2024-2025 NBA preview part 4

The Northwest division features a strong collective of teams looking to make it to the finals at the top, while the bottom features some teams wanting to win the lottery. The teams in the Northwest division are the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, and the Portland Trail Blazers.

Oklahoma City Thunder 

PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Cason Wallace | Adam Flagler 

SG Jalen Williams | Alex Caruso | Isaiah Joe 

SF Lu Dort | Aaron Wiggins Nikola Topic 

PF Chet Holmgren | Kenrich Williams | Dillion Jones 

C Isaiah Hartenstein | Jaylin Williams | Ousmane Dieng 

The West’s number 1 seed from a season ago returns everyone on their roster and then some. The Thunder added Isaiah Hartenstein this offseason through a 3 year 87 million dollar contract. On top of adding Hartenstein they traded Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso. Caruso replaced Giddy, who became borderline unplayable in the playoffs. He hurt the Thunder’s ability to space the floor and was an average defender at best for the team. Adding Caruso strengthens an already deep perimeter of defensive minded guards and adds to the three point shooting. The Thunder were ranked 1st last year in turnovers forced and three point percentage. Caruso will help both of these numbers continue to improve for the upcoming year. The Thunder are in a unique spot right now. They have a great team, who was the youngest 1 seed in history last year, and still own a ton of draft picks for the foreseeable future. The three headed monster of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren will look to improve from a second round exit in the postseason last year, but that seems feasible this year. They are the current favorites to win the Western Conference this year. An underrated part of the offseason for the Thunder is how they used their financial flexibility. They have a 2 year window of financial flexibility before large contracts kick in making them potentially a second apron team. In two years both Williams and Holmgren will be eligible to sign a max rookie extension meaning more of their cap space will be taken up between Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams, and Holmgren. Resigning Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, and signing Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency to minimal salary cap hits was a smart move from the front office. Overall, I think Oklahoma City is the team that gives me the most comfort when talking about the best team in the West. They have all the tools to make a finals run this year behind MVP hopeful Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Denver Nuggets

PG Jamal Murray | Russell Westbrook | Trey Alexander 

SG Christian Braun | Julian Strawther | Jalen Pickett 

SF Michael Porter Jr | Peyton Watson | Hunter Tyson 

PF Aaron Gordon | Dario Saric | Vlatko Cancar

C Nikola Jokic | Zeke Nnaji | DeAndre Jordan 

The second seed in the Western Conference a year ago was the Denver Nuggets. They had an opportunity to repeat as NBA champions going into the postseason last year, but ultimately fell short in a 7 game slugfest against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In the offseason the Nuggets lost a key piece in their rotation in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was signed by the Magic. The Nuggets didn’t replace him in free agency. The biggest question for the Nuggets now is, who replaces Caldwell-Pope. An obvious candidate is Christian Braun. The Kansas product has played well since entering the league two years ago. Playing next to Nikola Jokic should help smooth over any growing pain adjusting to a bigger role. The Nuggets still have the best player in the world in Jokic so hopefully he’ll be able to shoulder any slow spots on offense for Denver this year. The Nuggets head coach Mike Malone has also talked about playing faster as a team and looking at more offensive sets that get others involved rather than relying on Jokic and Jamal Murray to create something from a pick and roll. 2nd year Julian Strawther is a player to keep an eye on for Denver. The 6’ 7 Gonzaga product has a flamethrower and can provide some shooting off the bench. The Nuggets also need to look at taking more threes as well. They were towards the bottom of the league in attempts last year that gave opponents a big edge over them. The only other concern I have for the Nuggets is can the bench figure out ways to be productive. Denver is extremely thin in this part of their team. They added Russell Westbrook this offseason to help with that. Overall, I think the shock of Denver losing to Minnesota last year has kind of pushed out of people’s mind how dominant they were against the Celtics last year. They were the only team to win every game against Boston. Minnesota last year was a team that was perfectly engineered for Denver. However, the Timberwolves lost Karl Anthony-Towns in a trade with the Knicks. I would caution people pushing Denver away as a potential team to win the Western Conference next year. Nikola Jokic is a player who can exploit any defense you have. His chemistry with Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray have proven to be too much for many teams in the NBA. 

Minnesota Timberwolves

PG Mike Conley | Rob Dillingham | Daishen Nix 

SG Anthony Edwards | Nickell Alexander-Walker | Josh Minott

SF Jaden McDaniels | Donte DiVincenzo | Terrance Shannon Jr. 

PF Julius Randle | Joe Ingles | Keita Bates-Diop | Leonard Miller 

C Rudy Gobert | Naz Reid | Luka Garza 

The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off probably the biggest upset last year in the postseason when they beat the Denver Nuggets after trailing by 20 points early in game 7. They stormed back late in the fourth quarter ,shocking the Denver crowd and Nuggets. Timberwolves added Rob Dillingham and Terrance Shannon jr from the NBA draft this past year. They’ll both look to bolster the bench scoring. Outside of these moves the only move they made was trading Karl Anthony-Towns for Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle. To some it may be a head scratching move, but let’s take a deeper look at it. Randle provides some more offensive punch than Anthony-Towns. He’s a better isolation scorer and has learned from Jalen Brunson about how to play next to an elite player in Anthony Edwards. Randle still gives them the flexibility to have Rudy Gobert roam around on defense. Another piece that gets lost in this is them adding Donte DiVincenzo. DiVincenzo will provide much needed shooting and has a defensive tenacity similar to Nickell Alexander-Walker, Jaden McDaniels, and Anthony Edwards. Anthony Edwards also made a jump last year. Not one that feels like he’s close to being one of the top players in the league type of jump, but one that puts him in the conversation of being the best player at his position in the league. He’s a physical freak, as he displays unbelievable athleticism, paired with his improved shooting ability, and shot creation. Him playing on Team USA this past summer validated what he showed throughout the season and postseason last year. This jump last year allowed the Timberwolves to officially have a “guy”. Someone that can just drag a team to victory. Edwards had his coming out party against the Suns when swept his idol Kevin Durant and then poured in 43 points in game 2 against the Nuggets to hand them a 106-80 l home loss, the worst home playoff loss in quite some time for Denver. I don’t think the fit of Julius Randle will take as much time as people think. Making me believe they can still have a shot at making the Western Conference finals again this year. 

Utah Jazz

PG Keyonte George | Jordan Clarkson | Isaiah Collier 

SG Collin Sexton | Brice Sensabaugh | Patty Mills 

SF Lauri Markkanen | Cody Williams | Svi Mykhailiuk 

PF John Collins | Taylor Hendricks | Johnny Juzang 

C Walker Kessler | Drew Eubanks | Kyle Filipowski 

The Utah Jazz are an interesting team looking at them on paper. They have a really good head coach in Will Hardy and a lot of young and solid players. The problem is it doesn’t feel like they have a “guy”. This is not a knock on Lauri Markkanen. Markkanen is a top 30 player in the league in my opinion, but the Jazz still don’t seem to have the right pieces around him. Keyonte George is a dynamic younger point guard, who is still learning how to play the position at a high level in the NBA. They added Cody Williams in the draft, who looks to show he can be a good two-way wing player for them. Outside of this, development is still key for them this year. Taylor Hendricks needs to show his shooting stroke has continued to improve and Collin Sexton needs to hone in his efficiency as an undersized shooting guard in the NBA. Walker Kessler also needs to get back to the form he showed as a rookie. Overall, the Jazz have a lot of potential pieces, but it feels like they need to show more before making a commitment to them. The Front office also needs to decide if they want to start winning games this year as well. The last two years the team has gotten off the .500 starts deep into the year before the front office decides they want to get a good draft pick. This has resulted in picking in the 10-13 range and having them miss on a potential future star to pair with Markkanen. I don’t not expect the Jazz to make the postseason this year nor do I think they should. Getting another young player to fill out the roster should allow them to be more competitive going forward. 

Portland Trail Blazers

PG Scoot Henderson | Shaedon Sharpe | Dalano Banton | DeVonte Graham 

SG Anfernee Simons | Matisse Thybulle | Rayan Rupert 

SF Deni Avdija | Toumani Camara | Kris Murray 

PF Jerami Grant | Jabari Walker | Doup Reath 

C Deandre Ayton | Donovan Clingan | Robert Williams 

The Portland Trail Blazer, behind only the Brooklyn Nets have assembled the worst roster in the NBA. They have an odd collection of players that feels like they’ll make some trades throughout the season. Notably Jerami Grant is still on the roster. He’s in the second year of his 5 year 160 million dollars deal he signed with the Trail Blazers. Portland did nail the draft down in my opinion. Before making a pick they traded away Malcom Brogdan and a first round pick for Deni Avdija. Avdija is coming off his best year with the Wizards and provides the Blazers with better depth at the wing position. They then selected Donovan Clingan with the 7th overall pick. Clingan is the best interior defender in the draft and will provide the Trail Blazers with better interior defense from a season ago. He’ll need to improve his movement and be able to knock down outside shots, but the potential is there. Outside of him the obvious development needs to take place in the backcourt. Mainly Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. Henderson a year ago struggled big time. He shot horribly from the outside and led the league in turnovers per game a season ago, but that's expected from young point guards. The Obvious and more important development needs to come from his shooting. He was not a threat from outside last year and it hurt his driving ability because of it. Teams were able to sit off of him and allow them to load up on his drives. Improving his jump shot will help his driving ability. Sharpe comes off an injury riddled season. He dealt various types of injuries that overall contributed to an inconsistent season. He’ll need to stay healthy plus develop his on the ball game much more. His rookie year he was good at moving as a cutter and showed a lot of flash with his jump shot towards the end of year, but last year he was very inconsistent. Anfernee Simons missing time allowed Sharpe to play the point guard spot more, but it is still a working progress. Finally, Portland also needs to make a decision on keeping or trading Anfernee Simons. Simons is a dynamite shooter and can score in bunches with his ability to finish at and around the basket, but they’ll need to decide if they want to keep him next to Henderson and Sharpe or move on from him. Obviously, the Trail Blazers are not trying to make the playoffs this year and will look to try and get a high pick in the upcoming NBA draft.