NBA Tank Rankings: Lakers ascend to the pinnacle
By Brad Rowland
The tanking battle of the season, at least to this point, took place this week in Philadelphia, and it was a landmark win for the Sixers. Philly is always the barometer by which everything is measured in the world of NBA futility, and given that the Sixers came away with a rare win, a shakeup could be in order for this week’s tank rankings.
Still, our charge remains the same, as the break down the race for ping-pong balls each week with an eye on the bigger picture. Teams will ebb and flow throughout the year, resulting in a team like the Houston Rockets making an appearance a week ago, but in general, it isn’t difficult to decipher the worst of the worst and we will do our best to illustrate that here.
Now, let’s get to this week’s list in reverse order.
Denver Nuggets. 5. team. 73. <p>The Nuggets averted abject disaster on Thursday with a road win over the Toronto Raptors. Prior to that performance, Denver was slotted for a (much) “higher” ranking, and Mike Malone’s team is really scuffling right now.</p> <p>Even with that impressive victory included, the Nuggets have the worst net rating (-11.4 points per 100) over the last nine games, and Denver had lost eight straight before toppling Toronto. This is a team with some nice young pieces, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the Emmanuel Mudiay era. Still, the Nuggets are bad on both ends of the floor right now, and in the West, that’s an issue.</p>. (7-13). Previous:
Next: Pelicans and Nets