Going up? Good luck in loaded West

The falling apart of the three-way trade that would have delivered point guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers may have assisted the Phoenix Suns' quest to participate in the 2012 NBA playoffs. That's right. Even though management is attempting to line up as much cap space as possible for next summer's free-agent gala, coaches and players are focused on winning. They really don't care how impressive the next draft list may be, either. For context, we give you Lon Babby, the Suns' president of basketball operations, explaining the one-year deals bestowed upon free-agent backcourt additions Shannon Brown and Sebastian Telfair. "The overriding goal on all that, while trying to remain as competitive as we can in the West, is to keep our eye on the bigger picture in term of maintaining our cap space." Babby said after Sunday night's training-camp workout at Grand Canyon University's Recreation Center So there you have it. Anyway, with the aforementioned trade seemingly buried, Pau Gasol won't be leaving the Lakers to work the low post for the Houston Rockets. And that also may influence the interest of Nene -- the Denver Nuggets' unrestricted free-agent post -- in signing with the Rockets. The Rockets, you may recall, finished ninth in last year's Western Conference derby -- just one spot ahead of the Suns. There will be more rumors and real news before the free-agent marketplace closes, but for now, the Rockets probably won't have two of the conference's top bigs to help lift them into the postseason. Only a few days into free agency, let's take a quick look at the Western Conference landscape. First, let's keep believing last season's top four seeds -- the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers, the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder -- haven't done anything (or enough) to completely fall out of the playoffs in 2012. The Mavs didn't bring back Tyson Chandler, but their roster seems pretty fluid and still will include Dirk Nowitzki. The Lakers may have to pay through the personnel nose if they land Dwight Howard, but he and Kobe could play with two or three rec-center cats and reach the postseason. The Nuggets, seeded fifth last season, may lose Nene and have unrestricted FA Wilson Chandler working in China, which also happens to be the workplace for restricted FA Kenyon Martin. Unless, for some crazy reason, they don't match whatever offer sheet Arron Afflalo signs, the Nuggets still may have enough to finish in the top eight. The Portland Trail Blazers were sixth without even limited assistance from Brandon Roy and Greg Oden. That will continue. If LaMarcus Aldridge is able to resume playing at recent levels, the Blazers should be in the fight. The New Orleans Hornets (seventh in 2011) might have been pretty competitive with Lamar Odom, Luis Scola and Kevin Martin but may engender enough league-created chaos to slip a bit. There's a long way to go in the roster-building process, however. The Memphis Grizzlies were eighth in the last playoff race and probably won't go anywhere but north. After Houston and Phoenix, we see the Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors and L.A. Clippers. Derrick Favors is a year older in Salt Lake City, where Al Jefferson supposedly has experienced a physical revelation that had nothing to do with an alleged biting by his girlfriend. The Warriors have a new coach (Mark Jackson) and reportedly have signed Clips center DeAndre Jordan to a four-year, 43 million offer sheet. Yeah ... wow. The Clippers, who may not need Jordan to deal for Paul but might want him to inspire Blake Griffin to re-sign later, reportedly will match it. Last season's 14th seed, those pesky Sacramento Kings, drafted Jimmer Fredette, brought back Marcus Thornton, lost Samuel Dalembert and have a better-conditioned DeMarcus Cousins. The Minnesota Timberwolves added Derrick Williams, Ricky Rubio and coach Rick Adelman. Yeah, this should be some hayride. WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR HIMSELF? As a premium athlete with evolving skills, the freshly signed Shannon Brown is expected to energize the Phoenix Suns at both ends of the floor. "I'm an athlete, but I do work hard to make myself a better basketball player," said Brown, who spent the last two-plus seasons working as a reserve in a Los Angeles Lakers backcourt that featured Kobe Bryant. A former Illinois Mr. Basketball while at high school hotbed Proviso East in Maywood, Brown was a second-round pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers after averaging 17 points per game as a junior at Michigan State. Before reaching the Lakers, Brown and his nasty vertical hopped from Cleveland to the D-League, a trip that was followed by quick work with the Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Bobcats. Brown, who gave the Lakers eight points per game over the last two season, was asked if he sought Suns-related input from league acquaintances with experience in the Phoenix system. "I try to make my own footprints in the sand," he said. And if the footprints lead anywhere, his current one-year contract may lead to something more significant. "I have a chance to set myself and my family up for life," Brown said. The significance of this isn't lost on the team president. "Shannon Brown came here on a one-year deal," Babby said. "What that means to me is that he's willing to bet on himself. When you've got a player that's willing to bet on himself, that shows a lot of strength of character." TWO POINTS OF INTEREST Sebastian Telfair, signed last week to compete for the Suns' backup point guard gig, admitted he's excited about the opportunity to learn the pick-and-roll ropes from two-time Most Valuable Player Steve Nash. He also revealed that Nash's is his mother's favorite player. We're assuming Sebastian, who went directly from high school to the No. 13 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, checks in at No. 2. Or perhaps its his cousin, former Suns point guard Stephon Marbury. Telfair, who slipped to third on the point guard depth chart on the league's worst team (the Minnesota Timberwolves) last season, is hoping to resurrect a level of the original expectation. "This is an important spot for him, and I think he sees it that way," Babby said of a player who's struggled to justify the considerable hype that accompanied his entry into the league. "This is his chance to really shine and work with Steve. I think we have a chance to catch lightning in a bottle."