There's going to be serious competition in the West again. A lot of teams strengthened themselves this off-season.
The Thunder kept most of their championship core together. The Rockets got stronger by adding Durant. The Lakers brought in Smart and Ayton. The Nuggets solved their depth problem by adding Bruce Brown, Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Valančiūnas. The Clippers signed Beal, Chris Paul, Brook Lopez, and Collins.
All these teams, which finished in the top five last year, made these upgrades without losing any key players from their rosters. It's going to be a very tough battle in the West.
The Thunder kept most of their championship core together. The Rockets got stronger by adding Durant. The Lakers brought in Smart and Ayton. The Nuggets solved their depth problem by adding Bruce Brown, Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Valančiūnas. The Clippers signed Beal, Chris Paul, Brook Lopez, and Collins.
All these teams, which finished in the top five last year, made these upgrades without losing any key players from their rosters. It's going to be a very tough battle in the West.
Sure the west is tough but I don't think all of the teams you mentioned got better. Lakers for example didn't at least in my opinion cause I don't trust Ayton. Sure, he can prove everybody wrong but until he does I don't believe it.
The Clippers are strange as well, sure they added big (old) names but if it's gonna be productive. Because of age and just their overall performance lately I see many players sitting out a lot, as always with the Clips.
The Rockets got of course a great scorer, yet it must be seen if he fits the system. They were on a good way to rebuild with a young core, adding an old ball dominant Durant might be the wrong way to go, but let's see.