BEST IN WEST MAY BE BETTER.

Byline: Associated Press 

The Western Conference was so bad last season that the 36-46 Clippers made the playoffs. Things will be better this year.

There are six teams that could win 60 wins, an increase of two from last year when there were four very good teams, three OK teams and seven lower-echelon clubs, including the Clippers.

Still strong are the Utah Jazz, the Lakers, Seattle SuperSonics and Houston Rockets, and the improved San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns make the West even better.

David Robinson, Sean Elliott and Chuck Person were injured most of last season, but all three are ready to go on Halloween night for the Spurs. And they're also got a new starting power forward: Tim Duncan, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

The Suns made some noise with Danny Ainge's ``small-ball'' lineup last season, and now they've added Antonio McDyess at forward.

The young Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves aren't yet in the conference elite, but they're well ahead of the West's bottom-feeders.

``It looks like parity is in evidence more than it has been in many years. It should be a dogfight out here,'' Lakers coach Del Harris said.

The Lakers are one of the favorites to emerge from the regular season with the best record in the West and homecourt advantage through the conference finals - and maybe longer.

The Lakers go into the season with only one new role player, Rick Fox, and with the rest of the cast returning from the team that won 56 games last season. Harris and point guard Nick Van Exel insist they have put their feud behind them.

``They are the team that has the most potential,'' Ainge said.

Utah and Seattle might have been considered better bets to beat out the Lakers, but the Jazz will be without John Stockton (knee surgery) for the first few weeks.

``He's the guy that coaches our team,'' Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.

The homecourt advantage meant a lot to Utah last season, when the Jazz didn't lose in the playoffs at the Delta Center until Game 5 of the Finals against Chicago.

``They have a system and they're well-coached. John Stockton is important, but I see those guys finding a way to keep their heads above water,'' Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said.

``I don't think they'll take a big dip, so we all have to find a way to get ahead of them.''

The SuperSonics, meanwhile, will have to adjust to Vin Baker and life without Shawn Kemp. Not far removed from the team that won 64 games in 1995-96, Seattle also strengthened its bench.

Tomjanovich's Rockets also are among the West's top echelon, but age and the toils of many NBA seasons have taken their toll on Charles Barkley and Clyde Drexler, and to a lesser degree, Hakeem Olajuwon.

The Rockets have been so injury-prone that they've worked the CBA callup list incessantly over the past two years. But there's no denying they are a dangerous team when the Big Three are healthy.

``We'll be better than we were last year, and we'll have to be because the West is going to be real tough,'' Tomjanovich said.

The Spurs had the biggest turnaround in NBA history when they went 20-62 last season, a 39-game drop, after setting the record for most improvement in a single season - plus-35 in 1989-90, Robinson's rookie season.

Their disastrous 1996-97 season didn't turn out to be so bad after all when they won the draft lottery and got the rights to Duncan.

``No rookie can do what he does. That's going to be very obvious to people very quickly,'' coach Gregg Popovich said, adding that Duncan is the best passing center since Bill Walton.

Trying to move into the upper strata will be the Suns, who pulled off two good trades in the past 10 months by acquiring Jason Kidd from Dallas and Antonio McDyess from Denver.

``We may have a slow start,'' Ainge said. ``But we feel we're the deepest team in the league, we can withstand an injury at any position and come playoff time we'll be able to beat any of those teams.''

Minnesota signed Kevin Garnett to a $126 million, six-year extension even though he hasn't helped deliver a .500 season or a playoff victory. The Timberwolves may have gotten too giddy over the modest success of last season (40-42).

Portland was among the best teams in the league at the end of the regular season, winning 20 of its last 25. The Blazers changed coaches over the summer, going from P.J. Carlesimo to Mike Dunleavy, and gave Brian Grant the richest free-agent contract of the summer ($63 million).

Sacramento, which folded down the stretch by losing 14 of 15 in late March, shouldn't threaten for a playoff spot.

Golden State, Vancouver, Dallas and Denver will struggle, and then there's the Clippers, whose 36-46 record won't get it done this time.

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PHOTO No. 1 draft pick Tim Duncan, left, is expected to greatly improve the fortunes of the San Antonio Spurs.

Associated Press