Following convincing summer upgrades, the Oklahoma City Thunder ranks third on NBA.com’s list of offseason personnel improvement.

During his yearly August valuation of each NBA franchise, veteran league reporter David Aldridge heralded Oklahoma City’s latest acquisitions and re-signings, which include:

With Paul George being the obvious headliner on the above list, Aldrige made no reservations concerning George’s potential to become either a one-year rental for OKC or the catalyzing force behind a multi-year run of Thunder contention, stating:

"And PG-13 is certainly the best case the Thunder can make to Westbrook to stay after this season, too (as of this writing, Westbrook had not yet accept the contract extension the Thunder offered). OKC can’t do any more. If they both walk, they walk, and the Thunder will either have massive cap room or become a chief repository for bad contracts next summer."

Aldrige’s complete offseason rankings are as follows:

Aldrige prefaced his ratings system by explaining that his choices are an inexact science which attempts to answer the question: “Is your team better now than at the end of last season?”

Though inexact, Aldrige’s opinion nonetheless holds major regard within NBA circles, and that is certainly uplifting news for Thunder Nation.