The Northwest division features three rebuilding teams, one fringe playoff team and one true contender. The fact that the contender missed out on the postseason last year seems like just a detail.

But is it? The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the New Orleans Pelicans on the final day of the season to find its way into the lottery, but most expect Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant to pick up right where the tandem left off when it reached the 2012 NBA Finals. It’s hard to believe that we are three years removed from that point, but the Thunder have not changed a ton since then.

That is to say, it is still a team predicated upon the greatness of Westbrook and Durant, and a team that can still win a title because it boasts those premier talents. Westbrook put together one of the best 10-game stretches in NBA history, and Durant is a three-time scoring champion. How can anyone count the Thunder out?

As for the rest of the division, the Utah Jazz are a tough team, but certainly not a contender yet. Even though Rudy Gobert is one of the league’s best defensive centers and Gordon Hayward is an underrated versatile playmaker, it really does not stack up with the other top teams in the West.

The Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trail Blazers seem like sure bets to be in the lottery.

Denver Nuggets
2014-15 Record: 30-52
Championship Odds: +25000
W/L Prediction: 21-61

The Denver Nuggets just entered the first part of what could be a painful rebuilding process. The Nuggets could not pass on Emmanuel Mudiay when he was still available at No. 7, which meant the team was able to easily part ways with its best player Ty Lawson. Muddily did not attend SMU with Larry Brown but instead spent the season playing in Guangdong, China (not a nice part of China).

Mudiay has shown his love to the game, and has a lot of playmaking ability at 6-foot-5. His size could make him the combo guard that the Nuggets need to be a good basketball team again, but it will likely not happen this season.

Mudiay was considered one of the top-three talents in the 2015 NBA draft, but he fell after a crazy scenario that saw the Lakers take D’Angelo Russell at No. 2 overall, and the Orlando Magic slightly reach on Mario Hezonja. Sacramento did not put a lot of stock in Mudiay and opted with Willie Cauley-Stein, which dropped Mudiay into Denver’s lap.

What Mudiay does not have are a lot of great passing targets. The Nuggets will start a perpetual disappointment alongside him in the backcourt in Randy Foye. Wilson Chandler is a nice role player, but he might have to be the No. 2 offensive option in a starting lineup rounded out with Kenneth Faried and Jusuf Nurkic.

Faried is a great rebounder, but he has not really taken to the boards quite like most expected after he led the NCAA at Morehead State. He posted 8.9 boards last year while averaging 12.6 points per game. Faried could end up as trade bait if Denver finds a favorable deal for a lottery pick in the 2016 draft.

Minnesota Timberwolves
2014-15 Record: 16-66
Championship Odds: +20000

The Minnesota Timberwolves should be a really exciting bad team. Andrew Wiggins can fly, and Karl Anthony Towns was the logical No. 1 overall pick that Minnesota needed to really get a core put in place. Anthony Bennett may have been the worst No. 1 overall pick in NBA history (a lot of competition there), so Minnesota decided to buy his contract out to end any notions that the team got some kind of steal from the Cleveland Cavaliers when it dealt them Kevin Love.

Moving away from Love meant admitting this team was not any real contender, which most around the league already knew. Even having what is left of Kevin Garnett back at power forward is at least a feel good story for a team with enough young talent to win on any given night.

Zach LaVine is much more than just a dunk contest winner, as Gorgui Dieng is much more than just a shot blocker. Ricky Rubio needs a jump shot, but who better to set the table for Towns and Wiggins? The Team still has Zangief from Street Fighter too, and by that we mean Nikola Pekovic.

With Dieng having emerged as starter, Pek is going to have to try really hard not to use all six fouls. The Timberwolves also have some nice depth in Shabazz Muhammed, Andre Miller and Kevin Martin. Martin’s awkward triple is as valued as Miller’s hesitation dribble. So all of these nice parts and the Wolves still struggle to win 25 games? Indeed. It is young talent and a lot of guys on their last legs. But it is also precisely what is needed to keep Timberwolves fans interested in things.

Oklahoma City Thunder
2014-15 Record: 45-37
Championship Odds: +850
W/L Prediction: 59-23

The OKC Thunder have to be taken seriously as a contender, and maybe that goes without saying. But is the team good enough to derail the Warriors or Spurs? That is a far more difficult question to answer, because doing so will take more than just Westbrook and Durant demolishing teams with the ball in their hands.

It will take Serge Ibaka being a legitimate No. 3 option. It will take Enes Kanter being the back to the basket threat that he can be at his best. Steven Adams will need to be able to play some center, even if he is primarily a power forward. And the Thunder are hoping Dion Waiters finds his groove and niche as an NBA player, even if Andre Roberson and Anthony Morrow can fill it up.

The Thunder also have Cameron Payne waiting in the wings behind Westbrook and D.J. Augustin. There is plenty of depth, and Kyle Singler is not a bad time plug behind Durant’s 40 minutes per game.

The Thunder really are a team predicated upon the brilliance of Durant and Westbrook, but it is clear that in the West that actually is not enough by itself. How well the supporting cast can jump in to help Batman and Robin (another problem is which guy is which superhero, to be clear) is going to be the storyline for the Thunder. Durant is good enough to lead a team to 50 wins without Westbrook, but the converse holds true, as well. That can create problems more than solve them, as has been a typical NBA narrative. There is just one ball to go around in crunch time.

Portland Trail Blazers
2014-15 Record: 51-31
Championship Odds: +15000
W/L Prediction: 27-55

A good way to say “we’re rebuilding” is to get rid of four of five starters and just keep the guy who won Rookie of the Year in his first season while starting at his position in the All-Star game in his sophomore season. That is of course Damian Lillard, but the rest of the Blazers squad becomes a “who’s who” of emerging NBA talents.

To be clear, this will be the team that regresses the most in the 2015-16 season. Gerald Henderson, Al-Farouq Aminu, Ed Davis and Meyers Leonard start around Lillard. Henderson is a replacement level shooting guard, Aminu mostly a defender (a nice guy to replace Nicolas Batum), Davis mostly an energy guy, and Leonard an intriguing center who is far better than the bust most had already written him off as.

The Blazers also have some good young talent on the bench with the likes of Noah Vonleh (the Charlotte Hornets gave up early on the rookie), Mason Plumlee, Maurice Harkless and C.J. McCollum. Any one of these four guys could become a major contributor, and all have cases to make for being very good NBA talents.

The problem is that each is pretty unproven, even if Plumlee had a strong season in Brooklyn and pushed Brook Lopez to the bench for a stretch. The Blazers basically need that Plumlee and the rest of a young team to play out of its mind. Oh, and they would still find themselves in the lottery. The best thing about this team will be watching Lillard single-handedly try to destroy teams like Westbrook did with Durant on the shelf in Oklahoma City last year.

Utah Jazz
2014-15 Record: 38-44
Championship Odds: +15000
W/L Prediction: 44-38

The Utah Jazz were a feel good, surprise team of the 2014-15 season, but that also kept the team from getting the high draft pick it needed to make the jump. Instead, the team now looks like one of those all-time “limbo” stories of a squad too good for the lottery but not good enough to make real waves in the playoffs.

What would have to occur for that to happen? For the Jazz to really be a noisemaker in the postseason? A lot. Gordon Hayward would have to go from being a Chandler Persons-level semi-star to a full blown superstar. Derrick Favors would have to build on last season’s breakout campaign. Trey Burke has all the more work cut out for himself with Dante Exum out with a torn ACL.

Is losing Exum a death sentence? No, but it is set back.

The Jazz are eager to get a feel on whether Dante can be its starting point guard of the future, because Burke is already what he is: a solid NBA starter, but a guy who any coach would be far more comfortable with serving as a sixth man type. He is a lot like Jameer Nelson, but in this case it comes without a Dwight Howard in the paint.

Instead, Rudy Gobert is there, and he is very good. As a defender, he is even great. But the Jazz just are a capable squad of very good players, lacking any real defining talents. Hayward can be an absolute killer in transition and is even better than most thought he would be after putting the final touches on a great NCAA career at Butler, but the Jazz need more from him and others than they are capable of giving in anything more than a 2k game controlled by a savant.