The Northwest Division no longer has Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Roy or Deron Williams. Yet it doesn’t seem like the Trail Blazers, Nuggets and Jazz have suffered. Entering Monday night, the three teams have a combined 17-8 record.
The Nuggets have continued to keep up the pace, averaging a Western Conference-leading 104.0 points a game. And with the acquisitions from last year’s Anthony trade, the Nuggets have become the deepest team in the league and improved exponentially on defense.
Roy was forced into early retirement, but the Blazers have played well without their former All-Star. LaMarcus Aldridge has become an elite post scorer (22.6 points a game), Gerald Wallace has shown grit on both sides of the floor and Wesley Matthews, Jamal Crawford and Raymond Felton have proved to be solid perimeter scoring options.
While Williams is on a struggling Nets squad, the Jazz have some promising pieces like Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter to build for the future.
The stars are gone, but the division may never have been better.
– Jeffrey Tomik
