Is the NBA ready for revenge-mode Westbrook?

Ahead of Tuesday's kick-off of the NBA season, TSN.ca looks at the big question facing each of the 30 clubs.

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Are the Nuggets prepared for another year of struggle?

As is the same with many of the young teams in the NBA, it could get worse before it gets better for the Denver Nuggets. But there is reason to be excited. In rebuild mode for the five years since the trade of Carmelo Anthony, the team has accrued a number of exciting prospects who make the team one on the ascent. It’s all a matter of when for the Nuggets, but like their divisional rival Minnesota Timberwolves, the when might still be in the distance.

The Nuggets possess a backcourt that could be on the verge of breaking out. Gary Harris might not be a sexy player because his game doesn’t have the “wow” factor, but he’s consistent workhorse, has a deft shooting touch and doesn’t turn the ball over. At point guard, Emmanuel Mudiay is expected to improve on what was an erratic rookie season that the 2015 seventh-overall pick excel on the defensive side of the ball, but struggle with his shot. That said, Mudiay’s offensive game kicked up following the all-star break when he averaged a very respectable 14.9 PPG. Mudiay will be given time to work on his game with backup Jameer Nelson being in the waning days of what’s been a surprisingly good 12-year NBA career.

Added to the backcourt mix is Kitchener, Ont.’s Jamal Murray. Murray is what you want in a prototypical two-guard. He scores in bunches with terrific efficiency, excels off screens and is a threat from deep. To truly shine at the pro level, though, Murray will need to work on his athleticism and conditioning.

Up front, Danilo Gallinari was putting up the best numbers of his career last season (19.5 PPG) before – what has been a hallmark of his time in the NBA – the injury bug (in the form of torn ligaments in his ankle) caught up with him again, limiting the Italian to just 53 games. It’s difficult for the Nuggets to count on Gallinari’s production considering his lengthy spells on the sidelines (Outside of the year he played 81 games for the Knicks as a 21-year-old in 2009-10, he’s missed no fewer than 20 games a season as a full-time NBAer), so the team will look for continued production from promising big Nikola Jokic to buoy the frontcourt.

Jokic finished third in Rookie of the Year voting a season ago and broke out as a skilled playmaker. He had a terrific Olympics for Serbia, including dropping 25 points on the eventual gold medal-winning United States, on his way to a silver medal. If he can develop chemistry with Jusuf Nurkic (the pair only appeared together in seven games last season due to the big Bosnian missing 50 games with injury), the Nuggets could have a devastating duo for years to come at the four and five.

Also of interest this season for the Nuggets is the future of Kenneth Faried. The team has flirted with dealing him in both of the past two seasons and this could finally be the year where the trigger is pulled. Faried – along with Will Barton and Wilson Chandler – don’t make all that much and could be attractive to contending teams down the stretch.

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Can the T-Wolves’ young guns make a playoff push?

The Minnesota Timberwolves were fun as hell to watch last season and they’re going to be that again this season. Filled with skill, youthful energy and led by a nucleus of Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and Gorgui Dieng, the task of harnessing all of that is handed to Tom Thibodeau. A coach with the reputation of getting the absolute most out of his charges, Thibs is well aware that things could get worse before they get better.

The Northwest is hard to predict this season because of the uncertainty with the Thunder, but it might not be time yet for the Timberwolves, seemingly still behind Portland, Utah and OKC in the division’s pecking order. Thibodeau is an incredibly patient coach and will need to begin again this season with a highly skilled team that is going to be prone to mistakes.

Andrew Wiggins is, somehow, underrated. Yes, he was the Rookie of the Year in 2015, but the plaudits a season ago were normally reserved for the dominant Towns, so the fact that Wiggins managed to lead the team in scoring 20.7 was overshadowed by the more consistent and efficient KAT. Thibodeau could look at Wiggins and see the next Jimmy Butler, but for that to happen, Wiggins will have to buckle down and work on his shot and commitment to defensive play. Still, few coaches are a better fit for a player like Wiggins than Thibodeau.

As for KAT, the 2015 first overall selection out of Kentucky might already be close to passing Anthony Davis as the top young centre in the game today. Towns is spectacularly efficient (shooting at a .546 clip) and surprisingly unselfish for such a dominant offensive force. Having learned under Kevin Garnett a season ago, Towns will only get better with his scoring touch – both inside and out – and flair for coming up big in the clutch.

If there is one player to keep an eye on this season for the T-Wolves, it’s Ricky Rubio and not necessarily for on-court play. In drafting Kris Dunn out of Providence with their first-round pick, the writing was on the wall for the now 26-year-old Spaniard. While Rubio’s presence means the team can take its time in developing Dunn, a player with the requisite tools to become a very good NBA point guard, it also could portend that Rubio’s time with the T-Wolves could be up. What’s he worth, though, on the trade market? With Rubio’s inconsistent shot, he might end up being more valuable to keep than move and the team can perhaps circle back on a potential move next summer.

While the Timberwolves might find themselves on the periphery of the playoff chase this season, a postseason berth looks unlikely. But with the uncertainty towards the bottom of the Western Conference playoff picture, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Thibodeau rallies this team to its first playoff berth in 13 years.

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Is the NBA ready for revenge-mode Russ?

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are not best friends. Neither has ever claimed to be. So when Durant jumped ship to the Golden State Warriors – the team that had just eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference final, overturning a 3-1 deficit – Westbrook wasn’t personally offended. Durant insisted it was a business decision and Westbrook knows full well it was.

Following Durant’s business decision, Westbrook made one of his own. Amid rumours that a trade out of Oklahoma City was imminent, the 27-year-old point guard committed his future to OKC, signing a new three-year pact. The Thunder were now officially Westbrook’s team.

So don’t be surprised if Westbrook goes out and wins himself an MVP while willing the Thunder back into the playoffs damn near on his own. While Westbrook winning the MVP isn’t a ludicrous suggestion, Billy Donovan letting him do everything on his own is. Donovan can’t allow his star player to burn out and he cannot allow him to carry more of a burden than he already does. Last season with Durant out of the lineup, Westbrook’s usage rate (number of possessions per 40 minutes) was 39.0. That’s insane. And that can’t happen again.

Though Westbrook is easily the Thunder’s most talented player, his supporting cast is nothing to sneeze at. Victor Oladipo comes over from the Orlando Magic as part of the Serge Ibaka deal and slots in as Westbrook’s backcourt mate. There are a lot of similarities between the two players’ games (and that could become problematic), but Oladipo will be given the opportunity to slash his way into the team’s secondary scoring role. Shunted around the backcourt by the Magic, Oladipo will benefit from a defined role in OKC.

The fearsome Steven Adams is still emerging as a paint presence offensively and his defensive bona fides are already evident, but more might be expected from him with Ibaka in Florida. Ibaka is heading into the final year of his contract and maybe wouldn’t re-sign in OKC making the trade a preemptive strike, but in dealing him, the Thunder lost one of the league’s finest rim protectors. Ersan Ilyasova will be in tough to try to replicate that and he’s not going to – but he better look like he’s trying.

The Thunder will have to adjust to life as a team no longer among the NBA’s elite, but they should still be firmly ensconced in the Western Conference playoff picture. And while they no longer possess the game’s top dynamic duo, Westbrook playing like a man possessed this season will be enough to keep the Thunder in must-watch territory.

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What do the Blazers do for a second act?

The Portland Trail Blazers were the surprise package of last season, but this time around they’re not going to sneak up on anybody. Now a known commodity, the Blazers look to ride an elite backcourt duo back to the playoffs and build on last year’s improbable run.

Few thought the Blazers would stay above water with the departures of superstar LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez, but they did more than that in not only making the playoffs, but beating the (to be fair, very injured) Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. Terry Stotts’ team did this through the play of what is arguably the best non-Splash Brothers backcourt in the NBA in Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. The unheralded duo combined for 45.9 PPG and 11.1 APG last year with Lillard forcing himself into the conversation surrounding the league’s finest point guard.

General manager Neil Olshey kept his core together in locking up all of McCollum, Allen Crabbe, Meyers Leonard and Moe Harkless, but then he did something strange in signing Evan Turner to a hefty four-year, $70-million deal. Frankly, Evan Turner doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Blazers. He’s going to be turned to for tertiary scoring, but he’s not an inside guy. He’s got an inconsistent mid-range jumper, whereas the Blazers already have outside shooting covered. Sure, he might be able to alleviate some pressure from Lillard and McCollum, but only if he’s scoring. If he’s not, he’s just taking away their possessions.

The acquisition of Festus Ezeli makes a little more sense, provided his nagging knee issues don’t continue to be a problem, but it leaves the team with injury questions surrounding all of bigs Ezeli, Leonard and Noah Vonleh. It’s no surprise, then, that Stotts favoured an undersized Al-Farouq Aminu at the four late in the season and in the playoffs, partly out of necessity and partly because small ball worked well with Aminu the tenacious defender and Crabbe stretching the floor.

This is a solid team with the requisite depth to compete over the course of a full season. With the Thunder in flux, the Blazers will see the Northwest as theirs to lose. Though the Thunder and Utah Jazz will give them a run for their money, look for the Blazers to grab only their second division crown in 18 years.

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Can a deep Jazz team return to the postseason?

The Utah Jazz have missed the playoffs in five of the last six seasons and haven’t reached the postseason since 2012, but there is great reason for optimism – this team is shockingly deep and filled with exciting young talent.

The Jazz finished two games under .500 last season, missing the playoffs by only one game. This was despite missing sophomore point guard Dante Exum for the entire season with a torn ACL, Alec Burks for 51 games (ankle and leg injuries), Derrick Favours for 20 games (back injury) and Rudy Gobert for 20 games (ACL sprain). They managed to contend for a playoff spot through buying into Quin Snyder’s team defensive scheme, finishing seventh in the league. Led by a terrific frontcourt in Gobert, Favors and leading scorer Gordon Hayward (sidelined until late November after breaking a finger), the Jazz enter the season looking to take a step forward offensively and wed that with their commitment to the other side of the ball.

General manager Dennis Lindsey had a fine summer in accruing veteran role players to help facilitate this. In George Hill (acquired from the Indiana Pacers at the draft), the Jazz have a veteran point man who allows the team to move forward without relying on Exum, still getting his bearings after a year out. While Hill’s numbers were down across the board last season, the Jazz have gotten so little from the one in recent years that an average George Hill season will be a vast improvement there. Chemistry with Burks and Rodney Hood in the backcourt would be an added bonus. Noted Toronto Raptors-killer Joe Johnson and Boris Diaw offer playoff experience and can assist in bettering the club’s terrible 14-28 record in games when the score was within five points and under five minutes left on the clock.

The Jazz were the third-worst team offensively a year ago, so that leaves a lot of room for improvement and the process won’t be an immediate one. But all of their best players are trending upwards and Snyder believes they’re capable of bigger things, including Canadian Trey Lyles. Already capable of spacing the floor and possessing a decent jumper, Lyles has a bright future ahead of him if he’s able to expand his passing game.

With uncertainty abounding among the teams below the top tier in the Western Conference, the Jazz know the playoffs are in reach. It’s all just a matter of getting there.