Very little chance they are able to get into top 6 so would need to go through play-in, and if they aren't at least 8th it means winning two games. They did not make the playoffs last year with this roster either. They were below .500 before AD's injury so also I don't really buy that they 'looked excellent'. Even if we are talking strictly about the very immediate period before his injury, they went 1-4 in their last 5 games. They basically had one good game against Bucks, that's literally all they had before AD went out. They started the season 2-10 with AD in the team. They actually had a better record when he went out (10-10) vs before.
Championship aspirations are just laughable. There are several teams in the West alone that will kill them in the playoffs. They are as likely to win the chip as my Blazers are.
They weren't 1-4 before Davis injury, he played 7 minutes in Cavs game and didn't play against Raptors (same as Lebron).
So, it was 6-3 in that period when Davis went off with both him and LeBron being healthy. 2 of those losses came in OT against 76ers and Celtics. If you go further from that then Lebron wasn't on the court.
And then they managed to have 11-10 with Davis on the sidelines for more than a month. Start of the season was definitely bad, but since then they solved Westbrook problem and further improved on both ends of the floor showing glimpses of what they could be if they were all on the court together. They added Bryant and now even Hachimura in rotation surviving the time when Davis was out with a positive record.
Their shooting is still highly questionable and they are really bad in clutch time, but imo they absolutely should get playoffs with this team under the condition they stay healthy.
Why? Like @Sarni said, we have no chance at the Finals or a ring this season - of course "anything can happen in the Playoffs" but nah, this roster is far from competitive imo.
Simply don't rate the rest of the West that high (or teams that are now marginally in front of them to be precise) and rate healthy Lebron, Davis, this version of Westbrook to at least get to the playoffs. Surely, and if they can stay healthy, that's not such a big ask. The whole West aside from the Nuggets and the Grizzlies is like a yo-yo or definition of inconsistency.
I mean, let's see. Davis is back and they need to start winning... well, now.