Injuries to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook helped the Portland Trail Blazers run away with a division title out of the Northwest last season. They were the only team from that group to make the playoffs as the Oklahoma City Thunder fell just short. Fast forward to this year and after losing LaMarcus Aldridge, Robin Lopez and Wes Matthews, the Trail Blazers no longer look like a playoff team while the healthy returns of Durant and Westbrook have the Thunder primed to bounce back. This is one of the weaker divisions in the NBA, but let’s take a look at each team’s biggest need:
Portland Trail Blazers: The Starting Lineup (Other Than Lillard)
Portland was cleaned out in free agency leaving All-Star Damian Lillard as the team’s only returning starter and building block moving forward. Mason Plumlee, Ed Davis, Al-Farouq Aminu, Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson round out the rest of the Trail Blazers’ lineup but it’s not for certain who will start just yet. It’s clear they are rolling the dice that former first-rounders like Vonleh, Plumlee, Davis and Mo Harkless can develop into foundational pieces. If that fails, though, this team could use major upgrades across the board. Playing in a smaller market really hurts and now Portland will be forced to rebuild around Lillard and a cast of question marks.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Wing Depth
The Thunder paid a lot of money to bring back Enes Kanter and with Durant and Westbrook both healthy, they automatically rank among the favorites to reach the NBA Finals out of the Western Conference. However, Oklahoma City traded both Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones III and they don’t have much depth behind Durant at the small forward position. Anthony Morrow needs to step up while Kyle Singler and Andre Roberson are also in the mix at the position. The Thunder don’t have a whole lot behind Dion Waiters at shooting guard too. They could really use some help on the wing in order to take some pressure off of Durant.
Utah Jazz: Point Guard
Utah is being talked about as a potential sleeper pick in the Western Conference after a strong finish to last season that was sparked by Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favours but if they are going to be considered a legitimate threat, they need to upgrade at the point guard position.
Trey Burke is a decent option but he has yet to shoot above 38% from the field in a season. Maybe that changes but if not, the Jazz will be held back – especially now that Dante Exum is out for the season. The Jazz might be closer to contending for a playoff spot than it seems but they need to solve their problems at the point guard position or they won’t finish in the top eight.
Denver Nuggets: Guard Scoring
The Nuggets traded Ty Lawson to the Houston Rockets after drafting point guard Emmanuel Mudiay in the first round, but they still have a glaring need at the shooting guard position. It’s not something they addressed this offseason. Sophomore Gary Harris and Will Barton aren’t ready to fill the void left by the departed Arron Afflalo. The hope is that Harris – last year’s first-round pick – fills the void but he was not impressive in his rookie season. While Denver isn’t expected to contend in the Western Conference this season, the addition of a veteran shooting guard could help the development of Mudiay and the other young players on the roster.
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Minnesota Timberwolves: Perimeter Scoring
Minnesota has assembled some quality pieces including reigning Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins, 2015 first-overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns and fellow first-round picks Anthony Bennett and Ricky Rubio, but they would benefit from upgrading their perimeter scoring. This is a team that finished dead-last both in three-point attempts per game (14.9) and three-pointers made (5.0).
They will bank on growth from Wiggins as well as the return of Kevin Martin who was limited by injuries last season. Even still, they need to find ways to stretch the floor.
