The Thunder are young and precocious enough to need and value the No. 1 seed, and the still-untapped upside of so many of their players makes this quite reachable. Just when we were getting to enjoy the Timberwolves’ two-big throwback approach, they changed it up. But coach Chris Finch and team president Tim Connelly know what they’re doing.

I always like to start my NBA previews at the bottom and work my way up. And when it comes to bottoming out, nobody does it better than the lottery teams in the Eastern Conference. Last season, four East squads lost at least 57 games, and overall, the conference had seven of the league’s 11 worst records.

After producing three of the league’s last five champions, the NBA’s Western Conference comes into this season as the superior conference. Boasting five 50-win teams this past season, the West has the firepower and depth to be an absolute bloodbath.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had the conference’s top playoff seed a season ago, have the youngest roster of any contender and had arguably the best offseason of any team in the league. The Thunder are going to be a handful,

In a society seemingly obsessed with “change,” standing pat occasionally can be a very cool hand. Nothing was broken in Boston, so there was no need to fix anything. It’s a great, two-way roster with plenty of versatility and depth and stars who are getting prime-ier.

After a quick rebuild and a play-in appearance, the Thunder bolted to the top of the NBA a season ago and defied expectations once aga