The Definitive 2014/15 NBA League Pass Ratings (Part IV) – With Help From Giannis Antetokounmpo!

Having ripped through the Eastern Conference in my League Pass Ratings series earlier this week – most recently covering the Southeast division – today, I move out West. Using the innovative Giannis score system, it’s time to cover perhaps the most entertaining set of five teams in basketball, at least at this preseason juncture anyway. It’s The Definitive 2014/15 NBA League Pass Ratings: Northwest Division edition.

• Denver Nuggets – Lacking star power and beset by injuries, the Nuggets anonymously stumbled through a 36-46 in their first season with Brian Shaw at the helm. Of course, with much the same roster and George Karl coaching the year previous, they romped their way to a 3 seed and a franchise-record 57 wins, but hey, who am I to judge… Ahem. Anyway, even with spicy meatball Danilo Gallinari, Lil’ Nate Robinson and Shaqtin’ a Fool standout JaVale McGee coming back from injury, as well as the curiously similar additions of Aaron Afflalo and Gary Harris at the shooting guard spot, there appears to be little hope of Denver returning to the heights of 2012/13 anytime soon – especially in the loaded West. Their frenetic pace remains a silver living at least; despite Shaw’s desire to play ‘inside-out’ and feature more low-post play from Kenneth Faried (who is proving that 5th gear is his only speed right now on the USAB team), Denver still registered the third highest number of possessions per game in 2013/14, with 98.1. With McGee back too, hopefully there should be some increased unintentional comedy. Otherwise, the Nuggets look to be eerily uninteresting once more.
• Minnesota Timberwolves – I present to you first Your Honour, Andrew Wiggins’ high school mixtape. My second piece of evidence – clips of Zach Levine dunking. And finally, some Ricky Rubio passes. Now please, given how Minnesota have arguably the deepest trove of young assets across the league, and ooze athleticism, tell me how this isn’t going to be a fun ride? Given their boundless potential – shout out to Gorgui Dieng killing it for Senegal in the FIBA World Cup of Basketball by the way – the Timberwolves are certainly going to be compelling League Pass watch at times this season, but for all that promise, there are gonna to be a ton of losses still. With Rubio and his historically awful outside touch, as well as the loss of Kevin Love, their floor spacing might be even worse this year than last, while no one has been brought in to mask Nikola Pekovic‘s glaringly ground-bound deficiencies on the defensive end. Pinning all hope on the youngsters might be rather presumptuous too; new coach/GM Flip Saunders has always favoured playing veterans over unproven commodities in the past, meaning the Anthony Bennett reclamation project may yet be scrapped in favour of extended minutes for Corey Brewer and Thaddeus Young. Still everyone knows this riposte, and season ticket sales have still dramatically increased ever since the Love trade. The Target Center fans know already – this is going to be a bad team worth watching. 

• Oklahoma City Thunder – Sure, Kevin Durant didn’t exactly cover himself in offseason glory what with the ill-timed withdrawal from the USAB fold while his shoe contract negotiations dragged out very publicly, but his excuse of suffering from both physical and mental fatigue was completely warranted; with Russell Westbrook on the shelf too often for my viewing pleasure last year, KD shouldered an unholy load for vast swathes of the season, and only got better. In case you had forgotten, whilst leading the league in minutes played for the third time in five years, Durant also captured his fourth scoring title over the same stretch, becoming the first player since Michael Jordan in 1988/89 to average 32+ PPG, 7+ RPG and 5+ APG for the season. He ran a streak of scoring 25+ to 41 games before only notching 23 in a blowout win over Sacramento (Durant sat the entire 4th quarter). His January splits were frankly, obscene; In 15 games from Jan 4-31, the Slim Reaper averaged 36.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 54.7 percent from the floor and 43.6 percent from beyond the arc. It was during that stretch that poor Golden State and Portland found out the hard way the awesome extent of the MVP’s powers, and it was incredible – even LeBron acknowledged so. And that my friends, without even mentioning Point Godzilla Russell Westbrook, Serge I-Blocka, Scott Brooks‘ wobbly chair status, and the calamitously cheap offseason the front office had, is why you should watch OKC darn near every night this season – Kevin Bleepin’ Durant.
  
• Portland Trail Blazers – Having visited the Rose Garden – fine, The Moda Center – last April (and taking in a truly awesome OT game versus the Golden State Warriors), I can safely attest that Portland has the best home crowd in the league. On the cusp of making the playoffs and up against a similarly good Western Conference rival, the atmosphere was absolutely electric. So yes, given that I own a Wes Matthews shirsey (obligatory #Worst), this rating might be a tad biased. But even stepping back into the shoes of an objective League Pass consumer, the Trail Blazers figure to be an enjoyable watch once again this season. Coach Terry Stotts’ flow offense, with a bevy of capable three-point shooters surrounding LaMarcus Aldridge and his mid-range prowess, is exceedingly smooth on the eye, not to mention efficient – the Blazers trailed only the Clippers in points per 100 possessions, scoring 111.5. Plus, at the end of games, Damian Lillard – who in his third year in the league should be playing with a point to prove after being the last cut from the USAB roster this sumer – is a cold-blooded killer. I could list positives for paragraphs, but in the interests of succinctness, here are some pithy highlights to look out for in 2014/15; Stotts’ fashion sense, Robin Lopez‘s hair, the impending CJ McCollum fantasy breakout, and those gorgeous alternate jerseys. Oh Portland, you are the beautiful League Pass mistress to my marriage with the Suns. 
  
• Utah Jazz – I was a lot more bullish on the Jazz before the FIBA World Cup of Basketball got underway, and Dante Exum was the still the finest Australian product since Vegemite. Now, with him struggling to crack the Aussie rotation, I’m beginning to worry for Utah fans who were pinning their hopes on the unproven point guard. Because really, what else do they have to be excited about? New coach Quin Snyder replacing the God-awful Ty Corbin?! The Jazz had an extremely quiet offseason, their only especially notable move being one cleverly induced by the Hornets; Charlotte gleefully exploited Utah’s gobs of cap space by handing RFA Gordon Hayward a four-year, $63 million offer sheet which the Jazz had little option but to match considering the struggles of the Derrick Favors and Trey Burke, Utah’s other young assets, in 2013/14. Whether the still-young Hayward can stand up to leading this moribund team after undeniably wilting as the first banana last year projects to be the only narrative (aside from Exum’s development, or lack of it) worth pursuing at any point this season – with apologies to Zach Lowe, the minutiae of Rudy Gobert‘s game is not worth your League Pass time, just like Utah in general.