I don't get the Denver disrespect either. Sure they lost a couple of key bench players, but having a healthy Murray makes all the difference for them.
I can't remember the league having this much parity or this much talent spread out. You can look at just about every team in the league (with the possible exception of Washington) and make a case for them being at least somewhat interesting/talented/promising/exciting.
In the east Philly is Harden-paralyzed. Cleveland is still up and coming but that playoff stinker still looms. And we should know better than to count out Miami. But it's really Boston, Milwaukee and the rest.
But the west? It's ridiculously deep. I'm re-purposing what I put in the Spurs thread below, but there aren't going to be any nights off in the western conference. Nobody will be tanking outside of maybe Portland. Every over/under seems perilous with this field. One injury for a week or two could cost you 5 slots of playoff position. The regular season might actually mean something for once.
Championship tier: Nuggets - defending champs with a core in their prime. They aren't going anywhere.
Window closing tier: Lakers, Clippers, Suns and Warriors are pot committed with aging rosters. Also, of those four, only the Warriors own their own first round pick in 2024 and that's only if it falls in the top 4. So even injuries won't push any of them into tank mode.
The time is now, maybe, tier: Grizz, Kings, Mavs, Wolves and Pelicans all have some sort of urgency to win now, too. The Pels and Grizz are close to tipping points with Zion and Ja. The Mavs went all in on fucking Kyrie and need to win to keep Doncic around. The Wolves mortgaged their future and have a budding star in Edwards on the clock. The Kings just made the playoffs for the first time in 100 years and decided to run it back and commit long term to their core. They gotta keep that beam lit.
Not rebuilding anymore tier: Thunder have a really young talented team hoping to take the next step plus Holmgren. The Jazz are a notch behind the Thunder, but likewise have some talent. Maybe if things head south for them, they start to punt on the season? OKC owns their pick but it's top 10 protected. The Spurs have Wemby and there's no way that Pop is going to tank again in however many more seasons he has left. That leaves the Rockets, who don't own their pick either, so they have zero incentive to tank. Plus they made a bunch of win-now moves to get vets.
Likely to suck no matter what tier: Portland. They finally embraced the rebuild, but they aren't completely devoid of talent. There are some dogs on that team, too. Not dawgs, dogs. Like the kind with fleas. Portland is likely to be terrible unless Scoot is the real deal right away and they compete from day 1. I'm not seeing it, but they still have (for the time being, at least) Brogdan, Robert Williams, Grant, Ayton and Simons to go with Sharpe and Scoot.