Happy Hour Sports Talk’s Mark and Jared continue into Season 2 of the podcast with a 2021/2022 NBA Western Conference preview, along with which teams will be playoff bound and which are set-up for another lottery selection. Starting at the bottom of the conference with Houston, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City (4:06), before diving deep into a potential conference order in:

(6:25) - New Orlean Pelicans - Are Zion and Brandon Ingram good enough to get into the play-in games? How much better can Zion get?

(10:39) - Minnesota Timberwolves - Can their depth as one-way players transition to some two-way potential development?

(14:44) - Sacramento Kings - Can Luke Walton coach the depth that the Kings have on the perimeter? Does the roster have the “it” factor?

(20:08) - Memphis Grizzlies - Does another 8th seed constitute a successful season? Can Ja Morant develop into a better shooter?

(25:00) - Portland Blazers - How good does this team need to be to appease Damian Lillard? Have they patched the holes well enough?

(28:50) - LA Clippers/Dallas Mavericks - Does the Mavericks defensive struggle begin with a lack of rim protection from Porzingis? Can Paul George carry the load for a deep Clippers team? Will they defend as well without Kawhi?

(35:41) - Golden State Warriors - Does Otto Porter fill the role that Kelly Oubre was meant to fill? Can James Wiseman improve on his inefficiencies?

(40:18) - Denver Nuggets - Does Michael Porter Jr take on more ball handling responsibly in the pick-and-roll?

(44:54) - LA Lakers - Will the Lakers roster last 82 games without major injury? Do the big 3 play more than 20 games together all season?

(52:04) - Utah Jazz - Will bringing back their top 7 players from last season result in the same finish? Did they get better defensively?

(55:07) - Phoenix Suns - Does progression for this squad mean top seed or bust? Or will the individual players taking a step forward mean success?

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