With the NBA season stretching over six months, it is sometimes hard to tell which teams are playoff bound and which teams are leading the lottery race. Every Wednesday throughout the season I plan on taking on the challenge of putting the 30 NBA teams in order from top to bottom. The rankings will be based entirely on my own opinion and should be debated, but for the most part I'm going rank teams based on record, team statistics and overall potential. What I find ironic about my first post is that I have my hometown team last and Garnett's new team first -- nothing new for a Minnesota fan watching a Boston team.
BIGGEST RISE: Charlotte Bobcats from 20th to 14th.
BIGGEST FALL: Golden State Warriors from 16th to 27th.
(Editor's note: "LW" indicates each team's ranking from CheChe23's previous article -- in this case, his preseason rankings. —RTW)
| CheChe23's Power Rankings: November 13, 2007 | |||
| TEAM | RK (LW) | W-L | COMMENT |
 | 1 (6) | 6-0 | So far, so good in Boston, the Celtics are putting on a show. As if Kevin Garnett wasn't a pre-season favorite for league MVP, his numbers this season are outstanding, he's serious about winning and he's recorded a double-double in all six games. This begs the question: Was KG actually trying in Minnesota? |
 | 2 (2) | 7-1 | I love to bet the moneyline on San Antonio -- it's the safest gamble in sports. Some experts say a team must have a talented bench to win consistently in the regular season. Some experts say a team must have a talented starting five to win in the post-season. The Spurs have both and do both. |
 | 3 (4) | 6-2 | Houston has everything clicking so far and they look like they will be able to keep up with the rest of Texas. ESPN ranks them third, FoxSports ranks them fifth and NBA.com puts Houston ahead of everybody but Boston. We will have a good idea of who the Rockets really are after they go back-to-back against San Antonio and Phoenix on Friday and Saturday. |
 | 4 (10) | 5-2 | Without a doubt the Pistons have shown they are not ready to give up the Eastern Conference's Central division. With Chicago taking longer to get going than most expected and Cleveland fussing over Anderson Varejao, Detroit has been able to get a head start on the rest of the division. Even though before the season started I said that Detroit's starting five was past their prime -- I'm not surprised to see them here. |
 | 5 (3) | 6-2 | With Nash scoring more, the Suns have a different style this season. Injuries will always be an issue for the Suns because they often use just seven or eight players. Phoenix will test its depth after losing Raja Bell in Sunday's win at Orlando. Leandro Barbosa filled in nicely as he normally does, scoring a career high 39 points including eight three pointers. |
 | 6 (8) | 6-1 | The Jazz can score. Utah is averaging the most points so far in the NBA scoring almost 112 points per game. One reason for the scoring splurg might be Carlos Boozer. Boozer is shooting the best percentage of his career and putting up 26.3 points per game -- an increase of nearly 6.0 ppg from last year. Another reason for Utah's increase in scoring could be credited to Ronnie Brewer's surprised 15.0 per game. But the overall success will be determined by the all-around ability of Andrei Kirilenko. When AK47 is playing on top of his game, the Jazz boast a solid big three of their own (Boozer, Deron Williams and Kirilenko). |
 | 7 (1) | 5-3 | Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby have become the big three of the Northwest division. With Nene sidelined for six weeks, Linas Kleiza and Kenyon Martin will be called upon to step up. Kleiza (IPO: Linas Kleiza) has played an average of 24 minutes and is putting up over 10 points per game. Martin's 5.2 rebounds per game has been solid, but will need to improve in order to replace Nene's presence on the glass. Denver's defense is still their weak spot, they are allowing opponents to score the sixth most points per game against them -- lucky for them, the Nuggets are scoring the third most. |
 | 8 (5) | 5-2 | The Mavericks can start whatever line-up they want as long as Jason Terry gets his 30 plus minutes per night. Terry is playing great, too great to start from the bench, averaging a career best 21.8 points per game. As the Mavericks get healthy -- Devin Harris has played in just three games, Josh Howard in four -- and they get used to playing together (five new faces) they'll keep winning. One problem the Mavericks will deal with all season won't be from their own roster, but rather their own division, which is by far the best in the NBA. |
 | 9 (12) | 6-2 | The Magic have put together a solid start to the season, record wise -- but can they continue at this pace for all 82? Despite starting 13-4 in 2006, Orlando finished 40-42. Early on in the NBA season, it appears that Orlando is balling in one of the weakest divisions in the NBA. If Miami, Washington, Charlotte and Atlanta don't take hold of things, look for Orlando to use their fast start to run away with the Southeast division. |
 | 10 (7) | 1-5 | The majority of people's pre-season predictions paired Chicago with Boston in the Eastern Conference Championship. With a roster containing depth and skill across all positions -- it won't be long before the Bulls rise back to the same level as the Celtics. Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni and Kirk Hinrich appear to be the Bulls best bet starting five, but lack size. Ben Wallace has played awful so far this season. If Wallace gets good playing time (25 plus minutes per), he needs to do more than score 3.5 points and grab 4.8 rebounds per game. For now, Chicago's potential keeps them in my top 10. |
OUTSIDE THE TOP 10:
11. New Jersey Nets (4-3): Losing Carter could mean more reliance on Antoine Wright, who doesn't seem to mind.
12. New Orleans Hornets (6-2): Lucky wins, flaky roster. I'm still not sold on the Hornets being a top 10 team.
13. Toronto Raptors (4-3): Defense and rebounding are needs that need to be met for the Raptors.
14. Charlotte Bobcats (4-3): The Bobcats are on the verge of becoming a playoff team -- the verge.
15. Cleveland Cavaliers (4-4): As long as the Cavs have nightly triple-double threat LeBron James, they'll be fine.
16. Los Angeles Lakers (3-3): The possibilities are good in L.A. if Bynum continues to rebound like he has (just over 10 per) and Odom returns to form.
17. Portland Trail Blazers (4-3): The Blazers are undefeated at home, but haven't won on the road.
18. Milwaukee Bucks (2-4): Yi vs. Yao put Milwaukee on the map, but I'm not so certain the Bucks will stay there.
19. Sacramento Kings (2-5): Kevin Martin is taking advantage of injuries and a lack of leadership in Sacramento -- he's third in the NBA in scoring.
20. Memphis Grizzlies (2-5): Pau Gasol, Mike Miller and Rudy Guy are a poor man's big three, but the Grizzlies need more from Darko Milicic, Hakim Warrick and Stromile Swift to be considered a legit threat.
21. Atlanta Hawks (2-4): Atlanta has the weapons to make a run -- oh wait, what about a point guard?
22. Washington Wizards (1-5): The Wizards are getting 20 points a night from each of the big three (Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler), but not much from anyone else.
23. Miami Heat (1-6): It's like having a substitute teacher, class just isn't the same. Wade will teach the lesson plans soon enough.
24. Indiana Pacers (3-4): The Pacers won't be the leagues worst team, but they won't be good either.
25. Los Angeles Clippers (4-2): Injuries and lack of talent is slowly catching up to the Clippers (two straight losses after 4-0 start).
26. Philadelphia 76ers (2-5): Philadelphia is a relatively weak team, with little expectations. Willie Green and Louis Williams are playing surprisingly well, Iguodala is forced to do too much (lower FG% and higher TOs).
27. Golden State Warriors (0-5): This is a very talented team, still launching from deep (second most from three per game), they just need to make more (only converting 34.4%).
28. New York Knicks (2-4): Stephon Marbury has played his last game as a Knick, that might actually make them better.
29. Seattle Sonics (0-8): Seattle might not be better than the Minnesota, but at least they have a stud player named Kevin.
30. Minnesota Timberwolves (0-5): The Timberwolves have good potential, but it hasn't produced any wins.
HOT HOT HOT
1. Kobe Bryant - Not only does Kobe lead the NBA in scoring, but his mouth has been shut as far as trade demands go -- oh, and he's rebounding (7.6) and passing (5.0) at a premium pace too.
2. Richard Jefferson - It's perfect timing for Jefferson's role to increase with Vince Carter sidelined; Jefferson's playing some of the best basketball of his career (scoring low this season: 22 points).
3. Marcus Camby - Camby has been a rebounding machine (14.0 per game), he's grabbed double digits in all but one game this year. Camby has also continued to make his case as the next legendary shot blocker, swatting nearly three per game and 11 over his last two games.
NOT NOT NOT
2. Ben Wallace - Ben Wallace is the same, which is worse. His numbers have consistently gone down since his 2004 season when he averaged almost 10 points and 12 rebounds a game. Down so far that this year he's yet to eclipse double digits in either one.
3. Charlie Villanueva - The Bucks depth at small forward hasn't been good for Villanueva. The 7th overall pick in 2005 played in just 39 games last year due to injury, scoring nearly what he did his rookie season (11.9 ppg). It's taking a little longer for Villanueva to get started this season, he's only averaging 6.7 per game.
No comments:
Post a Comment