NBA Power Rankings

Jake Boxberger 

The NBA Power Ranks

            So this season is one of the more interesting ones in a while.  I mean there’s a Russian Billionaire Playboy spending ungodly amounts of money in a desperate attempt to win NOW, just to follow that by hiring a great player WHO HAS NEVER COACHED to run your squad.  Or, there’s the fact that two of the most exciting and profitable players in the league (Rose and Bryant) injured…yet again.  Suddenly a Friday night NBA on ESPN matchup featuring the ‘Young and Gun’ T-Wolves v the Lake Show does not seem so appealing to the cable execs, but that is the league we have to live with this year.  All of the subplots reflect off the encompassing sphere that is the upcoming draft class.

 Personally, I think we are turning this draft class into a market bubble that may burst when 1, 2 or even 3 of these top picks do not turn out to be world beaters.  Then we will be left with teams that put too much equity into the draft and are left with the juliusrandle.com’s of the world (economics nerd allusion to the Pets.com meltdown) and are stuck in the basement again.  By the way, I hope this does not happen.  I sincerely desire a repeat of the 2003 class (Bron, Melo, Wade, Bosh) that truly changed franchises… except Toronto. 

I say all this to transition into how I am doing power rankings.  I am not going to waste anyone’s time ranking the middle tier teams that will neither compete for a title nor win one of the prized prospects. Instead, I will give you my top 4, bottom 4.  These are the teams that are having the most success this year.  “What did you just say, Box?”  Yeah, you read correctly.  I think the bottom four teams are actually having great seasons because they see the bigger picture.  Is it unfair to the fans? In the immediate, yes, but in the future it could not be.  Now that is out of the way, so on to the rankings.

The Top 4

1.    The Miami Heat – There is no other team that should be put in this category.  Unless they went through an amazing losing streak and Bron Bron blows out a knee (knock on wood), then they will be my top team.  You have to take the crown before you can sit on the throne.  As close as my Spurs were to returning to their rightful seat one last time, they proved nothing is handed to you.  Especially not a DEFENSIVE REBOUND IN THE LAST MINUTE!!!! Ok, I’m calm… back to the Heat.  LeBron is a decent basketball player right?  If you are a ‘Lebron Hater,’ then you are not a fan of basketball.  The man is shooting fewer shots than over 25 players in the league and still scoring with the best of them.  There is no weakness to his game right now.  It’s almost as if he goes out there thinking, “How can I score my points on the least amount of shots possible.” That’s efficiency, homes.  On top of that, he is a good teammate that makes his dudes better.  Once they got Michael Beasley, I was extra pissed, because I knew LeBron was the one player to get Beasley’s mind right. Watch out for him in March.  Whether or not they actually get 10+ minutes out of Greg Oden is irrelevant.  Many media outlets try to find flaws and scandals within this team, but I don’t see it.  The most recent one about LeBron and D Wade possibly feuding is comical.  They are both winners, and will win at all cost when the time comes. The only issue I see is the amount of games these guys have played over the past three years.  Through three straight finals going on a fourth plus an Olympics… that’s a lot of tread on the tires, I’m just saying.  What is their record right now? I don’t care… call me when the play offs come.  Check that, when the Eastern Conference Finals comes, because that conference is a JOKE!

2.   Indiana Pacers – It is quite ironic that the two best teams in the NBA reside in possibly the worst overall conference of all time. The Indiana Pacers are great for basketball.  They are a team that is most similar to the Bad Boy Pistons that resides in the mecca of basketball.  They’ve got The Legend (if you don’t know, ask someone) running their squad and he has put together a team that has one purpose, and that is to beat the Heat.  Part one: a hardnosed coach that preaches defense and won’t back down from anyone.   Part 2: A budding superstar that can attempt to contain Bron better than anyone in the league while also forcing The King to expend energy on the defensive end (Paul George… What and Indiana name).  It just so happens that George is a legit MVP candidate.  Part 3: A bunch of hardnosed mu’suckas that will bust you in the mouth if you step to their star (David West, Lance Stephenson etc). Part 4: A giant in the middle that makes it harder for the King to get to the cup (Roy Hibbert). And finally, Part 5: the bench.  They had a terrible bench last year and it showed in the big games, so they blew it up.  They brought in reliable back up point guard CJ Watson, Luis Scola and the undervalued Chris Copeland who will give solid production.  Can we just skip to the Eastern Conference Finals… really.

3.   San Antonio Spurs – I still think this team is the favorite to win the West, primarily because of how Popovich is managing his team’s minutes.  He is the ultimate master of pissing of David Stern by being an excellent team manager.  Sure, they have given up losses to some of the better teams, but look at the minute break down for each of those games.  He wouldn’t play his stars more than 27 minutes in most and the one that he did go hard in, they barely lost to the Rockets.  I am not concerned right now for MY Spurs.  Hell, they just won AT Golden State when the Warriors were at full strength and they sat Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.  In the off season they flipped Gary Neal (wonder where he will be in two years) and picked up Marco Bellinelli.  Now they just need to hope that Ginobili is still embarrassed by the fact that he let Tim down ina big way last year, and is destined to make up for it.  The fact is, they win every game they should, and don’t tip their hand to teams that they will eventually see in the playoffs. The only concern I really have is with their backup PG, but nevertheless, the wheels keep on turning… for another year.

4.   OKC Thunder – Has anyone since George Gervin made scoring 30 seem more routine?  I don’t think so.  I have a theory that OKC’s window to win is two years, which I may explain in a later article, but for now, they are fine.  It looks as though they’ve found their bench spark plug in Reggie Jackson.  Jeremy Lamb has not been too bad.  Nick Collison is awesome as ever (Rock Chalk).  They have obviously found a sleeper in the 19 year old New Zealand Giant, Stephen Adams.  The Kid moves his feet well and seems to pick things up quickly.  Why is that frowning blob Kendrick Perkins still their starting center?  It’s about time to put him out to pasture.  Barring an unfortunate injury, this team will be a top two seed.  If they want to move up my rankings, I need more from Serge Ibaka. He shows flashes, but I would like to see a refined post game to go with his exceptional mid ranged game.  Unfortunatley, the rumors about Westbrook’s botched surgery were true, which is why he had to get it scoped again.  I think that once he is back in the lineup, they will vault the Spurs, assuming the docs don’t screw it up again.  Until then, Reggie Jackson should fill in just fine.

Bottom 4

1.    Milwaukee Bucks – I’ve wanted the Bucks to have a decent team for a long time.  I know we live in a world where we need the big market teams to be good, but I just have a soft spot for small markets with loyal fan bases.  The Bucks had a comical offseason.  Apparently their owner wanted them to be a playoff team so he made huge moves for Caron Butler, OJ Mayo and…. Wait for it… Zaza Pachulia.  Well that has not worked out, but it looks as though they found a potential diamond in the rough: Giannis Antetsalksflasfjgoe (The Greek Freak).  He is raw, but he is 18 and looks like a spitting image of KD.  Highest ceiling in last year’s draft and second place isn’t close.  Would be a blue chip college recruit if he lived in the states.  Then there is my former teammate, John Henson (brag alert), who looks to be growing into his body and will be a good 4-man for years to come.  But for this year, they are terrible.  If I were GM for the day, I find as many trade partners with expiring contracts as possible, get OJ Mayo and Larry Sanders out of there. TANK!... and maybe they will end of with a top pick and have some cap space to build around.  It looks as though they are a few years away, not like my next three teams.

2.   Philly Sixers – This team has done an amazing job at tanking so far.  Hell, on the front page of their website it reads, “Together We Build.” They understand what this season is all about.  They started out 3-0 and realized damn… we need to lose these close games, and that is what they have done.  They have lost almost every game since that start, but have been playing entertaining basketball.  They have a great option at point for the future (MC-W) and a few good (and trade-able) pieces in Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes.  They could try to get more picks or a higher one, or just unload one of those young assets for some veteran stability next year.  Either way, with two picks in the top 15 this year, they can make serious moves by next season.  I am actually very excited to see the potential moves and draft picks by this team in the coming months.

3.   Utah Jazz – Well this team has also been in tank mode since the end of last season.  They let their two best players walk in Jefferson and Millsap, then they kept Ty Corbin as their coach, ensuring that their team would not win many games.  Now you have a young roster with some interesting pieces to build around.  I am still not sold on Trey Burke long term, although he has looked pretty decent so far.  I just don’t think he can be efficient enough with his shots to be the long term option at PG.  Then again, their ‘shooter’ Gordon Hayward is canning a measly 28% from range.  Hayward is a good player, but he is not a primary playmaker.  Honestly, Alec Burks might be their best player, he just doesn’t get enough pt.  The best situation is an obvious one: tank enough to be in position to draft Jabari Parker.  Most NBA ready player in the draft, can play multiple positions and, most importantly, he is Mormon.  Boom. Franchise star, which will take weight off of fan favorite Hayward and Parker’s versatility might allow him to play the 4, with Burks at 2 and Favors at center.  That is the definition of an upgrade.  Oh yeah, they have potentially another pick in the top 20 as well.

4.   The Orlando Magic – The Knicks were close to getting this spot, considering the joke of a season they are having, but they DON’T HAVE A FIRST ROUND PICK due to the ‘Melo trade.  Oooops. Here come the Magic, the winners of the Dwight Howard trade.  They now have one of the best two guards in the NBA in Aaron Afflalo, along with the second best rookie, Oladipo, and an underrated center, Nikola Vucevic. Afflalo and Vuc are both pieces from the Howard trade.  Now, they will probably be looking to trade Afflalo, but I don’t think they should.  They should continue to tank, knowing they will get a top 4 pick.  If they are in a position to get Wiggins or Parker, that would be best.  Then they could keep Afflalo at 2, train Oladipo at the point and keep Vucevic.  Oh yeah, they will have another top 20 pick to grab a piece of the puzzle.  If they can withstand this year and make the right moves, they will be a playoff team sooner, rather than later.