Trail Blazers and Jazz the best of a division in flux

What went wrong:

There still is no flag-planting, lightning-rod, go-to player.

Bringing Desmond Mason back, to the club and the city, is a nice feel-good move that added a helpful role player. Acquiring Joe Smith in the three-cornered deal with Milwaukee and Cleveland added another terrific personality and lunch-pail player. Mason and Smith also has those much-coveted expiring contracts. But they never have been fiery team leaders and they're hardly franchise players. The relocated Sonics remain a team of someday-will-bes and once-weres, with no star player in his prime.

Travel got a whole lot worse.

You might think it wasn't possible, considering how the Sonics were way off in a corner of the U.S. map with the longest flights possible for games in Miami and Orlando. Now they're centrally located, right? Right -- except that Oklahoma City is closer to a bunch of non-Northwest teams (189 miles to Dallas, 430 to Houston and Memphis, 420 to San Antonio, 688 to Indianapolis, 690 to Chicago) than to several in its own division. Trekking to and from Salt Lake City (860), Minneapolis (691) and what used to be a quick Hwy. 5 shot to Portland (now 1,483) will make for some of the worst in-division travel in the league.

Grade: C+

Most of this team's improvement will hinge on Durant and Jeff Green taking big steps as sophomores. Westbrook should be exciting to watch, too, both in his play and his development. The rest of them, though, will mostly be getting acquainted and learning where the best stores and restaurants are in Oklahoma City.

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