Spurs stand alone as elite of the West

Didn’t you used to be the Western Conference?

Once teams had to be elite class out here to get home-court advantage in the first round. In 2003, the Lakers and Trail Blazers won 50 games and opened on the road.

Now things are a little different.

Elite class:

San Antonio – “It’s a different world in here,” Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said after losing there last week. “It’s a different world against the Spurs compared to the other teams we’ve played this year.”

Next best things:

Clippers, Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, Minnesota.

Playoff contenders:

Golden State, Denver, Lakers, Houston, Seattle.

The lottery beckons:

New Orleans/Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Utah, Portland.

Faces and figures

For the first time, LeBron James said he’ll sign an extension with Cleveland when he’s eligible Aug. 1.

“I can’t wait until I re-up next year,” he said. “Then I can get the max.”

•On the other hand, Toronto’s Chris Bosh can also sign an extension then but isn’t making any commitments.

“I don’t think anything can be viewed as definitive right now,” agent Henry Thomas told the Toronto Star.

Asked if Bosh might leave to get more endorsements, Thomas noted, “He’s extremely popular up there. But it’s not L.A., it’s not Chicago, it’s not New York.”

•Is Chicago’s Scott Skiles one of the game’s brightest young coaches or a taskmaster who’s bound to wear out his players? (cont.): The young Bulls are still throwing themselves around like college players while he lashes them onward.

Asked about his apparent lack of sympathy for Tyson Chandler, who was found to have a hiatal hernia that made it difficult to breathe, Skiles said: “I don’t know if my sympathy adds anything to the situation. Take care of it and move forward. Whoever suits up to play, I play. And I assume they’re ready to play. I just thought it was because he didn’t do anything all summer.”

•Coach Rick Adelman, whose future became a longshot when the Sacramento owners pursued Phil Jackson, asked if their upcoming trip might give the Kings a chance to bond:

“Not when you’ve got to play Minnesota, Detroit and San Antonio. I don’t think that’s a bonding experience I want, unless you want to go through depression and adversity. I think we can bond at home just as well as we can on the road.”

Just asking

What did the NBA gain from going to a six-division alignment? The standings are harder to read, obliging fans to count the eight best records from the three divisions in each conference to see who holds a playoff slot. It also increases the chances some undeserving division – New Jersey led the Atlantic at 8-9 going into the weekend – will get a representative and make the league look silly.

Quotables

San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, after outscoring Orlando’s Dwight Howard, 26-13: “I was looking before the game and I’m like 9 years older than him. That’s just crazy. He’s just so talented, so developed. He doesn’t look like a 19-year-old. He has so much promise and I’m just glad that I’ll be out of the league when he’s peaking.”

• Steve Nash, labeled “the NBA’s answer to Napoleon Dynamite” for his casual approach to fashion by the Mesa Tribune’s Mike Tulumello, is featured in layouts in Esquire and Gentleman’s Quarterly this month.

“It was nice to be recognized by them, so when I went for the shoot, I said, ‘You guys can do whatever you want.’ A lot of the guys usually say ‘I’m not wearing that,’ or ‘I’m not doing this.’ ”

•Houston’s Jeff Van Gundy, after his players no-showed in a home loss to Memphis, which led, 34-13 after one quarter: “I’m not here to bash the group, other than I can’t remember a worse collective effort.”