Blazers, Jazz, Nuggets: Vie For Northwest Division

Blazers, Jazz, Nuggets: Vie For NBA's Northwest Division

If the Portland Trailblazers were an east coast team everyone would already be sick of them. That’s because the Blazers would be the only thing the NBA media would talk about.

The Trailblazers are young, deep and talented.

Don’t let Greg Oden, the number one overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, and his less than stellar stats fool you—just seven points per game. Oden is far from a bust and he’s also only 20 years old.

Most teams would have drafted Oden, threw him on the court with four scrubs and told him to singlehandedly win 50 games.

The Blazers didn’t do that.

Instead, general manager Kevin Pritchard constructed a talented team to surround the former Ohio Buckeye. Oden doesn’t have to carry this team, he just needs to play defense and rebound, and he’s doing that.

Oden is averaging, per game, seven-and-a-half rebounds and a block-and-half in only 21 minutes of playing time.

The job of carrying the team is reserved for shooting guard Brandon Roy.
Roy is the Blazers’ first offensive option and clutch in the fourth quarter. Watching him play in the last two minutes of a game is a thrill.

Power forward LeMarcus Aldridge is the Blazers’ number two scoring option, both down low and away from the basket. Spanish sensation Rudy Fernandez is as assassin from beyond the 3-point line and a nightly spark off the bench.

Solid performers like Steve Blake, Joel Przybilla, Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, Sergio Rodriquez and Channing Frye round out a deep Blazers’ team. With the emergence of 19-year-old small forward Nicolas Batum, the Blazers legitimately have two starting lineups.

At times this season the Blazers have looked like threats to win the Northwest Division. Other times, Portland has looked like they’re not ready for prime-time. That’s to be expected from the NBA’s second youngest team.

Can the upstart Blazers really compete for this division? Not if the Utah Jazz can get and stay healthy.

Last year’s division winners have been plagued by injuries to its “big two.” Point guard extraordinaire Deron Williams has already missed 13 games with a sprained left ankle. Power forward Carlos Boozer has been sidelined since November 19 with a tendon strain to his quadriceps.

At full strength, the Jazz have exactly what the Blazers lack: experience. Utah returns 13 players from last season, impressive since only 12 can suit up for a game. Seven players are entering their fourth season together and nine have played a part in the Jazz's last two playoff runs.

Joining Boozer and Williams in the starting lineup is center Mehmet Okur, small forward C.J. Miles and shooting guard Ronnie Brewer. It’s one of the best starting five’s in the Western Conference.
Leading a strong bench is the Jazz’s highest paid player Andrei Kirilenko. After him comes three-point ace Kyle Korver, rugged big man Paul Millsap and veteran forward Matt Harping.

Led by professional sports’ longest tenured coach, Jerry Sloan, the Jazz are tough, disciplined and deep. While difficult to beat in Utah, it doesn’t really matter what gym you put them in because they can, and will, wear you down with their relentless execution.

When the Jazz get healthy they will be the team to beat in northwest.

Currently leading the division is the recently transfigured Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets have performed a rare feat in the NBA, they’ve dumped salaries and gotten better.

They traded away Allen Iverson and his huge contract for home town hero Chauncey Billups.
After a short learning curve, Billups has quite simply made the Nuggets a better team. Since Billups entered the fray, the Nuggets have more quality possessions, are competitive every night and are winning close games—something Denver didn’t do last year.

To quantify Chauncey’s contributions, the former University of Colorado Buffalo star has less than half as many turnovers (28) as Phoenix Suns’ point guard Steve Nash (65).

Nuggets have an all-world scorer in Carmelo Anthony. The forward recently scored a NBA record-tying 33 points in a quarter. At the other end of the court, Anthony is playing the best defense of his career. Maybe playing for Team USA at the Olympics had something to do with that?

Center Nenê is leading the league in field goal percentage, other forward Kenyon Martin gives the Nuggets some much needed toughness and Dahntay Jones is Denver’s best defender.

Where the Nuggets fall short, especially compared to Utah and Portland, is their bench. So far this season, substitute stalwarts Linas Kleiza and J.R. Smith have underachieved. Renaldo Balkman and Chris Andersen don’t impress offensively but are at least willing to play defense.

If Portland’s young team slips during the long season and Utah continues its injury woes, look for the Nuggets to remain on top.

Rounding out the division is the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team formerly known as the Seattle Sonics. All you need to know about those two teams is they’ve already fired their head coaches.

Minnesota replaced Randy Wittman with Kevin McHale. The former Boston Celtic legend was the team’s general manager, but he’s been relinquished of his GM duties so he can focus all of his attention on coaching. Which means in owner-speak, McHale better turn the team around or he’s out of a job.

The T-Wolves have a superstar-in-the-waiting in Al Jefferson, he’s averaging 21 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game, but he doesn’t have much of a supporting cast.

First round draft pick Kevin Love has played inconsistently, averaging more turnovers per game then blocks or assists.

The most hated team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder, a franchise that left a top 15 media market for a top 50 media market, began the season 1-12. Not a good way to endear yourself to your new city. That horrific start cost head coach P.J. Carlesimo his job.

Scott Brooks was inserted as coach and in his team’s next 10 games he could only doubled the Thunder’s win total. At 2-20, Oklahoma City is in an exclusive club that includes only two other NBA teams to ever be that awful after 22 games.

The Thunder don’t play defense, they turn the ball over way too much and they miss free throws. Sure Kevin Durant, the player chosen after Oden in the 2007 draft, can score, but he can’t do much else. What this all means is Oklahoma City officials have a very long time to plan their championship victory parade.

The Western Conference’s Northwest Division is a three team race. Despite neither team leading the division, the title seems poised to go to Portland and its youth, or Utah and its experience.
Denver, while making leaps and bounds towards putting together a team capable of going deep into the playoffs, has too many holes and not enough pieces, or money, to fill them.

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