With the dawn of a new year, a new decade, and a new Knicks team that actually occasionally wins, I thought it’d be a nice time to rank all the teams in the league. I last did it in the preseason, so those are the Previous Ranks that you see in parentheses next to the current rank. So I’ll repeat my same explanation of the rankings from then: This isn’t who will be strongest at the end of the season or who will have the best regular season. This measures how strong each team is right NOW. If a team engaged in a seven game series today with any of the teams listed below them, I’m saying they’d win. So yeah, injuries count big time. And chemistry. And like, how good they are.
| Rk(Prv) | Team | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (3) | Boston Celtics | After beating the Spurs without KG or Kendrick Perkins, and with Rondo and Jermaine O’Neal only barely back from injuries, these guys are the ones to beat |
| 2 (4) | Miami Heat | They’ve won 19 out of 20 and there’s a good argument to be made that they should have the top spot. |
| 3 (7) | San Antonio Spurs | They’ve still got the best record in the league, but after being embarrassed by the Knicks & then the Celtics, suddenly the Spurs new offense-focus approach no longer looks as scary as the old defense-focus days. |
| 4 (2) | Orlando Magic | Since the new arrivals started gellin’ on offense, they haven’t stopped winnin’. Once Stan Van gets ’em all on the same page defensively, they may now have a legit shot at turning the East’s Big Two back into a Big Three. |
| 5 (1) | Los Angeles Lakers | Not sure these guys shouldn’t be further down because for the past month they’ve played like stinky buttocks. However, if these rankings are based on how teams would do if the playoffs started today, ya gotta believe the defending champs would instantly become more focused. And more deadly. |
| 6 (8) | Dallas Mavericks | Okay, I’m going back on what I said ‘cuz obviously if the playoffs started today while Dirk is still out, the Mavs’d be toast. Then again, they’re keeping him out precisely because this isn’t the playoffs. If it started tomorrow, the Big German’d be playing. And if Caron Butler were still healthy, Dallas would be top 4. |
| 7 (12) | Chicago Bulls | Yeah, they lost last night to the lowly Nets, but these guys have the 6th best record in the league even though both Boozer & Noah have only been healthy at the same time for 5 seconds. And DRose always kicks it up a notch or seven in the playoffs. |
| 8 (9) | Utah Jazz | Mehmet Okur got injured again like two games after he finally came back. Al Jefferson’s still figuring out the system and the team has established a disturbing trend of falling behind by large margins before focusing. But with DWill, you’d be silly to discount them. And hmm, maybe that fantasy commercial is right that DRose (&thus DWill) shouldn’t really be considered nicknames ‘cuz, c’mon, we can do better. |
| 9 (6) | OKC Thunder | Everyone (myself included) thought these guys would take it to the next level after their impressive showing in the playoffs and Durant going nutz at Worlds. In my pre-season evaluation I said it would be Westbrook who actually pushes them to contender status, and he hasn’t let me down. But Jeff Green and Serge Ibaka? Yeesh. |
| 10 (16) | Denver Nuggets | It’s hard to rank these guys ‘cuz we all know Melo will be dealt before the Feb. 24th trading deadline, turning these guys into also-rans. Heck, even if the Nugs roll the dice and don’t trade Melo, he could do a half-show like Bosh & LeBron did last season. |
| 11 (11) | Atlanta Hawks | Their motto should be, “We totally whup the bad teams.” However, until they make some changes to a roster that for the last two years has folded against the top guns, I’m thinking they’ll be hard pressed to move much higher in the rankings. |
| 12 (20) | Yer New York Knicks | If the playoffs started today, the Knicks’d play Chicago, who they’re 2-0 against. They’d be the bottom half team that none of the top 4 would want to play ‘cuz they all know we can catch fire anytime. Then again, we can catch cold just as quickly. We’re still finding our identity and rhythm, so I’ve no idea where we’ll end up. Even if we don’t get Melo. |
| 13 (17) | New Orleans Hornets | After the first two weeks they looked like they’d be contenders when they started 8-0. Since then they’ve gone 13-15. Hmm, maybe they should be even lower. If Shinn was still the owner, CP3 would still be screaming for a trade this summer, but with the NBA owning the team, they may actually be willing to spend $ to keep this group competitive. |
| 14 (5) | Portland Trail Blazers | Okay, I was way off with my pre-season prediction here, but in fairness I did say “with Brandon Roy now healthy” as well as “if Oden returns and stays healthy, watch out. Those ain’t happened. But I also did give props for adding Wes Matthews, and the truth is that even with 2 of their top 3 talented players out due to injury, they’re still over .500. Does anyone coach injured teams better than Nate McMillan? |
| 15 (13) | Houston Rockets | This time I correctly predicted the injury concerns and early season woes of the Rockets in the pre-season: “with Yao coming in and out and only playing 24 minutes, it could be really hard for them to get into a consistent rhythm.” That was true. Also true? Like in years past, now that they know Yao ain’t walkin’ in that door, they’ve been playing over .500 ball. |
| 16 (21) | Los Angeles Clippers | Am I crazy putting them here? After all, only 5 teams have worse records than them. Then again, of the remaining teams, they’re the only ones with a winning record over their last 10 games. Not only has Blake Griffin has turned the woeful Clips into Must See TV, but his buddy DeAndre Jordan has also turned into a dunking demon, all of which has brought Baron Davis back from the dead, and due to all the alley-oops, has turned him into, gasp, a guy who loves to pass first. |
| 17 (10) | Memphis Grizzlies | They shouldn’t be this low. Rudy Gay has been phenomenal, but the benching of OJ Mayo has left him disgruntled (see his recent fisticuffs with Tony Allen) and Gasol The Younger hasn’t seemed as dominant as last year. The chemistry just ain’t there this year for whatever reason. But that could change. Maybe. |
| 18 (15) | Phoenix Suns | They haven’t been great, but slowly yet surely Nash has been learning how to play with newly acquired big man, Gortat. Don’t sleep on the Big Pole because whenever Dwight Howard was out, you could pencil in the Marcin for a double-double. Unless Vince Carter calls it quits on the season due to injury, these guys will get it together. |
| 19 (19) | Golden State Warriors | Serious injuries to not only three of their starters (Curry, Lee & Biedrins) but also early on to strong eventual bench contributors (Udoh and Amundson) has left them scrambling to get by on Monta’s brilliance. With the gang all playing for the first time last night (although Lee & Biedrins are still not fully healthy), they could surprise teams in the second half. |
| 20 (23) | Indiana Pacers | After whupping the Lakers early on, people thought this could be a sneaky good team. Now we know it was that the Lakers have been sneaky bad. Hibbert, who was such an integral part of their early success, now is playing minimal minutes and isn’t even starting. Throw in Coach O’Brien limiting young prospect Darren Collison’s time for TJ Ford, and they’re going the wrong direction. |
| 21 (14) | Milwaukee Bucks | With Brandon Jennings and Drew Gooden still out due to injury, maybe they shouldn’t even be this high. But if those guys can return fully healthy (or at least, say, 90%?), they’ll start to rise up the charts. A bit. |
| 22 (25) | Philadelphia Sixers | On one hand, they’ve actually been playing pretty solidly even with their best player (Iguodala) injured and top draft pick Evan Turner giving them nada. On the other hand, Iggy’s shown no signs of feeling healthier and Turner’s shown no signs of getting it. |
| 23 (22) | Charlotte Bobcats | On the one hand, the team’s really responded to new coach Paul Silas’ freedom, going 3-2 since he’s been there. On the other hand, they start Kwame Browne and their two best players (Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace) are out with injuries. |
| 24 (30) | Toronto Raptors | On the one hand, they’re not the worst team in the league like I thought they’d be. On the other hand, they’re still pretty bad. But others are worse. |
| 25 (28) | Minnesota Timberwolves | Kevin Love’s insane rebounding abilities can keep them in any game. Kurt Rambis’ inconsistent rotations can keep them from winning any of ’em. |
| 26 (24) | Washington Wizards | When healthy, John Wall has proven to be even better than advertised. The key word is “when.” At least he hasn’t been alone, as Josh Howard’s been as injury-prone as ever, and even Captain Kirk recently went down. Um, but Rashard Lewis is playing much better than he did in Orlando. |
| 27 (29) | Detroit Pistons | Their recent success has been due to relying on TMac. Never a good formula, so don’t expect that to last. None of the players seem to like their coach or want to be there. Word is, even though Detroit signed him two summers ago, Ben Gordon still hasn’t arrived yet. |
| 28 (26) | New Jersey Nets | No shocker that big free agent acquisition Travis Outlaw hasn’t done much here since, well, beforehand he hadn’t done much elsewhere either. Brook Lopez has gone from untouchable, up-and-coming big into a disappointing seven-footer who will never average 10 rebounds a game. Ouch. …Yet maybe true. |
| 29 (27) | Sacramento Kings | DeMarcus Cousins is slowly starting to get it, but Tyreke’s injury woes and inconsistent play (is he gonna dominate the ball tonight or not?), mixed with Coach Westphal’s Flavor-O’-The-Day approach to picking his starting lineup, will keep them on the bottom of the standings. |
| 30 (18) | Cleveland Cavaliers | Talk about missing the mark: I actually thought that thanks to their time with LeBron that this group had learned to win (kinda like how the Bulls were still good the year MJ went off to play baseball) and had a shot at the playoffs. My bad. The Cavs actually started the season decently, even with Mo out, going 7-10 until LeBron returned. After being embarrassed by Miami, they seem to have lost all confidence and gone 1-17. Let’s not talk about who that one win was against… |