Power Rankings: Week 4
Power Rankings Week 4
This past week in the NBA, Atlanta proved their an Elite team in the league, Boston looks old and sluggish, and San Antonio is still under .500. When will Brandon Jennings return to Earth? I hope never. Houston is still winning and the Thunder are legit. I’m talking too much, lets go the rankings:
Biggest Gain: Orlando (+8)
Biggest Drop: Sacramento (-7)
1.Atlanta (11-3) Despite losing to the Paul-less Hornets, this is the best TEAM in the league. Playing as one unit and feeding off each other. Mike Woodson is the early season’s Coach of the Year.
2.Orlando (11-3) With Rashard Lewis back, this is team firing on all cylinders defeating Oklahoma City at home and taking it to Toronto and Boston on the road proving to still be the NBA’s best away team.
3.Dallas (10-3) Dirk Nowitzki’s fadeway is one of the prettiest things in basketball, well for everyone except the other team. His clutch plays have propelled the Mavericks to win by 5 points or less in their last 4. MVP…MVP
4.Phoenix (11-3) With all starting players averaging 12 or more, they have the most balanced attack in the league to go with their Number 1 ranked offense and any one of them can defeat the best in league by themselves.
5.LA Lakers (10-3) With the Reign from Spain back in action, the Lakers will have no more ‘no show’ losses to teams like the Rockets, Mavericks, and Nuggets.
6.Cleveland (10-4) The team may be led by LeBron James, but when he gets support from Mo Williams, this team is almost unstoppable. When he scores less than 15, the Cavs are 1-3, and 9-1 when he scores more… Enough said.
7.Denver (9-4) What stops this team from being in the Elite is they play down to their competition. George Karl is infamous for this, and it needs to stop if they want to contend for a Championship.
8.Portland (10-5) Brandon Roy is the most underrated Superstar in the league. It’s amazing. This man is up there with Dirk and LeBron in the MVP talk, but gets no respect. I got you Roy. Keep doing your thing.
9.Boston (10-4) The Celtics have lost 4 in row against teams with a .500 record or better and they won a game against the Knicks, where they had no business doing so.
10.Milwaukee (8-3) How good is Brandon Jennings? The last person to average 25-5-4 in his first 10 games of his career was Michael Jordan. Need I say more.
11.Houston (8-6) Aaron Brooks’ play has been contagious. He attacks the basket so hard, creating countless opportunities for his teammates. Tracy McGrady’s conduct is just a prelude to what he will do to this team’s chemistry.
12.Miami (8-5) Even though the team lost in Toronto, Mario Chalmers 30 point performance is a glance at what he can do in the future. His breakout is right around the corner. Wouldn’t Dwyane Wade enjoy that?
13.Utah (7-6) The big surprise for the Jazz is that AK-47 is still healthy 13 games in. Well that and their record. This team will find their rhythm soon enough.
14. Oklahoma City (7-7) Russell Westbrook’s play is the key to this team’s future success. Everyone knows KD is going to drop 30 every night, but if Westbrook doesn’t turn the ball over, the Thunder will Roar.
15.San Antonio (5-6) Richard Jefferson is beginning to learn his role in Poppavich’s system and Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are not even back yet. This team is fine.
16.Chicago (6-6) Losers of two in row against the West’s best. Once this team gets out of this early schedule nightmare. They will go a run. Joakim Noah continues to impress with 5 straight double doubles.
17.New Orleans (6-9) Chris Paul getting hurt may have helped this team with Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison proving they can play with the big boys.
18.Toronto (6-8) If Chris Bosh had just a little support on a consistent basis. We would be talking about him for MVP. Check out this line: 27 ppg, 12 rpg while 51% from the floor and 75% from 3 point land (6-8). haaaaaNASTY!
19.Sacramento (5-7) Even though they lost to the Rockets and Lakers in tough games, they fight for everything. This is a no give up team and will play spoiler at the end of the year.
20.Indiana (5-6) Losers of three in row against teams they should beat. It’s interesting though. Danny Granger’s hasn’t played well since Dahntay Jones started contributing…hmmm.
21.LA Clippers (5-9) If this team can play like they did against the Nuggets without Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin, what will they do when they have them back. I’ll tell you… Sleeper team.
22.Detroit (5-9) Despite going 0-4 on their West Coast trip, I can’t help but admire this team’s will to go out every night and give themselves a chance to win. Will Bynum and Charlie Villanueva’s play cannot be overlooked.
23.Philadelphia (5-8) Losing a tough game to Cleveland, OK. Losing to Memphis, Not OK. Andre Iguodala has struggled of late to aid in the Sixers’ defeats.
24.Golden State (4-8) Don Neslon’s New Year’s Resolution: Have the same starting lineup for one week. Just one week.
25.Memphis (4-9) Z-Bo and Rudy Gay have played great but OJ Mayo has been a no show.
26.Charlotte (4-9) This team is boring. They have no three point threat unless you count Vladimir Radmonivic… haha. No front court presence. No ability to make a FREE THROW. Trbl. Just Trbl
27.New York (3-10) After a two game win streak, they gave the Boston Celtics everything they could handle, but it wasn’t enough. Al Harrington is proving to be the team leader, which is impressive and surprising.
28.Washington (3-9) Gilbert Arenas, PASS THE BALL. You have two of the best forwards in the East. Use them. You will win if you do.
29.Minnesota (1-12) Ramon Sessions has played well lately, maybe him and Flynn should play together to help out the struggling T-Wolves.
30.New Jersey (0-18) Well, for Thanksgiving, be thankful that you still have a job… Lawrence Frank.
This is The Ref signaling I’m out and remember We miss calls, you miss layups.
The scary thing about Dirk is he is only shooting 44% this year. He is usually around 48%. Imagine if he starts hitting more shots to bring that % up! They will go deep into the playoffs if they get Josh Howard back soon.
I have a hard time looking at the Lakers not in the number one spot….let alone 5th. Not taking anything away from the Hawks, but right now the Lakers are still better…Gasol has them 2-0 since his return with 15+ point victories over the Bulls and your Thunder.
My Top 5 would be:
1. Lakers
2. Hawks
3. Magic
4. Dallas
5. Phoenix
Honorable Mention: Sixers
It’s pretty messed up you already have the nets listed at 0-18.
A respectable point G. There three loses have been blowouts, like they didn’t even want to be there, and that’s the main reason they are at number 5. I stated my point because I believe that’s what is going to happen, but they have to prove it to me first.
JB- I know. I always have to rag on the last place team… No matter what.
How the F are the Lakers not #1?!?!? What team is beating them in a big game? How can you even compete with their front line? Plus, it’s not as if they’re underacheiving. They are 10-3 and dominating teams, especially since Pau Gasol’s return. Odom is currently their 4th best player, they have exceptional depth, and they are absolutely crushing teams inside with Bynum and Gasol. To have them 5th is an absolute travesty, below Phoenix who they crushed by 20????
These rankings are joke. An absolute joke. And really unprofessional work there by completely misrepresenting a team’s record.
Amateur hour.
1.)I disagree Dr. X, the Lakers bench has been atrocious with the likes of Jordan Farmer, Sasha Vujacic, and Luke Walton struggling. They have not found their stroke and it is has shown. This is why Phil Jackson has given Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, and Kobe Bryant more minutes than they should, especially this early in the season.
2.)Although I agree with you that the team is complete with Pau Gasol back, but it does not erase the two blowout losses at home against the Rockets and Mavericks.
3.)Let’s also not forget that they have one of the easiest schedules one can imagine for a start of the season: 17 of the first 22 games at home and the next three games are against Golden State, New Jersey, and New Orleans.
Enough said… Unless you want me to continue…
Well, “The Ref”, nothing you said justifies them being below Phoenix, who they destroyed. And the Hawks got beat by a New Orleans team without Chris Paul, so why should they not be penalized? Only the Lakers’ losses are significant now?
The bottom line is these rankings are nonsensical and outright biased and unprofessional.
Couldn’t say I didn’t see this coming:
I don’t know what I said before that doesn’t justify my selection, and makes me biased, non-sensical, and unprofessional, but I guess maybe I should delve into it further.
My Rankings are based on how a team is playing from the beginning of the season until now, not what they can do, but what they have done because I agree, the Lakers are better than the Suns down the line, but for right now, I feel the Suns are playing better.
The Suns have a tougher schedule so far this season, and they have some pretty impressive victories. That explains that.
And I picked the Hawks because I not only feel that they have played better throughout the season thus far, but they are the best team in the NBA all together. Maybe not for good, because once LA goes on a tear, I completely agree with you, and I think that they will, but again, they have to prove it too me. The Hawks have played a lot better teams and have won some of them pretty impressively. I am not going to penalize the Number 1 spot I awarded them last week because of one hiccup compared to three.
I again thought that these points were mentioned in my previous comment, but I guess I had to go into them in more detail. I hope this explains my views. I don’t think they will convince you otherwise, except that none of these are biased or “nonsensical”. They are well thought out, done differently, but conjured up through a specific process.
I, honestly look forward into you chiming in the future, Dr. X. I appreciate your view point and bluntness. It should be a great rest of the season, and hopefully we can argue about the rankings in the future. However, I hope you do come to terms that unprofessionalism and the act of being unbiased is eluded because that has nothing to do with it.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless.
[...] have the most back-to-back games to play (23). It was excusable, even I defended them on that in my power rankings. The team just needed to get on a [...]
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