NBA Power Rankings: Breaking down the divisions

3. Northwest Division

It’s pretty much a wash between the Northwest Division and the second division on our list, but we’re going to put the Northwest here for the time being on the grounds that the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and even the Portland Trail Blazers are all question marks at this point in time. Of course the Oklahoma City Thunder are quite possibly the best team in the West and title contenders, but it’s still unclear what to expect from the rest of the pack.

The Nuggets have a great squad on paper with the returns of Danilo Gallinari, Arron Afflalo and JaVale McGee to look forward to, but can they stay healthy? And will they click with so many rusty players returning from injury? Is Ty Lawson ready to finally step up as a leader? These are all question marks right now, especially given the brutal nature of playing in the West.

Some are predicting the Timberwolves will be better than advertised with Andrew Wiggins, Thaddeus Young, Zach LaVine and Anthony Bennett joining forces with Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic and Gorgui Dieng, but to project them as a potential playoff team feels like madness right now. As for the Blazers, I love their starting five, but after that they’re pretty thin and I’m not sure they can get out to the same blistering pace they did to start the 2013-14 season.

We already know the Utah Jazz are going to be at the bottom of the Western Conference barrel, which means there’s a considerable chance this division only produces two playoff teams. Best-case scenario, there are three playoff teams that come from the Northwest, but that feels unlikely until we get a better idea of why to expect from Denver. The Thunder may end up winning the 2014-15 title, but right now, this division has too many question marks for me to take them over our next batch of teams.