| 2008-2009 Northwest Division Preview |
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| Written by Phil Partington | |
| Friday, 29 August 2008 | |
 Projected starting five: C Mehmet Okur; PF Carlos Boozer; SF Andrei Kirilenko; SG Ronnie Brewer; PG Deron Williams. The Denver Nuggets may have traded their way out of the playoffs by sending Center Marcus Camby to the LA Clippers for practically nothing. Though Camby is somewhat overrated as a one-on-one post defender, his exceptional help defense and shot blocking ability frequently bailed out the Nuggets’ lack of perimeter defense. Nene Hilario could be a suitable replacement in the middle, but he’s played in just 81 games combined in the last three seasons (including just 16 games last season). Kenyon Martin has his moments, but is not a suitable replacement for Camby, averaging about half the rebounds (6.5 per game) Camby collects (13.1 per game), and a third of the blocked shots (1.2 per game for Martin and 3.6 per game for Camby). The Nuggets will again rely on Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson to get them to the playoffs. That combo seems to have its limitations. Projected starting five: C Nene Hilario; PF Kenyon Martin; SF Carmelo Anthony; SG Linas Kleiza; PG Allen Iverson. Don’t be surprised if the Portland Trail Blazers do what the New Orleans Hornets did last year and completely demolish expectations through overachievement. Greg Oden could have an astronomical effect on this team just with his defensive presence and Nate MacMillan is a great, highly underrated coach. Of course, a lot of their improvement will hinge on how well Oden plays. It’s unrealistic to expect huge offensive numbers from Oden in his first season, but if he can stay out of foul trouble for the most part, 10 ppg, 10 rbpg and 2 bspg are not unreasonable from him. The Blazers have a good chance of surpassing the Nuggets in the division rankings. They’re deep, but lack experience. Projected starting five: C Greg Oden; PF LaMarcus Aldridge; SF Travis Outlaw; SG Brandon Roy; PG Steve Blake. The Minnesota Timberwolves are doing a nice job of rebuilding. Trading Kevin Garnett has proved to be a good idea so far, with the outstanding play of Al Jefferson. The biggest question mark for this team will be whether or not Jefferson and rookie Kevin Love can co-exist. They should compliment each other just fine at the offensive end. Love is an outstanding passing big man and can hit the 15-foot jumper. However, they’re both burly, below-the-basket type of players who aren’t especially athletic defenders. Neither one is a terrific shot blocker. In addition, this is a no excuses season for Randy Foye. If he doesn’t have a breakout season this year, it may be safe to consider him just an ordinary player. Projected starting five: C Kevin Love; PF Al Jefferson; SF Mike Miller; SG Rashard McCants; PG Randy Foye. Oklahoma City has yet to officially pick its team name, but most believe it will be the Thunder. Formerly the Seattle Supersonics, OKC has sought an NBA franchise since it borrowed the New Orleans Hornets during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This young squad has yet to find its identity, but does have some nice young pieces to work with. Kevin Durant has a chance to be something special in the league, and Jeff Green showed flashes of what he could be toward the end of last season. Top draft pick, Russell Westbrook, impressed in the summer league. Yet, don’t expect this team to do too much this season. They’re dumping as much salary as possible to try to build for the future and save money after an expensive move. Projected starting five: C Nick Collison; PF Chris Wilcox; SF Jeff Green; SG Kevin Durant; PG Earl Watson. Predicted Final Division Standings: 1. Utah Jazz 53-29 2. Denver Nuggets 45-37 3. Portland Trail Blazers 44-38 4. Minnesota Timberwolves 28-54 5. Oklahoma City Thunder(?) 23-59         Set as favorite Bookmark Comments
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Final Division standings
written by Billyjoejack , September 01, 2008
I think Portland will be much closer to Utah's record if everybody stays Healthy. Even thou they have three Rookies comming in,it's like they have ten players that could start on a lot of other teams and make that other team better.Looking foward to watching the Blazers this year should be a real good season for portland.
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Portland
written by Phil P , September 02, 2008
I think you could be right, Billy. If I were a bolder man, I'd predict the Blazers to make a huge splash, but my head tells me they'll still need a season or two to reach that plateau.
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The New Orleans Hornets made huge strides last season, but their situation was different. First, they had more experience. They had seasoned vets that were simply hurt the previous season (Peja Stojakovic, David West, among many others on the bench). Adding a defensive center in Ty Chandler was the icing on the cake. In Portland's case, they have loads of talent and Brandon Roy is a player who could breakout into a superstar like Paul, but Greg Oden's a rookie and will have ups and downs, as will the rest of their roster. They're just additional experience away from reaching higher ground in my opinion. However, if wouldn't shock me if they were the dark horse team this season and wow'ed the world! report abuse
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written by Nex , September 16, 2008
I like your prediction for OCT :)
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