The NBA’s Northwest division will be a whole lot tougher in 2017-18, but the Denver Nuggets are ready to put up a good fight against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Northwest division, which contains the Denver Nuggets, is quickly making a case for the best division in the NBA. Every team can give opponents fits and has the potential to make the playoffs, while the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves made major upgrades to their rosters through trades and free agency.
Even though the Utah Jazz have lost Gordon Hayward to the Boston Celtics and George Hill has left for Sacramento, they will still be fairly tough to deal with. They have a much lower chance to compete for the playoffs than others, but they still have Rudy Gobert to anchor their defense, Joe Ingles is coming back, Ricky Rubio’s playmaking is arriving, and young guys like Rodney Hood and Dante Exum should both be ready to take a step forward with good health on their side.
Then, of course, there’s the Timberwolves with their new big three of Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Their talent speaks for itself, and their defense (which was a serious weakness last season) will be much better with both Butler and Taj Gibson.
The Portland Trail Blazers had a solid draft and still has C.J. McCollum and Damian Lillard. The team has a bunch of overpaid players, from Evan Turner to Meyers Leonard, but can score with their highly talented backcourt and performed much better with former Nugget Jusuf Nurkic to end the season.
More from Nugg Love
- Was trading Bones Hyland a mistake for the Denver Nuggets?
- Did Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets break Anthony Davis?
- Denver Nuggets stars face serious disrespect in recent NBA rankings poll
- What will it take for Denver Nuggets star to become ‘inevitable?’
- Denver Nuggets NBA Training Camp report, other preseason dates to know
Then, there was the blockbuster trade that paired Paul George with Russell Westbrook on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Having an elite secondary scorer and more shooting is huge for OKC, while the re-signing of Andre Roberson (three years, $30 million) and addition of Patrick Patterson (three years, $16.4 million) ensures that they have an elite, versatile defense and a three-point shooting power forward. Again, extra spacing helps them a lot.
Last, but certainly not least, is our own Denver Nuggets. They welcomed Paul Millsap back home to form a dynamic duo with Nikola Jokic, giving the team’s frontcourt a tremendous balance of offensive skill, IQ, passing and an elite defensive upgrade with Millsap. The offense will still be one of the NBA’s best (which ranked first in offensive rating from December 15 when Jokic became a full-time starter) and the Nuggets’ poor defense got the boost it needed to give the team a bit more balance.
Next: Could the Nuggets form a 'Big 3'?
With all of this in mind, expect the Northwest division to be crazy next year. The best part is, the Nuggets will be in the midst of all of it with their ever improving team. Plus, this will make for the most entertaining and competitive division in the entire league. Something we can all get behind and support.
Add us as a preferred source on Google