The man in the middle won’t be with the Phoenix Suns from now on as Steve Nash was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. There are big shoes to fill in the desert. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

In the midst of the upcoming season four of the five teams in the Western Conference’s Pacific Division improved on paper. The odd man out — the Phoenix Suns.

With this said, I think it’s quite simple who can win the match up between the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix — it isn’t the Suns. Last season, with a superstar who created the offense in Steve Nash, the Suns finished at .500 with a 33-33 record. Phoenix’s lost seven-more games than the Clippers, which finished at 40-26, and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Like the bounty hunters they are, the Los Angeles Lakers swiped Nash, the 38-year-old point guard, for three first-round draft picks. In my opinion, this is good for the Lakers now, good for the Suns later. However, this is here nor there since this conversation has been going on for over a month.

At the same time, this trade is awesome for the Clippers when they go to Phoenix or invite the Suns to the Staple Center because Nash was all they had to win games. In 62 games of the 66-game lockout season, Nash averaged 12.5 points and 10.7 assist per game. Without him, the Suns don’t have one of the most efficient shooters in the game and one of the best passers.

In an attempt to replace Nash the Suns brought in Goran Dragic. Last season with the Houston Rockets he averaged 11.7 assists and 5.3 assists in 26 minutes per game.

I’m a fan of Dragic, but I don’t think he can carry an offense into a playoff berth. He can shoot, but not quite as good as Nash. He can make a great pass, but does he know when to make it? I’ve seen glimpses, but not enough to make me say yes. Filling the shoes of Nash is a lot to put in front of a four-year player, especially when the mission is to play fantastic from the get-go. Dragic is going to have people looking over his back from the first tip-off of the season. It is not easy to play to expectations when you could get the axe at any moment.

Can Goran Dragic fill the shoes of Steve Nash — even if it’s just enough to win? Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE

Rookie Kendall Marshall is not a good shooter but he can push the tempo of a game and find an open man better than anyone in the NCAA could last season when he was with the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Besides Nash, they lost Grant Hill — who the Clippers signed in free agency — Josh Childress, Michael Redd, Robin Lopez, Ronnie Price and Hakim Warrick.

Hill will be missed because of his experience and leadership. I know, I know leadership and experienced are overrated when the player is in his 40′s. In a few weeks, Hill will be 40-years-old. On the other hand, Hill can still run, grab rebounds and play a solid level of defense. I wouldn’t count the man out.

Childress has never been one of my favorite players and was overrated in Phoenix. The Suns are probably better without him since they have Jared Dudley and Shannon Brown. Both are better shooters and can do more than him elsewhere on the court.

I was surprised Redd could still play. When I say play, I mean come in the game for 15-minutes and fill up his portion of the box score with points. He scored 8.2 ppg in 51 games last season. However, he isn’t the player you keep on a team that is trying to find itself. See how I kept myself from saying rebuilding.

Lopez, Price and Warrick are replaceable and they were.

The remaining players could put up the numbers they did last season, but I think Nash’s 10 assists per game had a lot to do with their success.

Marcin Gortat averaged 15.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Dudley averaged 12.7 points, Brown 11, Channing Frye 10.5 and Markieff Morris 7.4. I guarantee a few of these players struggle this upcoming season because they are not getting as open shots.

What the Suns did do is bring in some supporting talent who could have/should have/might be All-Stars — Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson and Luis Scola.

Michael Beasley is now the best scorer, arguably best player, on the Phoenix Suns. I don’t think he has matured enough to lead a team to tough victories, especially against the Clippers. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

Beasley is a physical upgrade to Hill, but can he keep his mind in the game long enough to make a difference? The pick-up of Johnson allows Dudley to move to the three and come off the bench, which the Suns will need him to be big. The Johnson/Brown shooting guard duo could be something special — if they can make it work.

Scola is definitely an upgrade over Frye. I think Frye is one of the worst players in the league for his size of 6-foot 10-inches. He was the second leading rebounder for Phoenix last season with 5.9, behind Gortat’s 10.5. You can’t tell me a man that tall shouldn’t grab a few more rebounds per game.

The pickups, drops, trades and the returning have the Phoenix lineup looking like this:

1) Dragic

2) Johnson

3) Beasley

4) Scola

5) Gortat

This means Scola and Beasley are the heartbeat of the team.

Can anyone trust Beasley to be a team leader or a main guy for a winning franchise? Can Scola ever become more than a good second or third fiddle? I honestly don’t think they can.

Beasley is going to chuck up a lot of shots and score points. He isn’t a great rebounder or defender and when his shot isn’t falling, he’ll disappear. The Suns don’t have enough behind him to let him fall into the abyss.

At the same time, Scola is exactly what I said he was, a second or third fiddle. When Beasley disappears Scola will be asked to step up. He will sometimes, but he is not always a guarantee to lead his team to victory. See the Houston Rockets last season or the season before in which he was the No. 1 guy for the most part. Scola puts up good numbers as an above average role player, not as the No. 1 option.

If Scola wants to change his NBA legacy, he needs to make some playoff appearances. Can he be a top tier guy for the Suns? Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

The Sun’s lack of leadership or guys to step up when they need to makes it easy for me to pick Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Paul is the formidable leader Dragic only hopes to be. Caron Butler is the highly productive player night-in and night-out that Beasley is whenever he wants to be, DeAndre is a better defender than Gortat and Griffin steps up to take over games at a level Scola only dreams of. Plus, the Clippers bench of Hill, Lamar Odom and Jamal Crawford could school Dudley, Brown and Frye any day.

Phoenix may win one game, maybe two, but I’ll have my faith in Los Angeles every game since they have the better overall list of talent.

DeAndre Jordan could be a beast, but he hasn't had any kind of consistency to this point in his 4-year NBA career.

Last season, I was sure DeAndre Jordan was going to have a breakout season with unbelievable rebound and blocked shot numbers. This thought process had me reach for him in the fifth round of my fantasy basketball league.

He scored 7.4 points per game (.3 higher than 2010-11), grabbed 5.2 rebounds per game (.6 higher) and blocked two shots per game (.2 higher). The only statistic even close to being called a breakout performance was he improved his free-throw shooting from 45% to 52%. I would hardly call barely .500 from the charity stripe something spectacular.

With the stats as proof, my thought process was off — to say the least.

However, Jordan is still young and could have a monster year during any season. With that said, I’ll probably do it again this year if given the chance, which I’m sure I will be.

The upcoming season is only his fifth season. He is young, can run the court, has exceptional athleticism, is showing improved knowledge for the fundamentals of the game and by the way, he plays with one of the best point guards in the league — Chris Paul. If Paul made Tyson Chandler look like an offensive minded center with the New Orleans Hornets, the sky is the limit for Jordan.

The question is, when will he mentally get his game to the level of his God given athletic gifts? Every Clipper fan is screaming this for the 2012-13 NBA season.

For all of his highlight dunks and blocks, Jordan takes plays off mentally. One minute he looks like he could be a top five center and the next he looks like he went to the Shawn Bradley school of basketball. I hope Bradley doesn’t have a school, please, tell me he doesn’t.

He gets frustrated to easy, looks lost on offensive plays, doesn’t seem to know how to get open for a beautiful dime from Chris Paul unless it’s an alley-opp and is out of position for rebounds, even though he is 6-foot 11-inches and 250 pounds of muscle. Sure, these flaws are not shown on every possession, offensively or defensively, but they show their ugly face enough to be recognized.

This is where DeAndre Jordan should step in, accept the pass and dunk all over the competition.

Jordan desperately needs to take this season as an opportunity to show he deserves to be mentioned with other NBA All-Star centers.

There isn’t a doubt in my mind he could be mentioned with Al Horford, Roy Hibbert and Marc Gasol. Do I think he is now, no way, he’s in a tier or two underneath them. But could he be before his career is over, definitely.

Right now I would probably put Jordan right outside of the top 15 behind the likes of (In no order except for by tier):

Tier A: Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, Al Jefferson, Greg Monroe and Marc Gasol

Tier B: DeMarcus Cousins, Roy Hibbert, Al Horford, Marcin Gortat, David Lee

Tier C: Nene, Tyson Chandler, Joakim Noah, Andrew Bogut (only because of injury, should be higher), Brook Lopez (same as Bogut)

Tier D: DeAndre Jordan, Channing Frye, Chris Kaman, JaVale McGee, Spencer Hawes

Like I mentioned before, there is no doubt Jordan can move up the ranks. I can easily see him at the top of tier B or at the bottom of A by the end of this season or by the end of the next. He simply has to take 2 (mind) + 2 (physical ability) to = 4 (a complete NBA center).