Week 15 NBA Power Rankings
As of January 30th, the NBA season has passed the halfway point in their season, and I’m here to look at how each team is stacking up against the competition.
1. Golden State Warriors 42–7 (1st west)
2. San Antonio Spurs 37–11 (2nd west)
3. Boston Celtics 31–18 (2nd east) — Isaiah Thomas needs to be seriously considered for league MVP.
4. Cleveland Cavaliers 33–15 (1st east) — They’re trending downwards after losing some bad games to bad teams like the Mavericks, Kings, and Pelicans in the past two weeks.
5. Houston Rockets 36–16 (3rd west)
6. Utah Jazz 31–19 (5th west) — When they’re healthy there one of the better teams in the league defensively.
7. Toronto Raptors 30–20 (3rd east) — They’ve dropped some bad games and some close games due to sloppy finishing and not having all-star Demar Derozan in the lineup every night over the past two weeks.
8. Washington Wizards 28–20 (4th east) — They’ve gone 16–4 over the past 20 games, and are making a serious push in the east after a slow start.
9. LA Clippers 31–18 (4th west) — Inconsistent due to never having their full team healthy. If they can stay competitive until Chris Paul comes back, they should be in a good position to make some noise come playoff time.
10. Memphis Grizzlies 30–21 (6th west) — another team that plays great defence and has two players more than capable of carrying the team offensively in all-star Marc Gasol and PG Mike Conley.
11. Atlanta Hawks 28–21 (5th east)
12. Oklahoma City Thunder 28–22 (7th west) — Russell Westbrooke is doing everything he can humanly possibly do to keep this team competitive.
13. Indiana Pacers 26–22 (6th east) — The talent on this roster suggests they should be a lot better than they’ve played, and that makes them dangerous down the stretch being only 4 games out of second place in the east.
14. Denver Nuggets 21–27 (9th west) — Ever since they deployed Nikola Jokic as there primary option at center and giving him consistent minutes, they’ve been amongst the highest scoring offences in the league.
15. Portland Trailblazers 22–28 (8th west) — They’re in a playoff spot, and that goes to show how messy things are about to get. I don’ think they stay in this spot very long.
16. Minnesotta Timberwolves 19–30 (12th west) — Don’t let the record fool you. This is a good team that is starting to figure things out. If they can stay consistent on defence this team has a chance to take the next step in their development before the seasons over and possibly snag that last playoff spot in the west.
17. Chicago Bulls 25–25 (8th east) — This team is fighting all sorts of internal battles, between teammates, coaches and management. These situations usually don’t work themselves out very fast or effectively.
18. Philadelphia 76er’s 18–30 (13th east) — TRUST THE PROCESS! Do not be mistaken, this team is most likely not going to make the playoffs, but they have finally found something to build upon. The own one of the best defensive ratings in the league with Embiid on the court, and the highest rating in the league when both Noel and Embiid play together, albeit in a small sample size. They’re hopeful to get Ben Simmons back after the all-star break. This team is finally making a name for itself after all the tanking hoopla over the past 3 seasons. This team will be really exciting moving forward.
19. Charlotte Hornets 23–27 (9th east) — They’re 3–7 in there last 10 and have not looked anything like the team that made the playoffs last season. There disappointing and I’m not sure if they’re going to be able to turn it around in time to be competitive in the playoffs.
20. Detroit Pistons 22–27 (10th east) — They’re another team that has disappointing losing 6 of 10 and looking nothing like they did last year when they made the playoffs.
21. Sacramento Kings 19–30 (10th west) — Demarcus Cousins can only do so much to carry this team, but losing Rudy Gay to a torn Achilles all but seals another lottery pick in this upcoming draft.
22. Miami Heat 20–30 (12th east) — They’ve won 9 of 10 games thanks in large part to getting contributions from former top 3 overall draft pick Dion Waiters. He has elevated this team with his playmaking and ability to score the basketball. Once Hassan Whiteside gets back on track with some consistency, they can compete with most teams, as evidence by their home victory over the Warriors.
23. Dallas Mavericks 19–30 (11th west) — “We’re a shit team, but we’re an underrated shit team”. Real quote by their head coach after last nights win over the Cavs.
24. New York Knicks 22–29 (11th east) — Melo and Phil can’t get along. Derrick Rose doesn’t show up to games if he doesn’t feel like it. They both demand the ball when they do play and completely isolate Porzingas out of the game. Shame on them for wasting the talents of one of the true Unicorns in today’s NBA.
25. Milwaukee Bucks — They’re was so much hope surrounding this team, but without any outstanding shooting threats, they aren’t able to create enough on offence to overcome some of their defensive shortcomings.
26. New Orleans Pelicans 19–31 (13th west) — Other than beating the reeling Cavs and taking the reeling Raptors to overtime, they haven’t surrounded Anthony Davis with enough talent to consistently compete.
27. LA Lakers 17–34 (14th west) — My theory is that this team is subtly tanking but not playing their best players as much as they deserve to be played. Though they are getting some younger players more experience to hopefully make a jump next season. If they don’t finish inside the top 3 in the draft lottery, they send their first round pick to the 76er’s. Maybe it’s not the worst idea to sacrifice some wins for more players getting experience and retaining a draft pick they seriously need to build for the future.
28. Orlando Magic 19–32 (14th west) — I don’t even know where to start with this team. I bet if you asked anyone associated with the Magic team, they wouldn’t know where to start with their problems either.
29. Phoenix Suns 15–34 (15th west) — They’ve got some good young pieces but they just aren’t able to win games.
30. Brooklyn Nets 9–40 (15th east) — This one’s pretty self explanatory. They try hard but they’re only talented player is Brooke Lopez who would rather shoot countless 3’s per game as apposed to doing anything that could help the team. They have no present talent, and they have no prospects at future talent cause they traded every valuable asset away for what seems like the next decade.
Thanks for reading and check back next week for my updated power rankings.
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