Welcome to Def Pen’s NBA Power Rankings. These rankings will be updated every Monday from here on. These rankings aren’t necessarily based solely on talent level or team potential.They’re about who’s better right now/who has played better as of late. If a team has lost their last 5 games, they’re probably going to drop (at least) a few spots, even if they’ve got “better” players than a team ranked above them. Alright, let’s jump in.
Biggest Jump: Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers: Up 6.
Biggest Drop: Denver Nuggets: Down 5
1. Golden State Warriors
Record: 53-5
Last Week’s Ranking: 1
No surprise here. Stephen Curry is not a human being. That OKC game was bananas. Best game of the year for sure, and Curry somehow found a way to win it.
2. San Antonio Spurs
Record: 50-9
Last Week’s Ranking: 2
No surprises here either. This Spurs team is still sneakily one of the better teams we’ve seen in the past few years. Like the Warriors, they’ve won 9 of their last 10, and 5 in a row.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
Record: 41-18
Last Week’s Ranking: 3
The Thunder have now lost 2 straight, but come on. You’re not going to hold that Warriors loss against them too much right? The other loss, the one to New Orleans, was a weird one. When Durant and Westbrook combine for 76 points you expect to win — especially against the 23-35 Pelicans. OKC looked like a serious title contender against the Warriors though. I was very impressed.
4. Toronto Raptors
Record: 39-19
Last Week’s Ranking: 4
That win over Cleveland had to be a massive confidence booster for Toronto. Skinny Kyle Lowry is just awesome, DeMar DeRozan’s shot selection has drastically improved, and this team is for real.
5. Boston Celtics
Record: 35-25
Last Week’s Ranking: 6
The Celtics are still on a roll. They picked up a great win against the Heat on Saturday when the C’s absolutely took over the fourth quarter. The Celtics play the Jazz tonight, which is actually a bit of a big game for them since Utah beat them a couple weeks back. Arguably one of Boston’s bigger weaknesses is their lack of a true center, which is a weakness that Rudy Gobert and the Jazz are well-equipped to exploit.
6. Cleveland Cavaliers
Record: 41-17
Last Week’s Ranking: 5
Yesterday’s loss to the Wizards was disconcerting. LeBron sat out(rest) but regardless. This is a sub-.500 Washington team, and your Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love-led team can’t even keep the game close? Come on. LeBron shouldn’t have to carry this team this much.
7. Los Angeles Clippers
Record: 38-20
Last Week’s Ranking: 6
The Clippers are trending upwards(I think) despite the continued absence of Blake Griffin. They had a huge win over San Antonio, lost to the Warriors by just 3 points, routed the Suns, and won solidly over Sacramento. An overtime loss to the Celtics is excusable, but that loss to Denver wasn’t ideal. The Nuggets are bottom-10 in defensive rating, and the Clips put up just 81 points on them. All in all, though, the Clippers have been great as of late. Chris Paul has looked rejuvenated, and DeAndre Jordan is still quietly a great player.
8. Portland Trail Blazers
Record: 32-28
Last Week’s Ranking: 14
Good God, Portland. This is the biggest surprise of the season to me, except maybe for Houston’s woes. I expected the Blazers to win… probably around 20 games. 24 max. Well, it’s february and they’ve won 32. They’ve won 13 of their last 15! They beat the Warriors! By 32!!! What the hell is happening? A starting 5 including Al-Farouq Aminu, Noah Vonleh, and Mason Plumlee should not be a playoff team. This is craziness. I can’t wait to see if they regress or keep going strong.
9. Miami Heat
Record: 33-26
Last Week’s Ranking: 9
The Heat are looking good. Hassan Whiteside’s starting to make me change my tune on him; he’s getting a ton better. Joe Johnson played his first game with the Heat last night, and put up 12 points in 30 minutes. Not bad. He should help their depth issues a great deal.
10. Atlanta Hawks
Record: 33-27
Last Week’s Ranking: 10
The Hawks haven’t really done anything of note lately. They’ve been winning games they should win, and losing games they should lose. Only exceptions — back-to-back losses to Orlando, and a double overtime loss to Milwaukee.
11. Charlotte Hornets
Record: 30-28
Last Week’s Ranking: 17
Charlotte has come alive, despite losing Michael Kidd-Gilchrist just 7 games after his season debut. The Hornets have won 9 of their last 11 now behind strong play from Kemba Walker and Marvin Williams. This doesn’t feel sustainable.
12. Memphis Grizzlies
Record: 34-24
Last Week’s Ranking: 8
You’ve got to feel bad for Marc Gasol and the Grizzlies. Expect Memphis to keep sliding down the power rankings, as I think losing Gasol really crushed their spirits.
13. Indiana Pacers
Record: 31-28
Last Week’s Ranking: 12
The Pacers are a very “.500-ish” team, similar to Atlanta recently. They haven’t been playing up or down to competition(except for when they took down OKC a couple weeks back). Recently, they lost to red-hot Portland and Charlotte teams, as well as Miami, but beat the Knicks and Orlando
14. Dallas Mavericks
Record: 32-28
Last Week’s Ranking: 11
Another middling team. After starting the season on fire, the Mavs have come crashing back down to earth, and are entirely average right now. The bright spot for Dallas has been David Lee, who put up 14 points and 14 rebounds in just his second game with the team.
15. Detroit Pistons
Record: 31-29
Last Week’s Ranking: 15
The Pistons were seriously struggling for awhile there. They had lost 8 of 10 games, but have now won 4 in a row, including two very impressive wins over the top 2 teams in the East(Toronto & Cleveland). I really like the addition of Tobias Harris; that was a steal for Detroit. This could be a fun team to watch in the postseason, if they make the playoffs(currently 9th in the East).
16. Washington Wizards
Record: 28-30
Last Week’s Ranking: 20
Props to Washington for annihilating a tired-looking Cleveland team(sans LeBron James). John Wall is a fantastic player, and Markieff Morris seems to be fitting in pretty well(he hasn’t done anything stupid yet). The Wizards have two very winnable games up next, against Minnesota and Philadelphia, and then a rematch with the Cavs in Cleveland.
17. Utah Jazz
Record: 28-30
Last Week’s Ranking: 13
I’m a big fan of this Jazz team. Gobert’s among the elite defensive centers in the league at a very young age, Rodney Hood has ice in his veins, and Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward are excellent players. The Jazz are in a bit of a slump at the moment though, which is why they dropped a few spots. After winning 7 straight, they’ve now lost 5 of their last 7. Their schedule is getting pretty tough, too. They play Boston tonight, and in March they have to play Golden State twice, and Cleveland, OKC, Toronto, Memphis once each, among other teams that are arguably superior to Utah.
18. Houston Rockets
Record: 29-30
Last Week’s Ranking: 18
I’m still baffled by how bad the Rockets are. I legitimately thought they could win 60 games this year, and they aren’t even .500. Houston, you have a problem(sorry, had to). However, they did get a nice double-digit win over the Blazers, which was impressive. Aside from that win though, not much positive to say about the Rockets right now.
19. Chicago Bulls
Record: 30-28
Last Week’s Ranking: 16
The struggling of the Bulls right now is a testament to how good Jimmy Butler is. With him healthy, they look like a playoff team that you probably don’t want to face in the first round. Without him, they look like a lottery team. The Bulls have lost 7 of their last 10.
20. New Orleans Pelicans
Record: 23-35
Last Week’s Ranking: 25
The Pelicans have been playing .500 ball over their last 10 games, and better than .500 ball if you extend that to their last 15 or 16 games. They picked up a shocking win over OKC, as I mentioned in the Thunder’s ranking. They’ve also beaten two other solid teams in Detroit and Utah recently.
21. Orlando Magic
Record: 26-32
Last Week’s Ranking: 23
The Magic aren’t playing particularly well, or poorly. They’ve picked up a couple nice wins against the Hawks(back to back wins there) and the Mavs. Aside from losing to the Knicks, they haven’t had any really bad losses recently. Orlando’s doing OK, and that’s probably the best way to describe it.
22. Sacramento Kings
Record: 24-33
Last Week’s Ranking: 21
The Kings look bad right now, but they’ve been playing with a day-to-day Rajon Rondo, who missed their last game against the Clippers, and is questionable for tonight’s game against the Thunder. The Kings have also had a bit of a tough schedule lately; their last 4 losses have come to the Clippers, the Spurs, the Cavs, and the Celtics. They have to play their next 4 games against teams that are slated to make the playoffs in the West, as well. Then, aside from a game against the Cavs, their schedule will ease up a bit.
23. Milwaukee Bucks
Record: 24-35
Last Week’s Ranking: 26
I don’t have a ton to write about the Bucks that I haven’t written before(I think that their GM has done a pretty awful job of piecing together a cohesive team, but I like their talent long-term). I will say, though, that Jabari Parker has been looking good, which is a good sign whether you think that Milwaukee should keep him or use him as trade bait. I think that they’re going to have to choose between him and Giannis at some point, and I think I’d rather keep the Greek Freak.
24. Denver Nuggets
Record: 23-36
Last Week’s Ranking: 19
The Nuggets were looking halfway decent for a little while there, but have regressed. They’re still better than I thought they’d be this season, but they’re not a great team, especially with Danilo Gallinari sidelined with an ankle sprain.
25. Minnesota Timberwolves
Record: 19-41
Last Week’s Ranking: 22
Karl. Towns. Is. So. Good. The Timberwolves are in a great position right now. They’re playing okay given their overall talent level, but they’re bad enough that they’ll end up with a great draft pick which should add to their talented young core.
26. New York Knicks
Record: 25-36
Last Week’s Ranking: 24
The Knicks are… not great. Porzingis is awesome, and Melo’s still more or less himself. But this team has really struggled recently. They’ve lost 14 of their last 17 games, and haven’t beaten a team that was over .500 since taking down Boston January 12th.
27. Brooklyn Nets
Record: 17-42
Last Week’s Ranking: 28
Adios, Joe Johnson. I’m sure he’ll have a better time in Miami, despite his insistence that Brooklyn is “not that bad.” All jokes aside, the Nets have actually played pretty well lately. Brook Lopez is a fantastic center when healthy, and he’s actually been healthy this season. The Nets have won 5 of their last 10 now, and while they haven’t beaten any above-.500 teams, they’ve beaten teams that are better than them — Utah, New York, Denver, Sacramento.
28. Los Angeles Lakers
Record: 11-49
Last Week’s Ranking: 29
Byron Scott has finally given D’Angelo Russell the starting spot, probably in an attempt to save his job. The Lakers are still really, really awful. Jeanie Buss thinks they’ll be good next year. I do not.
29. Philadelphia 76ers
Record: 8-51
Last Week’s Ranking: 27
The Sixers still suck. Tank city. They’ve lost 12 of their last 13 with that one win coming against the lowly Nets.
30. Phoenix Suns
Record: 15-44
Last Week’s Ranking: 30
Phoenix Remains on bottom, despite the fact that they just beat the Grizzlies. Win another game or 2 and maybe they’ll get bumped up. That Memphis win snapped their 13-game losing streak, so pardon me for being a tad skeptical that it was anything but a fluke win over a team whose best player just got hurt.
