Western Conference Strength Ranking in the New Season: How far are the Rockets and Nuggets from the Thunder?

nba official will update the Power Rankings in real time every season, referring to the strength rankings of each team in the league at that time.

However, this strength list does not equal the possibility of a championship, or in other words, the ups and downs of each team's status throughout the season are actually difficult to judge.

The final winner is mostly the one with the best combination of paper strength and actual condition. And it is not necessarily 100% the strongest player in the league (of course, this year's Thunder are still going strong to the end).

Give two simple examples:

Celtics did not fall out of the top two in the Eastern Conference in any ranking last season, but in the end they didn't even make the division final. We know that because Tatum was injured.

Furthermore, the Los Angeles Lakers swept the Pacers and Knicks who later participated in the Eastern Conference Finals in the regular season, and maintained a second-most-thunder in the district to the Thunder (36-16), but were defeated by the Timberwolves in the first round.

Therefore, in many cases, the strength list can only be a reference, not an indicator that determines the outcome.

Without further ado, take a look at the latest Western Conference strength rankings.

Unique: The Oklahoma City Thunder As the defending champion, the Thunder is almost certainly sought after.

They showed historical dominance in the regular season. Although the playoffs were not so convincing, they still won the championship in the end.

For most of the new season, they will still be the most sought-after team in the Western Conference and even the entire league.

However, it is difficult for them to even say that it is impossible to defend their title.

The reasons are multiple.

In the first place, although Alexander won the scoring champion + regular season mvp + championship + fmvp last season, this is a miracle that even Janduku, Kobe, and Duncan have not completed. The last time someone did it was the Sharks in the 99-00 season. Even in the 20th century, only Jordan and Tiangou have completed it.

But I believe that not many people really think that he has reached the height of Qiao Sha, and even surpassed the peak Zhan Duku.

They retained the championship lineup intact, but this cannot guarantee that the title will be defended is a foregone conclusion. The Bucks in the 21-22 season and the Celtics last season also did this, but were both defeated by injuries in the end.

Of course, the most important point is that the Alliance and Xiao Hua simply cannot find the necessity of such a small city to defend its title and even achieve a dynasty.

We all know what the referees did in the regular season and the finals of the finals. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the care this Thunder received on the penalty is obvious.

But this advantage is not guaranteed to be available every year. Perhaps in the new season we will see the Thunder and Alexander fans starting to complain about the referee.

Finally fell into the same cycle as before as the Lakers, Warriors, Bucks, Celtics, and Nuggets.

First level (Champion Champions League): Rockets and Nuggets

Last year's Rockets were actually a replica of the Thunder under the training of Udoka. The gap between them and the final championship is actually the gap between Jalen Green and Alexander.

Then this year's offseason, they became the most aggressive buyers.

Fengxue Ge upgraded to Durant, and then forced himself to take advantage of the electric fan and Capela, and finally added Oakge, almost never missed any opportunity to strengthen.

Unlike the Clippers, the only real "old man" of this team is Durant, while Shin Kyung, Amen, and even Shepard and Jabbarri are still in the stage where they need to prove themselves in the regular season.

This Rockets reminds people of the Celtics in the 21-22 season, a solid lineup, strict coaching, and a desire for championships and victory.

No matter what, they are the Thunder's biggest opponents in the West in the new season. The only reason why the Nuggets can rank in this position is Jokic.

Their summer operations were not very clever. They took the only future 2031 first round to send Porter away, in exchange for Cameron Johnson, who had a small gap in upper and lower limits. Then they recalled Bruce Brown, who was two years older, and Tim Hardaway without a visa, forcing him to stay in Europe for retirement.

That's all, enough to make Nuggets fans cheer and the world rise again.

First, the Booth operation in the past two years was really bad, and second, the ability to ask teachers to lead teammates is too outrageous.

A wonderful person like Westbrook was able to play next to him last season and finally he was like a man. This is something that even James, Kajiao, and Harden couldn't do.

Now, Teacher Joe is like LeBron in the East ten years ago, and he can never draw his team out of the championship.

Second level (transmission group): Mavericks, Clippers, Timberwolves, Lakers,

If the Mavericks can wait until Irving returns next season and return to 80% of the previous state, they can directly move to the first level.

This is a luxurious division with an excellent size and deep thickness. Even the new "Son of America" Flag may only be a luxury division in the new season.

They brought together the three best "second leaders" in the league in the past decade (Hybris, Clay, and Irving).

If many people think the sunset of the Clippers is bright enough, why not look forward to them?

The Clippers are the most successful team this year's offseason, completing almost all the required reinforcements.

They magically used all the best veteran puzzles that can be found on the market to make up for almost all the shortcomings of their own season.

Dallow, Paul, and Bill almost all have to complete their last bloom in their careers here.

The only problem is that they are too old, with an average age of 33.2 years old, and it seems more appropriate for LeBron James to lead the team.

Sunset Red team has been successful, such as the Mavericks in 2011, but more of them have failed, such as the 13 Lakers, the 18 Cavaliers and the 22 Lakers.

No matter how awesome you are at your peak, you can't stop the years from dragging your own footsteps.

The Clippers this year are destined to be boring, let's wait and see.

I can't help but put the Timberwolves behind the Lakers, after all, they easily defeated their opponents two months ago, and two months later, neither team has essentially changed.

Timberwolves simply lost Alexander Walker, and their core team was still stable.

Edwards is almost a super giant "grave digger" in recent years. He has defeated Jokic and Jamdoku in a row in a year. Even if he has not reached the finals, it is enough for him to play for the rest of his life. The biggest problem with the Lakers is still instability.

You don't know if Ayton next season will be the limited edition of the Suns Finals or the Trail Blazers' Older Retirement Edition, you don't know if Smart is the Celtics Dpoy Edition or the Grizzlies' release self-version.

You don't know how much energy LeBron, who has lost his common goal with the Lakers, will put in this team.

Of course, you don't know how powerful Doncic will burst out in the new season.

But this is the charm of the NBA, the charm of the Lakers, the charm of Hollywood.

Just like when you step into a cinema to watch a blockbuster, every year will be fresh and uncertain.

The third level (playoff group): Warriors, Grizzlies, Spurs

The combat power burst out against the Rockets in the playoffs in the previous season, they should have been in the previous level.

But their offseason has been completely screwed up by Kumingga. Not only is it still unknown, but the Warriors now have only nine official players, and even let go of the champion, "Mobile Great Wall" Kevin Looney.

If Dunleavy does not have any surprising super magical operations in the next season, then they will really have to rely on Kuzhuba's "110 Iron Triangle" to conquer the world (110 years old in total).

The Grizzlies sent Bain away, which was considered to be a semi-reconstruction mode of playing and watching. If Morant and Three J run away in the next year, I would not be surprised at all.

As for the Spurs, under the influence of the Thunder's championship, they began to accelerate their youth, but Wenban Yama's health has always been the sword of Damocles.

Their most realistic goal in the new season is to make it to the playoffs first.

Fourth level (playoff group): Pelicans, Suns, Kings

The above teams are likely to be the top ten in the Western Conference in the new season (entering the playoffs).

And it would be a big surprise to have a team in this stage rushing forward.

The Pelicans' reconstruction is confusing, but the bad luck is still there. Quinn, who just chose, was lying down without playing in a game. But thinking about the "double inside line" between him and Fat Tigers is quite exciting in the new season, provided that both of them can play healthily at the same time.

The Suns have finally returned from illusion to reality. After the team has been tossing for the past few years, Booker has returned to the embarrassment of leading the team alone before 2019. I hope he can still score 70 points in a single game.

As for the Kings, they moved to the Raven DeRozan group, who was not successful in the Bulls in the past few years. Even with Sa, I don't think they can make a difference in the high-end Western Conference.

Fifth Division (Reconstruction Group): Trail Blazers, Jazz

No one expects the Trail Blazers to make a difference in the new season, but they are destined to be the largest traffic team in the new season, of course because of Yang Hansen.

But aside from Xiao Yang's filters, the team's offseason operations can only be described as confusion.

They almost posted Anthony Simmons, cut Ayton, signed back Lillard, who could not play, and retained one of the team's cancers (or maybe it could not be sold).

If this Trail Blazers can win more than 40 games in the new season, Yang Hansen is likely to be the best rookie.

This group of strange teammates is probably only invited by the teacher to bring them out. Sir

was heartbroken by the league.

It has been three years since they sent Mitchell and Gobert away to start reconstruction, but not only did they not reach the previous height, they even had no reliable team-building core.

Over the years, they have only focused on trading pulls with the Lakers (Kesler), the Warriors (Markanen), and acted as Westbrook's resurrection spring, and achieved nothing else.

After the competition for Flag failed, they will enter a complete stage of bad performance, probably the only team in the West that has no desires and no desires in the new season.

Let them snatch love Ace Bailey from the bottom of the box and focus on brushing the data.