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.

There simply were not a lot of options for the Nuggets X-Factor, which led to Jamal Murray being

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