Win In 6 Podcast #16: Northwest Division Preview

It’s that time of week again (for the second time), as our team gets together to discuss the latest Milwaukee Bucks’ news and most important conversation points in our “Win In 6 Podcast”!

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As the season moves closer, it only feels right to branch out and look further around at the teams the Bucks are going to have to square off against, and so from this week on that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing on the podcast.

On top of our regular podcast spot (posting on Tuesdays) where we dive deep into every piece of Bucks news or discussion, we’ll take a division by division trip around the NBA on Thursdays to get to know the opposition a little better.

Over the last couple of weeks we started off in the Eastern Conference by looking at the Atlantic Division and the Southeast Division, but we’re going to leave the Eastern Conference for now before coming back to finish with the Central in a few weeks time.

In the meantime, we move over and look at the bloodbath that is the Western Conference starting with the Northwest division.

The Northwest division is unquestionably the weakest of the three Western divisions, and it’s probably the one with the most question marks left hanging over its teams too.

The Denver Nuggets have a new coach in the form of Mike Malone, who gets another chance to prove himself having been unfairly ousted in Sacramento. Malone isn’t going to have a whole lot to work with from the beginning though.

Denver’s key young stars looking forward have to be Jusuf Nurkic and Emmanuel Mudiay, but with generous new contracts handed out to veterans like Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, Malone will also have to factor in for their presence over the next few seasons. Where does that leave Denver’s future?

The Minnesota Timberwolves have seemingly struck gold as after landing Karl Anthony Towns in this year’s draft, he joins Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett to give them the number one overall picks from the last three years all on the one roster.

The young talent doesn’t end there either. With guys like Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng already in the place, although their time may not be now, the Timberwolves at least have a solid base to build around.

You can’t doubt the impact that the Oklahoma City Thunder could have on the league if they were lucky enough to one full season with everybody healthy, but at this stage it no longer just seems like bad luck. there may well be enough of an injury history to hint that the chances of us ever seeing that are very slim.

On top of that, aside from the whirlwind talents of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, will the Thunder’s decision to tie themselves up with Enes Kanter backfire? How long before we listen to more talk about their decision to trade James Harden, and maybe even the Reggie Jackson one too?

Losing LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and Robin Lopez amounted to a rough summer for the Portland Trail Blazers, but they showed patience in their moves.

The Blazers invested in young players on reasonable contracts, and guys like Ed Davis, Mason Plumlee, Al-Farooq Aminu and Maurice Harkless should at least act as solid support to Damian Lillard as Portland looks to re-group.

Last but not least, we have the Utah Jazz. They are one of the most talented young teams in the NBA, and with Quin Snyder at the helm they have an exceptional coach to go with them.

What can guys like Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward bring to the table this season? The really important question is going to be just how much their backcourt is capable of stepping up though.

To get to the bottom of all of these questions and more, joining me are staff writers Ti Windisch and Jordan Treske.

Make sure to follow us on SoundCloud, and subscribe on iTunes to never miss an episode of Win In 6 in the future.

Check out our podcast breakdown of the Bucks power forwards next Tuesday, as well as our preview of the Pacific Division coming Thursday.

As always, let us hear your thoughts and feedback.

Next: Win In 6 Podcast #14: Southeast Division Preview

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