The NBA Draft has come and gone. So has the Vegas Summer League. Most of the attractive names in free agency have either re-upped with their previous teams, or relocated to new ones. Basketball fans will have the Olympics to tide them over until NBA training camps start this fall.

There’s been a lot of jockeying for position, especially in the Western Conference. Some teams have completely revamped, some teams have added a piece or two in hopes of competing for a ring. The question in the Valley is…have the Phoenix Suns done enough to remain in the discussion of the Western Conference’s top teams. They’ll come into the 2008-09 season with the same core players, they’ve added a few pieces in Robin Lopez and free agent Matt Barnes, and they’ll count on a couple of youngsters to contribute. Outside of head coach Mike D’Antoni leaving, the Suns will have a very similar look roster-wise as they did last season. Here’s an early look at what the 2007-08 playoff teams in the Western Conference have done this off-season.

1. Los Angeles Lakers - The defending Western Conference champions haven’t done much. In fact, the only new player on the roster so far is 2nd round draft pick Joe Crawford out of Kentucky. They lost big man Ronny Turiaf to Golden State when they opted not to match his offer sheet. The big X-factor is of course Andrew Bynum, who missed 47 games with a knee injury last season, and did not play in the playoffs. Getting him back in the fold, along with Pau Gasol, who was stolen from Memphis last year, will be a big plus for Phil Jackson’s team.

2. New Orleans Hornets - The Hornets had a phenomenal year in 07-08, and didn’t have the need to do much tweaking. But the one signing they did make was a huge one. James Posey hooked up with the Hornets after winning 2 championships in 3 years in Miami and Boston. He was a huge factor for the Celtics in their championship run, and his defense and clutch shooting will make New Orleans even better this year.

3. San Antonio Spurs - Everybody says the Spurs are getting old, and that may be true. But they still advanced to the Western Conference Finals, and they never win back-to-back titles, so look out for the Spurs again in 08-09. Brent Barry left and signed on with Houston. Michael Finley, Robert Horry and Damon Stoudamire are all unrestricted free agents who have yet to sign. The Spurs did sign Roger Mason from Washington, possibly to take up some of the minutes vacated by Finley. Point guard George Hill, two-guard Malik Hairston and forward James Gist were all draft picks. The Spurs only did minor revamping of their roster, but that’s all that was needed. They are definitely still a force to be reckoned with.

4. Utah Jazz - Another team that didn’t do much in the offseason. The Jazz did swing a deal to acquire backup point guard Brevin Knight. Their draft had a very international feel to it as they picked Ohio State freshman Kosta Koufos in the first round, and followed that up by taking big man Ante Tomic out of Croatia and forward Tadia Dragicevic from Serbia in the 2nd round. Expect the same looking team from a year ago, and if you’re a Jazz fan, that’s a good thing.

5. Houston Rockets - A lot of so-called experts jumped on the Rockets’ bandwagon last year, and trumped them up as a team to watch in the playoffs. We watched alright. We watched Tracy McGrady make yet another first round exit. Granted, the Rockets didn’t have Yao Ming, so it’s probably not a fair assessment. This team helped themselves a lot this offseason. They drafted Donte Green who was among the scoring leaders in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (he dropped 40 on the Suns), big bruiser Joey Dorsey from Memphis, and the serviceable Marty Leunen out of Oregon. They also signed Brent Barry to a free agent deal, and shipped Bobby Jackson and his expiring contract along with Green and a future first round draft pick to Sacramento for troubled star Ron Artest. What a great deal for Houston. With Artest, Shane Battier and Yao in the lineup, they may have turned into the premier defensive team in the league. Good offseason for the Rockets. One potential downer- second year forward Carl Landry is still considering offers to play in Europe next season.

6. Phoenix Suns - We’ve discussed their moves. Draft pick Robin Lopez will provide hustle and defense, and free agent signing Matt Barnes should do the same. Second round pick Goran Dragic looks like he’ll be stuck over in Spain for another year before he can make a contribution in Phoenix. The Suns biggest need in the offseason was to find a backup point guard for Steve Nash, and so far they’ve failed to do that. I’m not sure Phoenix did enough to stay in the elite group of Western Conference teams.

7. Dallas Mavericks - The Mavs started their offseason by firing the head coach who had the highest all-time winning percentage in the history of the NBA. They also brought back big man DeSagana Diop, who was traded to New Jersey in the Jason Kidd deal last season. Journeyman swingman Gerald Green signed a deal and their lone draft pick was a second rounder spent on Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster. Mavs fans are hoping the hiring of Rick Carlisle can keep Dallas relevant in championship discussion, because their offseason activity probably didn’t.

8. Denver Nuggets - The Nuggets trimmed payroll by dealing Marcus Camby to the Clippers. Not a good move. Camby was the one player on the Nuggets’ roster who even pretended to play defense. Allen Iveson and Carmelo Anthony both saw their names pop up in trade talks this offseason, but they’re both still around. The Nuggets did acquire hustler Renaldo Balkman from the Knicks, and Chris Andersen signed a free agent deal as well. Forward Eduardo Najera bolted town and signed with New Jersey. I don’t expect the Nuggets to be a playoff team this season.

Non-playoff teams who helped themselves the most:

Portland Trailblazers - Of course getting Greg Oden back from a year off is a good start. They had a very active draft night, acquiring the rights to Jerryd Bayless along with Ike Diogu from Indiana for Jarrett Jack, Josh McRoberts and the draft rights to Brandon Rush. Bayless demonstrated his ability to score in the NBA Summer League, by pumping in over 29 points per game. They also acquired French rookie Nicolas Batum from Houston. Spanish point guard Rudy Fernandez is in the fold this year as well. Their core of Oden, Roy, Aldridge, Bayless, and Outlaw is really good and really young. If the Blazers learn to play together, look out. This is a playoff team this season.

Los Angeles Clippers - There could have been some real intrigue with the Clippers if Elton Brand had kept his word and re-signed instead of heading to Philadelphia. The Clippers did still manage to land Baron Davis from Golden State, Marcus Camby from Denver, and Ricky Davis from Minnesota. They also had a slew of draft picks including star guard Eric Gordon from Indiana, Mike Taylor from Iowa State and big man DeAndre Jordan from Texas A&M, who was projected to go in the lottery to mid-first round, but fell to the second round. They did lose Brand and Corey Maggette, who went to Golden State. This should be a much improved team from a year ago.

Minnesota Timberwolves - The T’Wolves aren’t there yet, and they were atrocious last season. But they did make a few moves in the right direction- acquiring Rodney Carney and Mike Miller in trades and ending up with the draft rights to Kevin Love from UCLA after a draft-night trade with Memphis. Minnesota’s got a nice young core to build around now with Al Jefferson, Love and Miller.

Based on offseason maneuvering, here’s my very early projection for the Western Conference Standings in 2008-09.

1. New Orleans

2. Los Angeles Lakers

3. Houston

4. Utah

5. San Antonio

6. Phoenix

7. Portland

8. Dallas

9. Los Angeles Clippers

10.Denver

11.Minnesota

12.Sacramento

13.Golden State

14.Seattle

15.Memphis

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