DENVER NUGGETS: A
I like to refer to Russell Westbrook as "the ScapeGOAT". Pound-for-pound, he's perhaps the best player in NBA history in terms of overall skillset. Yet every time a team he's on underperforms, it's Russell's fault. That was even true after KD bounced on the Thunder even though, all things considered, there was no way they were going to win a championship after that.
I have a lot of respect for KCP. He's obviously one of the better role players when it comes to palpably contributing. But him being better than Russell Westbrook? C'mon, man.
The Nuggets are a team which, besides Jamal Murray, tends to appear too lethargic at times. Ideally, the energetic Westbrook will be able to mitigate that.
Dario Saric is also an underrated player. And as for Christian Braun, at least now he'll really get a chance to prove himself, you know, like over the long term. So I'm feeling what Denver has done this offseason. If nothing else, they will give fans a slightly different look. And you know, sometimes when you lose like they did in the postseason, trying to evolve is preferable to standing pat while key free agents bounce.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: D
Minnesota tore my heart out during the postseason, going that far and then losing to the Mavericks, even though the Wolves had the height and also arguably the depth advantage.
The issue, imo, is that Minny needs a faster, and let's say younger starting PG. I'm pretty confident that Conley, back in his heyday, would have been able to more or less contain Luka (as best as anyone could), and he did have impact moments against Dallas here and there. But what did Minnesota do instead of upgrading at the 1, or even overall for that matter? Practically nothing in terms of offseason additions, at least not anything in terms of actually being a better team than they were last season, considering most notably that Kyle Anderson has bounced.
Seemingly, they're banking on the progression of Anthony Edwards, which isn't a bad thing considering his talent, athleticism, age and societal standing. But let's just say that he seemed out it at certain points during the WCF. So whatever it was that may have been bothering him, I hope that they focus more on that than, you know, making him practice more.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: A
I like Josh Giddey, if for no other than him being one of the more pleasant NBA players to look at. But it became blatantly obvious during the postseason that his style of play doesn't mesh particularly well with the Thunder as a whole. Or let me say that they don't really need him per se if SGA is healthy. At times, during long stints on the court, Josh wasn't doing jacksh*t. So replacing him with Caruso, who's effective off the ball, totally made sense.
More importantly, OKC needed help in the middle. In most seasons, someone like Chet Holmgren would have prolly won ROY. But it also seemed obvious that, you know, you don't want his skinnyass to be forced to bang downlow throughout an entire game. So bringing in Hartenstein, the type of effective big who won't take the ball out of the hand of scorers, also makes sense.
And with that OKC, a team that was already in position to contend for a championship, had arguably the best offseason. The only reason I didn't give them an A+ is because I don't want to get my hopes up too high to later eat my words, like I did last season.
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS: C
In a manner of speaking the Blazers traded Damian Lillard, one of the best scorers ever, for Scoot Henderson, a young, unproven PG. One thing I admire, after Henderson's less-than-stellar rookie campaign, is that at least Portland has remained committed to his development without changing direction.
Scoot is getting his chance, from the jump, to either prove a star or a bust. None of that Markelle Fultz sideline sh*t. But at the end of the day, if he does fail to impress, I'm not going to blame it on him, because they should've never thrown a suspect rookie PG in the fire like that to begin with.
If you can't be competitive as an NBA team, then at least be entertaining. And the addition of Clingan, you know, he was like the second most-popular rookie in the draft and moreover plays a position that won't overlap with Scoot.
Also, it's not like Portland has a bad roster. I would say that talent-wise, it's good enough to make the playoffs by default if they were in the East. But potential lack of overall compatibility and talent being overly concentrated at certain positions seem to be other issues this team may have to contend with.
UTAH JAZZ: F
Remember a couple of seasons ago when the Jazz were overachieving but then proceeded to like intentionally tank? This is why you don't do things like that. There's no guarantee that once you develop a losing culture, you'll be able to overcome it.
That's not the reason I'm giving them an F though. It's more because of these Markkanen trade rumors. If those are true then, coupled with their less-than-impressive roster, it's like Utah have totally lost their direction or conviction from a couple of seasons ago.
I understand that rebuilding, if that's what Jazz is actually doing, usually takes time. I also understand that they may be compelled to tank in hopes of landing Cooper Flagg, who's not only White (Utah's favorite color) but furthermore an actual American. Like when is the last time a White American player generated such buzz? But damn, in terms of last season and presumably this forthcoming one, what a way to let the fans down, especially for a braintrust led by Danny Ainge.
CONCLUSION
There really isn't much reason not to believe that OKC will once again be the best team in this division. Their biggest deficiency last season was lack of size, to the point that they were prolly fortunate not to have faced Minnesota or Denver in the playoffs. But now all of a sudden, they have one of the biggest frontcourts in the league.
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