Training Camp Questions: Northwest edition

[Mcfale313]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13789

Last season the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers tied for tops in the Northwest Division and this season looks like it could be more of the same, though the Utah Jazz will once again be tough and the Oklahoma City Thunder are starting to close the gap. Here are some of the top questions facing the division's five teams as training camp begins in just a few short weeks.

Denver Nuggets

Is The Bench Stronger? The Nuggets made a number of "minor" moves this past summer directed towards strengthening their bench. They drafted Ty Lawson (well, acquired the pick that became him) to back up Chauncey Billups, locked up forward Chris Andersen long-term, re-signed center Johan Petro, and brought in guard Arron Afflalo and forward Malik Allen in trade. Does this make their bench stronger? On paper, yes.

Is This J.R. Smith's Year? The mercurial J.R. Smith now looks to be the team's starting shooting guard, but will be bring an all-around game to a starting lineup that already has plenty of scoring? That will go a long ways towards determining whether or not he's a good fit among the starters or if he should instead be the top scorer among the second unit.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Does Roster Balance Matter? With Friday's addition of Ramon Sessions the Wolves now have four players on their roster listed as point guards: Sessions, rookie Jonny Flynn, Antonio Daniels, and Chucky Atkins. They also have three players listed as power forwards (Kevin Love, Brian Cardinal, and Oleksiy Pecherov), as well as two more (Al Jefferson and Ryan Gomes) who can play the position. At the other end of the spectrum is the shooting guard position where they have rookie Wayne Ellington and veteran Damien Wilkins, who actually may be better suited to the small forward spot. How the rotation breaks down for rookie head coach Kurt Rambis will be interesting to see.

The Shooting Guard Is...? Well, it has to be someone. With the addition of Sessions it's likely we see a few two-point guard rotations with Flynn or Daniels, but Ellington may be the best fit as a starter. He's a player who can do a few different things and doesn't necessarily have to score to be an effective player, but can absolutely hit a jump shot, perhaps better than any of his teammates. Sessions and Daniels are not consistent outside shooters, so having that among the starters would make the team more dangerous.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Are Veterans Necessary? The Thunder has three players with more than five years of NBA experience: Etan Thomas, Nick Collison, and Kevin Ollie. Outside of Collison it's doubtful either of the other two really gets too much run on the floor, but how much of an impact are the veterans really? Thomas and Ollie are definitely good locker room guys and will help guide the growth of the fantastic young talent the Thunder has put together, but does the veteran need to play as well?

Which Young Guys Sit? James Harden, Byron Mullens, and Serge Ibaka join this team as rookies. D.J. White, Russell Westbrook, and Kyle Weaver have one year under their belt. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green have two. Of that group someone is going to be left out of the regular rotation – and more likely at least two someones. Will that go over well with everyone or will it become an issue?

Portland Trail Blazers

Who Starts At Small Forward? Nicolas Batum started just about the entire season as a rookie for the Blazers and did very well. He was regarded as the team's best perimeter defender and showed the ability to hit the three-point shot, but he was often passive on offense. Martell Webster missed almost the entire season with a foot injury after starting the season before, but is now healthy. Webster is a dead-eye shooter, something that would really take the pressure off stars Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge by not allowing defenses to collapse into the paint. On the other hand Batum has shown with Team France he is more than willing to attack the hoop. The early money is on Webster – he's also the better rebounder of the two.

Is Outlaw Enough Behind Aldridge? Skinny Travis Outlaw as the primary backup to power forward Aldridge doesn't seem like a good idea, but at the same time that means he is paired with center Joel Przybilla in the second unit – a fantastic defender and rebounder in his own right. Theoretically Outlaw would only have trouble with the big, rugged backup power forwards, but what happens if Aldridge gets hurt? It's not likely anyone feels comfortable starting Outlaw at the four, which is why the team is still looking at veteran free agents like Juwan Howard.

Utah Jazz

Will The Boozer Situation Hurt The Team? Any time you have a player who has publicly declared he wants to be traded that's not good. Carlos Boozer sees the writing on the wall with the team matching Portland's contract offer to Paul Millsap and he knows both of these players should be starters. However, Utah isn't willing to give him away or take on serious salary, which makes it more and more likely he will have to show up for training camp with the Jazz. Will he stay quiet or will he make noise? What if the Jazz decide to put Millsap in the starting lineup? Should be interesting.

Is There Enough Scoring? There is always this theory that the Jazz don't score enough points, which is kind of funny considering they outscored their opponents by 2.7 a game in 2008-09. Heck, they even topped 103 a game! Perhaps they don't always know what they will get from the shooting guard position or there isn't a clear gunner off the bench outside of Kyle Korver, but does it really matter? The answer to this one is probably not – they can score just fine, thank you.

[B Calrissian]

Thomas and Ollie are definitely good locker room guys

I always thought he was a guy young teams wouldn't want in the locker room.

[Narf]

Meh, Kahn ain't done yet. Ask me in October after he trades Blount.