Under the Radar: Western Conference Teams

In an internet age where any notable play or event is available in Vine format within minutes of it taking place, it seems inherently strange that players and even entire teams could still manage to fly under the radar. But it’s true – our collective attention spans must be shorter than we think, because even in today’s age it’s all too easy to go even a full NBA season without giving the proper attention to some deserving entity. Even as a dedicated writer and watcher of all 30 teams, I find myself looking back at the end of each year and wondering how I missed or glossed over certain things.

Here at Basketball Insiders, we’re out to make things as easy as possible on the great fans of the NBA. With that in mind, let’s take a look at three teams out West who you may not have had your eye on for one reason or another.

Minnesota Timberwolves

It’d be easy enough for those outside Minnesota to look at the Wolves, see a team that finished last in the NBA in 2014-15 and added only draft picks to its projected rotation, and write them off for a similar fate this year. This misses some significant context, though.

The T-Wolves were among the league’s unluckiest with injuries last season. Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic, Shabazz Muhammad and Kevin Martin (all rotation guys) missed significant chunks of the year and left hefty bits of responsibility on guys who shouldn’t have them yet, or at all. Zach LaVine, for instance, has a lot of promise and is a crazy athlete, but there’s no way he should be running the point for an NBA team at this point in his young career.

With even average luck in this department, this could be a much more competitive team than many might assume. The Wolves weren’t quite a positive per-possession team when Rubio was on the court last season, but they were very close. And during the limited minutes he played alongside other core pieces, things were even better – Rubio-Pekovic, Rubio-Muhammad and Rubio-Kevin Garnett (this tandem massacred teams, though in a small sample) were each notably positive per-possession units. When 2014 Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins played with Rubio over 22 games and nearly 600 minutes, Wiggins’ ugly minus-12.1 net per-100-possessions rating otherwise rose to a much more manageable minus-2.2. The same went for Martin, who was an atrocious minus-16.2 without the Spanish point guard and a minus-2.0 when they briefly played together.

Hopefully having Rubio back for a full season could do wonders, as could a few other bits of development. Wiggins and LaVine should both be better in their sophomore seasons, and Muhammad brings a much-needed scoring prowess to give Wiggins a bit of a rest on that front at times. Garnett has had a full offseason to impose his will on the team’s culture, which should have a real effect even if his own on-court value isn’t what it once was. Top overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns might not be a superstar right away, but he looks ready to provide positive NBA production. Even Gorgui Dieng projects to be a more valuable presence given his age.

They’re almost certainly too young to truly challenge for a playoff spot, but don’t be surprised if this Minnesota team is a bit of an upstart. They’re due for a bit of good fortune on the injury front one of these years, and could really surprise some people if they keep all the principles healthy and can get a leap from one or two of their young high-ceiling guys. With the right results, they could be next year’s Jazz – a trendy 16-17 playoff pick with youth and depth all over the place.

Los Angeles Clippers

OK, so perhaps it’s a bit of a reach to call a team that just sold for $2 billion – one with two of the top 15 players in the game and that plays in a massive market – under the radar. But with only 15 teams in the conference to choose from, the Clippers actually do qualify through the lens of popular perception regarding title favorites.

Consider that L.A. won 56 games last season, defeated the mighty San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs, kept their entire core intact over the offseason, signed multiple impact veterans along with no-brainer upgrades to their questionable 2014-15 depth… and still aren’t even in most folks’ conversation for winning the West. You’d be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of outlets picking the Clippers for anything better than the fourth seed.

They could be right given the absolute terror zone the top of the conference is, but counting this team out as a contender come playoff time is foolish. They added a savvy vet for below market value in Paul Pierce, shored up their frontcourt with Josh Smith, and added Wesley Johnson and Pablo Prigioni (a big upgrade at backup point guard) on uber-cheap deals. And they retained Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, as imposing a Big Three as exists in the league.

Their renewed depth should allow Doc Rivers much more license to rest his stars, particularly down the stretch as the postseason approaches. A group that crushed basically anyone with their starters on the floor now has a number of additional options, and even despite improvements elsewhere in the West, this could be their most complete team since adding Paul.

Utah Jazz

The Jazz also might not belong here by the most stringent definition of “under the radar.” By this point, anyone paying reasonably close attention to the league knows Utah has one of the most exciting up-and-coming core groups in the NBA, and that they should challenge for a playoff spot this year. But as they’re in a relatively tiny market and still don’t generate much national buzz (yet), the casual fan might still be woefully ignorant to their success.

Armed with a wildly underrated three-man core of Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert that’s flanked by fantastic youth and depth including Alec Burks (who is returning from injury and will almost function as an offseason acquisition of sorts), Rodney Hood and Trevor Booker, the Jazz look to continue with an accelerated rebuild timeline that sped up last season as their defense began dominating all comers.

Dante Exum’s ACL tear threw a wrench into the general plans, but the Aussie is barely 20 years old and may have had limited value, particularly on the offensive side – the Jazz were on a 54-win pace over the latter half of last season even despite the worst point guard production in the entire NBA. They could very easily approximate that mark even with similar production at the one, especially with Burks back in the fold and expected development from several other younger players. And if Trey Burke or one of the other depth options at the point takes a leap, they could be even scarier.

If the Jazz can keep that three-man core healthy and get even average cumulative improvement elsewhere on the roster, expect them to comfortably grab the West’s eighth seed and perhaps even challenge the likes of New Orleans or Memphis for a higher slot.