Marbury, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Kobe Bryant.

For the West, if it isn’t now, you’d have to wonder when.

PACIFIC DIVISION

(IN PROJECTED ORDER OF FINISH)

1. LOS ANGELES LAKERS

Projected Starters:

Derek Fisher

Eddie Jones

Rick Fox

Robert Horry

Shaquille O’Neal

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1997-98 record: 61-21.

Offense rank: 1.

Defense rank: 20.

Coming: Travis Knight, Derek Harper.

Going: Nick Van Exel.

It’s a little early in the game for this budding dynasty to panic, but that’s where it’s at.

Frustrated by an inability to make the pieces fit, an influential segment of management--read Jerry Buss, not Jerry West--is so desperate, it may roll the dice on Dennis Rodman.

There’s still a logjam at shooting guard between Eddie Jones, who deserves better, and Bryant, who’s now the game’s highest-paid reserve and not its most patient.

Up to now, the chemistry has been better than it had been with Nick Van Exel. Of course, the moment Rodman meanders into the dressing room for the first time, probably late, the chemistry will change forever.

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2. SEATTLE SUPERSONICS

Projected Starters:

Gary Payton

Billy Owens

Detlef Schremof

Vin Baker

Olden Polynce

1997-98 record: 61-21.

Offense rank: 4.

Defense rank: 11.

Coming: Coach Paul Westphal, Billy Owens, Olden Polynice, Don MacLean.

Going: Coach George Karl, Jim McIlvaine, Sam Perkins.

Management’s long-running standoff with Karl ended last summer when Karl, having won a lot of games but no titles, was allowed to leave for the riches and approval he yearned for, even if it was in frozen Milwaukee.

Owner Barry Ackerley and General Manager Wally Walker hired Westphal, the bright young man who won a lot of games--but no title--in Phoenix before getting dumped.

However, Karl coaches a peculiar trapping defensive scheme. Westphal was a laissez-faire players’ kind of coach, whose Suns scored a lot of points and gave up almost as many.

Polynice fits better than McIlvaine, but they’ll miss Perkins, whose three-point shooting bedeviled opposing centers. The big question is how much they’ll miss Karl.

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3. PHOENIX SUNS

Projected Starters:

Jason Kidd

Rex Chapman

Cliff Robinson

Tom Gugliotta

Luc Longley

*

1997-98 record: 56-26.

Offense rank: 6.

Defense rank: 12.

Coming: Tom Gugliotta, Luc Longley, Chris Morris.

Going: Antonio McDyess, Kevin Johnson, Steve Nash.

Oops.

The Suns saved their money for years for this off-season, but the unthinkable happened. No one ever leaves player-friendly Phoenix, but McDyess did, for the lowly Nuggets, leaving Jerry Colangelo with pink cheeks and, when the lockout ended, only Jason Kidd and Danny Manning under contract.

In time--a week--Colangelo rebuilt the Suns, although how well remains to be seen.

Gugliotta would have been a nice piece for the Lakers, but who says he’s a franchise player? Longley looked OK--with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

Coach Danny Ainge did wonders last season and will probably keep the Suns entertaining and contending, for a playoff berth, anyway. It’s just that they were hoping for more.

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4. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS

Projected Starters

Damon Stoudamire

Isaiah Rider

Brian Grant

Rasheed Wallace

Arvydas Sabonis

*

1997-98 record: 46-36.

Offense rank: 19.

Defense rank: 10.

Coming: Greg Anthony, Jim Jackson.

Going: No one of consequence.

Fortunately or not for Mike Dunleavy, he has all his starters back.

Dunleavy arrived in Portland defending his new players against their old “Jail Blazer” reputations. Within a month, he knew better.

The Trail Blazers have more problems than immaturity: Damon Stoudamire, the former Oregon high school star hailed as a messiah, turned out to be a 40% shooter. The Rasheed Wallace-Brian Grant tandem, which looked fine on paper, didn’t work on the court where Wallace--who had just gotten an $80-million extension--seemed to fade the farther from the basket he played. With Arvydas Sabonis limited by bad knees, they’re looking at a short window.

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5. SACRAMENTO KINGS

Projected Starters

Jason Williams

Tariq Abdul-Wahad

Chris Webber

Corliss Williamson

Vlade Divac

*

1997-98 record: 27-55.

Offense rank: 22.

Defense rank: 23.

Coming: Coach Rick Adelman, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, rookie Jason Williams.

Going: Coach Eddie Jordan, Mitch Richmond, Michael Stewart.

Gee, where did they come from?

Lame, listless ducks who moped through their paces while waiting for management to deal the unhappy Richmond, they’ve come back with an impressive front line of Divac, Webber and Corliss Williamson and a promising backcourt with the rookie Williams and second-year Tariq Abdul-Wahad (the former Olivier Saint-Jean.)

The question, as always, is Webber’s attitude (he put the Kings on freeze all summer, refusing to acknowledge the trade). Then there’s Williams, a great athlete with a real flair who left Florida after two suspension-filled seasons.

Now to see what all the fuss was about.

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6. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Projected Starters:

Bimbo Coles

John Starks

Antawn Jamison

Donyell Marshall

Erick Dampier

*

1997-98 record: 19-63.

Offense rank: 29.

Defense rank: 18.

Coming: Rookie Antawn Jamison, John Starks, Chris Mills, Terry Cummings.

Going: Latrell Sprewell, Jim Jackson, Clarence Weatherspoon.

P.J. Carlesimo should not get choked this season, which makes it an improvement.

It isn’t so much talent--there is some--as the gloom that hung over the franchise long after Sprewell left, with young players complaining about Carlesimo’s defense.

Nor does the cloud seem to have lifted. Starks, the key to the Sprewell deal, skulked around in camp, looking depressed to be there.

The man who could make the difference is Jamison, a big star at North Carolina, but a big forward in a small forward’s body here. Just what kind of small forward he is will tell a lot about where they’re going.

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7. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

Projected Starters:

Darrick Martin

Eric Piatkowski

Lamond Murray

Rodney Rogers

Lorenzen Wright

*

1997-98 record: 17-65.

Offense rank: 13.

Defense rank: 27.

Coming: Coach Chris Ford, rookie Michael Olowokandi.

Going: Coach Bill Fitch, Loy Vaught.

Another demonstration of why planning is so important . . . and why you can always find the Clippers by going down to the cellar and turning on the light.

Donald Sterling nudged Elgin Baylor toward Chris Ford rather than Jim Brewer, which was OK. Unfortunately, The Donald waited until Jan. 13, when the new coach first set foot in his new city.

Then there was the unfortunate absence of Olowokandi for all but the end of camp.

Thus, a talented young roster with a horde of desirable big players (Lamond Murray, who seems primed to break out; Maurice Taylor; Lorenzen Wright; Rodney Rogers and Olowokandi, a prospect, if a long-range one), looks like it’s destined to get off to another slow start, about its 10,000th in a row.

Then there’s the $4 million under the cap they’re sitting on and the $1.75-million exception they didn’t exercise . . .

When will Sterling ever learn? Obviously not in this century.

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MIDWEST DIVISION

(IN PROJECTED ORDER OF FINISH)

1. SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Projected Starters:

Avery Johnson

Jaren Jackson

Sean Elliott

Tim Duncan

David Robinson

*

1997-98 record: 56-26.

Offense rank: 23.

Defense rank: 1.

Coming: Mario Elie, Antonio Daniels, Steve Kerr, Jerome Kersey.

Going: Vinny Del Negro, Chuck Person, Monty Williams.

They’d have liked to get a better athlete, like Sprewell, but the Spurs, Twin Towers and 10 mud huts a year ago, fleshed out their roster and should continue to rise.

Duncan, who averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 54.9% as a rookie, is already the game’s consensus No. 2 center. Shaq may want to reconsider talking trash at him because Duncan looks like the type who goes into the weight room and lifts for two hours every time he’s insulted.

A year ago, there was a mummy in Sean Elliott’s uniform. Struggling with sore knees and the old three-point line, his scoring average plummeted from 20 to 15 to 9 in three seasons. But this preseason, he looked explosive again.

Shooting guard, where journeyman Jaren Jackson starts, remains a problem.

If this works, the Lakers had better watch out, this is the other half of the Western rivalry of the 21st century.

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2. UTAH JAZZ

Projected Starters:

John Stockton

Jeff Hornacek

Bryon Russell

Karl Malone

Greg Ostertag

*

1997-98 record: 62-20.

Offense rank: 3.

Defense rank: 13.

Coming: Thurl Bailey.

Going: Antoine Carr, Chris Morris.

For the Jazz, which has aged so gracefully for so long, it was a tough lockout, with their stars enlisting on different sides. Malone went from organization man to hawk overnight while Stockton and Hornacek made dovish pleas at a union meeting and were shouted down.

What does this mean for team chemistry? Probably little.

Spurned by LaPhonso Ellis, they added no one of consequence, unless you count 37-year-old Thurl Bailey, who has been out of the league for four seasons.

The bad news for opponents is they won’t be any worse. The bad news in Utah is that with Stockton about to turn 37 and Malone 36, they won’t be any better.

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3. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

Projected Starters:

Stephon Marbury

Anthony Peeler

Joe Smith

Kevin Garnett

Dean Garrett

*

1997-98 record: 45-37.

Offense rank: 2.

Defense rank: 25.

Coming: Dean Garrett, Joe Smith, Bobby Jackson.

Going: Tom Gugliotta, Cherokee Parks.

Kevin McHale, who rebuilt the Timberwolves, wound up with egg on his face and nothing else to show when Gugliotta left for Phoenix, having turned down Eddie Jones (and Elden Campbell).

Not that it’s all over here. Gugliotta’s departure opens the door for Garnett, the talented youngster who’s beginning his $120-million contract and needs the extra responsibility and the extra shots.

Getting Garrett back helped, although the Timberwolves are still flimsy up front. Getting Smith, the top pick in the 1995 draft who turned down an $80-million extension from the Warriors and is now on a one-year, $1.75-million deal, could really help--if Smith regains the hunger and scrappiness he showed at Maryland and rarely since.

Things are coming to a head fast. Marbury, a free agent this summer, has made no secret of his desire to leave and he has a new agent . . . David Falk.

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4. HOUSTON ROCKETS

Projected Starters:

Matt Maloney

Michael Dickerson

Scottie Pippen

Charles Barkley

Hakeem Olajuwon

*

1997-98 record: 41-41.

Offense rank: 7.

Defense rank: 24.

Coming: Scottie Pippen, Antoine Carr, rookies Michael Dickerson and Bryce Drew.

Going: Clyde Drexler, Mario Elie.

Someone must have forgotten to put a stake through their hearts because the vampires of the West are back for still another of their hurrahs.

You’ve got to like a team that starts with three of the game’s all-time top 50 players, but there isn’t much depth. Dickerson, the 14th pick in the draft and no lead-pipe cinch, has been penciled in at starting shooting guard, alongside Matt Maloney, who is tough and can shoot but is slow.

The big question is the big three: Hakeem Olajuwon, who missed 35 games last season; Charles Barkley, who missed 43 in the last two and Pippen, who’s coming off back surgery. If they hold up under the pressure of 50 games in 90 nights, they won’t be anyone you’d like to see in the playoffs.

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5. DALLAS MAVERICKS

Projected Starters:

Steve Nash

Michael Finley

Dirk Nowitzki

A.C. Green

John “Hot Rod” Williams

*

1997-98 record: 20-62.

Offense rank: 26.

Defense rank: 19.

Coming: Rookie Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, John “Hot Rod” Williams, Gary Trent.

Going: Kurt Thomas.

After doing pratfalls all over the league in his return, Don Nelson has assembled an impressive-looking bunch of kids, with Nash, Nowitzki and Michael Finley.

Not that they’re ready to do much this season. And not that they’ll ever make much of a move without solving the Shawn Bradley problem.

The 7-6 center, for whom Nelson traded five players, including useful ones such as Sam Cassell and Chris Gatling, and who eats up $7 million of Nellie’s salary cap space annually, has been relegated to the bench, making him a major disappointment with his third team in a row.

If Nowitzki, the 20-year-old, 6-11 German phenom, is as good as advertised, Nellie will be on his way back, finally.

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6. VANCOUVER GRIZZLIES

Projected Starters:

Vancouver--Mike Bibby

Blue Edwards

Shareef Abdur-Rahim

Michael Smith

Bryant Reeves

*

1997-98 record: 19-63.

Offense rank: 10 (tie).

Defense rank: 28.

Coming: Rookie Mike Bibby, Cherokee Parks.

Going: Antonio Daniels, George Lynch.

They don’t have much of a past, but suddenly, the future beckons.

In the greatest thing that ever happened in the short, unhappy history of pro basketball in Canada, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who would have been the prize of this summer’s free-agent class, re-signed for six years.

Hidden away in this remote corner of ball, Abdur-Rahim averaged 22 points in his second season, improved his shooting from 45.3% to 48.5% and made 41% of his three-point shots.

Center Bryant Reeves is OK, if no bargain at $11 million a year. The point is Bibby, second pick in the draft.

Not that it has meant anything in the standings yet. The Grizzlies have yet to win 20 games. They looked like a lock last season when they went 7-11 in November under new Coach Brian Hill but then posted monthly win totals of 3-3-1-2-3.

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7. DENVER NUGGETS

Projected Starters:

Nick Van Exel

Bryant Stith

Eric Williams

Antonio McDyess

Raef LaFrentz

*

1997-98 record: 11-71.

Offense rank: 28.

Defense rank: 26

Going: General Manager Allan Bristow, Coach Bill Hanzlik, most of the roster.

Coming: Antonio McDyess, Nick Van Exel, Chauncey Billups, Monty Williams, rookies Raef LaFrentz and Keon Clark, Coach Mike D’Antoni.

Heady with the reacquisition of McDyess, the Nuggets are already celebrating their return to respectability.

Of course, the games haven’t exactly started yet.

And there’s a problem or two. LaFrentz was penciled in as the starting center, a stretch for a rookie who isn’t considered a lock as a power forward. Eric Williams and Bryant Stith are coming off injuries that ended last season for them at four and 31 games, respectively. Van Exel, expected to be signed long-term (part ofthe new Denver-Tony Dutt-McDyess alliance), has problem knees and, you may have heard, gets upset now and then.

It’s still an upgrade for the Nuggets, and it may be an education as well.