Karl on Lakers/Thunder dominance — that’s summer talk.

The general consensus — and you can throw me in with the majority here — is that the race in the West is for third. Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Lakers are going to battle it out for the top two seeds in the regular season, then they are going to meet in the Western Conference finals.

After them, the race is for third place. San Antonio, the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets all have a legitimate shot at that three seed, but that’s about the best they can hope for.

Nuggets coach George Karl, how do you feel about that? Via the Denver Post.

What I basically say is — that’s summer talk. You have two teams that probably have the most talented players, especially in their top seven, but it’s summer talk. ... I have a lot of respect for both of those teams. ... But that doesn’t mean we never thought we could overtake them. Our goal this summer was: How do we get better? And how do we move closer to the top-echelon teams?

It is “summer talk” because, well, the moves to bring in Steve Nash and Dwight Howard to the Lakers happened in the summer and we haven’t had any games since then to discuss.

Problem is for Karl (and Popovich and Del Negro) that this summer talk is going to turn into fall then winter talk as well. This is going to happen. They are chasing the Thunder and Lakers.