Over the next few days, Thunder Wire will rank the 15 West starters among the five positions. Let's look at the 15 best starting small forwards in the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder has had a staple at the spot with Lu Dort. The 25-year-old worked his way up from undrafted rookie to one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.

The Oklahoma City Thunder may be leading the Western Conference with 47 wins, but they reportedly haven't convinced conference opponents they're title contenders. ESPN's Brian Windhorst said at the 14:00 mark of Friday's episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective he recently asked a Western Conference general manager about the Thunder not getting respect from other teams.