The wild, wild west from Scout.com

Bob Corwin of Scout.com revisited his Western Conference predictions this week, and with a tip of the hat to the Women’s Hoops Blog, I present a bit of those recaps to you.

Update: (Candace) Parker continues to live up to the hype, drawing larger than average crowds for away games. However, she has failed to reproduce her initial effort against the Mercury. This is in a large part due to the balance in scoring of the Sparks front line, however. Parker’s versatility, though, shows just how good she is. Through her first 14 games, per game CP3 was ninth in scoring, second in rebounds, ninth in assists and third in blocks. Overall, she ranks second in Efficiency Rating. Throw in 50% from behind the arc (but only about one per game taken). Best in the world? Maybe not yet, but easily top five. Who would you take to start your team with tomorrow?

If you don’t read it completely, you should, but Corwin makes some great points that can’t be ignored right at the finish.

So far still true …

Biggest surprise out West: Houston coming back into playoff contention after its miserable start, particularly with injuries to Thompson and Dixon.

Conference MVP through June: Diana Taurasi.

While you can argue about his conference MVP pick (cases can be made for Sophia Young and Candace Parker), you have to admit that Taurasi’s play this season has kept the Mercury in playoff contention after their horrible start.