2018-19 NBA Preview: Power ranking the bubble playoff teams in the Western Conference Playoffs

#2 Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder have gotten significantly better than last season and are poised to post their first 50-win season in three years

'Addition by subtraction' is one of those fancy phrases being thrown around for the moves the Thunder made in order to trade Carmelo Anthony this summer. But when you look at exactly what they've done with literally no wiggle room in their salary cap situation, you have to applaud Sam Presti's nous at building teams.

For one thing, it wasn't subtraction when they traded Melo to the Hawks for Dennis Schroder and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot - they got two players for the price of one. Schroder, by himself, is a better player than Melo at this point in both of their careers and is said to be excited about the prospect of coming off the bench for the Thunder.

Few teams in the league can boast of a 20 ppg, 6 apg player coming off the bench like OKC can. Fewer still can say they have untapped potential in their roster which might come in handy during the playoffs - in the form of Nerlens Noel, who signed a veteran's minimum deal for the season with the franchise.

Jerami Grant is a severely limited offensive player who may not be able to replace Anthony as a 3-point shooter, but he's a physical, hustling defender who is up there among the league's best small-ball centers.

Moving him as a power forward into the starting lineup gives OKC an intimidating defensive look, while the likes of Patrick Patterson, Alex Abrines and Raymond Felton could still theoretically be sizeable difference-makers off the bench.

Led by the Brodie and PG-13, the Thunder have gotten significantly better than last season and are poised to post their first 50-win season in 3 years.