You could easily argue the two best players in this division at the end of last season are nowhere to be found at the start of this season. Kevin Durant (obviously the best) fractured his foot just before the start of the season, and after a summer of nauseating levels of speculation, Kevin Love was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Even with Love in Minnesota, the Thunder have owned this division in recent years, but the KD injury could potentially throw everything in this division out of whack. So where does this leave OKC anyway?
Oklahoma City Thunder
The reigning MVP is scheduled to be sidelined a month. Given that Durant is only carrying around a 180 pound frame, he should be able to bounce back from this injury rather quickly. But a month is a month— we’re talking roughly a quarter of the season. It basically knocks him out of repeat MVP consideration, and could also severely damage the Thunder’s chances in this juggernaut of a conference.
The Thunder as a franchise could seriously be at a crossroads as well.
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant really seem to love each other both as friends and as teammates. But this injury could send things into 1,000 different directions for this team. For Westbrook, the über-aggressive squeeze—first—ask—questions—last point guard has seemingly longed for the opportunity where he was THEE MAN on this basketball team. Not out of disrespect towards Durant, but in recognition of his own immense talent. He’s now been assigned the task of keeping the Thunder afloat until KD gets back right, but how does Russ approach this?
Obviously, the Thunder will need to pick up the scoring load minus the NBA’s four-time scoring champ. But does Russ automatically take these shots himself, or does he make a concerted effort to get his teammates involved (as Charles Barkley suggested he ought to)? And what happens if things go well and OKC doesn’t miss a beat, does this empower Westbrook play even more recklessly and take even more shots away from Durant? How does the always docile Durant respond? What happens if things go poorly? Does it shake Westbrook’s confidence? Can the emotional leader of this team afford to have his confidence shaken in any way? Regardless, how does he give the reigns back to Durant once he’s healed? And if that weren’t enough, coach Scott Brooks’ job likely hangs in the balance this year, and Durant’s pending free agency next summer could cast a shadow over the entire season, and if he bounces, would likely spell the end of Oklahoma City Thunder as a perennial power.
Westbrook has been the most polarizing and overly criticized player in the NBA this side of LeBron James the last four years. But now, this is his time. Russell Westbrook is HHSR’s official dark horse MVP candidate (not sure what the Vegas odds are on him, but he may be worth throwing a little money down).
The Thunder made minimal improvements to the roster in the offseason. Basically, they added Anthony Morrow (who is also injured), Mitch McGary via the draft (who is also injured), aaaaannnddd…that’s it. Kendrick Perkins has been removed from the starting lineup in favor of Steven Adams, which is great. But some Perk is still far worse than no Perk.
OKC will contend again. When united, Durant and Westbrook will be formidable, of course. But this is a fragile team, possibly too fragile to win the division title once again. But for now, Russell Westbrook…
Editor’s Note: This article is going up after the start of NBA season. All of the opinions in this, and the final divisional preview, were created prior to the start of the season. The news of Westbrook fracturing his hand and missing significant time is devastating to the Thunder, and Westbrook’s juice-holding abilities. Does it change what was written above? Somewhat. But trying to work both Durant and Westbrook back in after their injuries could be just as challenging as everything else we’ve outlined.
Utah Jazz
You’ll never attract any free agents. Players will never force a trade to get to your city. You’ll never attract an A1 coach. And you’re probably the least marketable destination of any NBA city in the league. It’s nearly impossible for small market teams to build a winner, especially in Utah. If they were smart, the Jazz would dump all of their resources into scouting, player development and salary cap management in order to build a competitive team through the draft, because that type of grassroots approach is basically the only way this team could build a champion.
In recent years, Utah has loaded up on draft picks and young talent, but none of them — Gordon Hayward, Trey Burke, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, Alec Burks, none of them — appear to be a real difference maker in the NBA. They’re not bad players, but the Jazz would be lucky if one of these guys made more than one All-Star game. Alec Burks, who made a little bit of a name for himself at the expense of Mr. Mamba in the preseason, and Gordon Hayward are probably showing the most promise of the bunch. But what’s the ceiling for a team with these two guys as their best players? Hayward, the quintessential “jack of all trades, master of none” guy had his four-year $63 million offer sheet matched by the Jazz. Seems a little high for Gordon Hayward, right?
The Jazz have a new coach in Quin Snyder and a new point guard in Australian product Dante Exum. The fact that nobody knows just how good Exum is, and they just drafted Burke last year to play point last year are two elephants in the room. Good luck figuring out that one, Quin.
Sidebar: Utah also made a sneaky pickup by drafting Rodney Hood out of Duke. They’re also developing Rudy Golbert, a guy who must be from the same French village as Andre the Giant, because he is enormous.
Not really going out on a limb here, but the Jazz will win less than 30 games this year and should find themselves back in the lottery. Maybe then they can put those would-be five star scouts to the test.
Denver Nuggets
Perhaps the most forgotten team in the West, the Nuggets enter 2014-15 with reason to be optimistic. Danilo Gallinari, Ty Lawson and JaVale McGee are all back from injury. On the low, the biggest issue with this team last year was health or lack thereof. For years (pretty much since the Melo deal), the “rich and creamy nougats” have been praised for their top-to-bottom talent. This season is no exception.
Denver got even deeper after bringing back Arron Afflalo and drafting Gary Harris (Harris used to be jealous of Arron Afflalo…well, we can only assume because he seems like an Afflalo clone. By the way, how long are we allowed to make Arron Afflalo/Kendrick Lamar references? Because this was about the 30th one on this site. Not apologizing for it either). Also, Kenneth Faried was every bit of “The Manimal” in the FIBA World Cup this summer. Brian Shaw is entering his second season as coach, but even with all this talent, he’s going be faced with some major issues that are largely out of his control.
The Nuggets are stuck in the West, like all of these teams, and therefore finishing as one of the top eight teams will be a challenge. How does Shaw find minutes for all these guys? Which one of these players will elevate their game to the point of leading Denver into the postseason? And once again, Denver is faced with its annual dilemma: do they keep this group together in an attempt to ’04 Piston their way to a title? Or do they cobble these assets together in an attempt to land a superstar?
If they stay healthy, Denver could be a surprise playoff team. But they’ll have to catch a lot of breaks, maybe even more than the average team.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Better to have loved and lost, right?
The T Wolves lost Love this past August after making the trade we all saw coming, even poor Andrew Wiggins (click here for one of the most awkward interviews of the year). But Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and for some reason Thaddeus Young are now all playing at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Flip Saunders also drafted Zach LaVine and Glenn Robinson III, both of whom have the potential to be a difference makers in the NBA.
Sidebar: LaVine & Wiggins together make for arguably the most athletic young wing duo in the league, but they’re gonna need to come up with a flyer nickname than “The Bounce Brothers”.
Y’all thought y’all were playing with LeBron, didn’t you?
The T Wolves were no doubt in a tough spot when they were forced to deal their franchise player. But on the other hand, their franchise player (as good as he was) always had trouble staying healthy, wasn’t an endearing figure in the locker room and never got this team to the playoffs. When you consider all that, plus the haul they got in return, it truly may have been better to have Love and lost in the long run.
“In the long run” ain’t this season though. The Timberwolves will probably give up 120 points a game and undoubtedly struggle this year. Interestingly, the Wolves continue to cling to Ricky Rubio as their point guard of the future, and although some guys who couldn’t shoot became good shooters after years of repetition (see Kidd, Jason), it’s hard to see Rubio ever becoming nothing more than a marginal shooter at best. What’s funny is, Minnesota let go of David Kahn a year and a half ago— the man responsible for bringing Rubio to The Land of 10,000 Lakes. With Kahn out of the picture, now would be a good opportunity to get away from Rubio, but it appears Minny is content with leaving Rubio as one of their building blocks.
The Wolves are in a decent spot for the future. The question is will Flip Saunders be as good an executive as he is a coach (slightly above average).
Portland Trail Blazers
That was the high-point of the last 12 or so years for the Trial Blazers…then the Spurs got their hands on them in the second round and proceeded to beat the brakes off of em. If you recall, Portland lost four of five games by a combined 78 points.
So where do the Blazers go from here?
Well for one, it would probably be best if they could avoid the Spurs in the playoffs this season. But the Blazers are absolutely on the right track. LaMarcus Aldridge cemented himself as a certified monster in the Rockets series last year, and Damian Lillard has big-game guts. Aldridge will be motivated because he’s in a contract year; Lillard has something to prove because he was cut by Coach K from the FIBA World Cup team.
Portland’s dynamite starting lineup was somewhat held back by inconsistent bench play in 2013. Chris Kamen and Steve Blake are two legitimate NBA players that give this team real depth, and CJ McCollum will be asked to do more this year as well. Portland’s balance is what separates them from nearly every other team in the league and should lead them to possibly a top four seed in the West again.
There’s a commonality between three of the five starters on this team that could pose a significant hurdle: Aldridge, Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez will all be free agents come next summer. Between last year’s success and whatever happens this year, will the Blazers be able to hold this team together? That starting unit is the strength of this team— it took the Blazers so long to get to this point that the thought of this group being broken up (to a large degree at least) due to free agency is troublesome for any fan of NBA basketball.
The league is more fun when Portland is competitive, but it turns out this team’s window may not be as wide open as we think. Given the injury issues the OKC Thunder are experiencing, the Blazers will win this division (but if Oklahoma City can get healthy in time, they may find themselves peaking during the playoffs). And last year’s playoff experience will give Portland the experience needed to possibly reach the conference finals.
As long as they don’t play the Spurs first.