Clippers Coach Doc Rivers thinks NBA West will be ‘historically’ tough

Don’t bother selling Doc Rivers on Oklahoma City’s returning to its dynamic form once the Thunder’s Kevin Durant returns from a broken bone in his foot.

Never mind touting that Golden State Warriors backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

Forget about even telling the Clippers coach that his team has everything it needs to win.

As far as Rivers is concerned, there’s only one team that merits title discussion in the Western Conference: the San Antonio Spurs.

“Until someone figures out a way of beating them,” Rivers said of the defending NBA champions, “I don’t really want to talk about any other teams.”

Of course, Rivers then went on to talk about how tough his conference would be nearly top to bottom, noting that as many as nine teams could win it. He pointed out that the Utah Jazz is “way better” than it was last season and that the New Orleans Pelicans have one of the top five players in the league in Anthony Davis. He also mentioned how the Memphis Grizzlies, a team often overlooked, were a Game 7 suspension to Zach Randolph away from potentially advancing to the second round of the playoffs last season.

In case you’re wondering, Rivers did not mention the Lakers. Sorry, Lakers fans.

The depth of the conference means that each of a team’s 82 games will take on added significance.

“Every night, I think every team in the West knows one loss could be the difference between a three seed and a six seed,” Rivers said. “You’ve got to be mentally prepared for this year and I expect it to be historically hard.”

The Clippers huddled in their locker room for about 15 minutes after their final preseason game, openly discussing the challenges that await them once their season starts Thursday against Oklahoma City at Staples Center.

Among those difficulties will be a season-opening stretch of eight consecutive games against teams from the West.

“Everybody either got better or is going to be just as good,” Clippers forward Blake Griffin said. “That’s what’s going to be a lot of fun. Every night, you’ve got a challenge.”

Rivers noted that as good as San Antonio was last season, it needed a Game 7 in the first round to get past Dallas. But the Spurs return the core of a team that has won four NBA titles together and toyed with two-time defending champion Miami in last season’s Finals as if the Heat was a rec league team.

“San Antonio is the best team in the West, period,” Rivers said. “But there’s a lot of teams right under them that can catch them or are going to try, and we’re one of them. We love being in that position.”

Scheduling matters

The Clippers did not practice Sunday but were scheduled to hold what Rivers described as a one-hour shoot-around. The coach said he wanted his team to have intense practices Monday and Tuesday before backing off a bit Wednesday in an effort to stay fresh for its opener against the Thunder.

Rivers said practicing too much during long layoffs between games can have its drawbacks.

“That first Boston group with Tony Allen and Perk [Kendrick Perkins], you didn’t need them in the gym for five days in a row [because] something was going to happen and it was going to be like boxing-glove happen,” Rivers said of one of his former Celtics teams. “I learned that quickly.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch