A new team has climbed to the top of our NBA Power Rankings.
The season is winding down and after months of everyone knowing that the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors would meet for the third consecutive year in the NBA Finals, it’s looking more likely that we see two other teams face off for the title this season. Cleveland looks like it’s getting healthy at the right time, but the East also looks a lot tougher than it’s been in awhile. Meanwhile, as the Warriors continue to wait on Kevin Durant to return to 100 percent, the San Antonio Spurs are trying to take away home court advantage from them.
Things are changing daily and with 15 games left there are a lot of interesting races left. Will the Lakers be able to keep their top-three protected pick? Will the Pelicans? Just how many games can the Nets lose? What is going to happen at the top of the Eastern Conference? Before answering those questions and more, let’s take a look at where the 30 NBA teams stand as of now.
The Buss family is in the middle of a war, but for the Lakers, the tanks are driving over the Staples Center court every night. Will D’Angelo Russell be the piece to bring the Lakers back to prominence?
The Process was the talk of the town for Philadelphia fans, but has some of the shine worn off as the team looks to lose out as the season comes to an end? On the bright side, Dario Saric is quietly having a Rookie of the Year-caliber season.
The Nets are still the worst team in the NBA, but they get bumped up only because the Lakers and Sixers are actively trying to lose as many games as they can. For Brooklyn, they just don’t have the talent to compete. By the way, they’re likely going to send the picks that become Markelle Fultz and Luka Doncic to Boston the next two seasons.
The only positive to come out of this Magic season is that the team has finally decided that Aaron Gordon is their power forward of the future.
Remember when Willie Cauley-Stein was a thing? That faded fast. Buddy Hield’s transformation into the next Steph Curry is taking longer than Perry Ellis’ college career at Kansas.
Devin Booker is well on his way to being the next great shooting guard in the league. Meanwhile, his Kentucky backcourt running mate, Tyler Ulis is earning playing time and praise in his extended role post All-Star break. P.S. can someone see if Leandro Barbosa is done prematurely celebrating yet?
This stealth tank job to finish the season is the second greatest thing Phil Jackson has done as President of Basketball Operations of the New York Knicks. The first of course being his “how’s it goink?” tweet.
Either the Anthony Davis (who’s really good) and DeMarcus Cousins (who’s also really good) tandem isn’t working out as well as many hoped OR the Pelicans are trying to twist the knife in Vlade Divac and the Kings by managing to hold on to the top-three protected pick they sent to Sacramento as part of the Cousins trade.
Weekly reminder: Karl-Anthony Towns is the future of basketball, prepare yourselves now for the impending takeover.
Dirk Nowitzki became the sixth player in NBA history to score 30,000-plus points in his career. The German superstar is a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer when he decides to hang them up –which allegedly won’t be after this season.
The murmurs of the Trail Blazers needing to trade away one of Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum have quieted ever since the team added Jusuf Nurkic. Portland looks like the team most likely to capture the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
Aside from their customary TNT Thursday bump (where they defeated the Warriors at home), things have been less than stellar for the Bulls lately. Trading Jimmy Butler looks more and more likely this summer the longer this downward spiral continues in the Windy City.
Paul George could be joining Jimmy Butler as part of the “Likely to be Traded this Summer” list. The Pacers’ hopes of rebuilding a contender on the fly have so far produced poor results.
Charlotte has strung together an impressive week and in the race for one of the bottom seeds in the East anyone is capable of snatching a spot. For the Hornets coming down the stretch, their ceiling is the roof.
PLEASE BASKETBALL GODS, GIVE US POSTSEASON GIANNIS. I mean, you do see what he’s been doing on the court this year right? (We also request a fully healthy Jabari Parker, k thanks!)
The Hawks were a steady presence for most of the season, however this previous week they couldn’t find a way to snag more wins. Atlanta will likely make it to the postseason again, but they are more likely to get swept by LeBron James in the first round than end up in the Eastern Conference Finals. Since that sweep, a couple seasons ago things have rapidly declined for Atlanta. It got to the point where many were expecting them to have a fire sale at this year’s trade deadline. A deal that sent Kyle Korver to the Cavaliers looked to fit that idea, but then the team suddenly reversed course and decided to keep its remaining roster intact. Paul Milsap could’ve definitely fetched them some interesting draft assets on the open market, but they decided to keep him on board even as he approaches free agency this summer.
Their signing of Dwight Howard now looks like the best money spent on a free agent big man. However, with Howard, you can never be sure of what you’re going to get out of him from year to year. He might be on his best behavior this season, but next year we could see Mike Budenholzer holding a soda can during an interview basically pleading for the team to move Howard or let him go a’la Stan Van Gundy in Orlando.
Speaking of Stan Van Gundy, the team that he coaches now is up next. Detroit has been underwhelming for much of the season. It reached the point where the threat of serious changes to the roster loomed over the heads of everyone in the organization. Reggie Jackson’s return to the court in December didn’t really have the type of impact that many had expected. Instead, it looked like a throwback to the tumultuous time that Jackson had to start the year in his last season in Oklahoma City. News of dissension amongst teammates leaked out (Andre Drummond was rumored to be the main supporter of Jackson for the Pistons) and it seemed that a move was a matter of when and not if.
Yet, they choose to stand pat at the deadline this year and it looks like it’s actually paying off in the long run. Drummond, Jackson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Markieff Morris, and Tobias Harris is a very solid five-some and should definitely be good enough to have the Pistons sitting higher in the Eastern Conference standings. This recent upswing in play is coming right in time for Detroit. Any movement upward for Detroit could be the difference between a four or five-game series against a team like Cleveland and Boston or pushing a team like Washington to the brink in an opening series. These same Pistons showed that when locked in they can be a tough opponent with their play against the Cavaliers last postseason and now they have a shot at recapturing that same magic as the end of the season moves closer and closer.
With Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray showing signs of future stardom every night, things are looking brighter in Colorado. The Nuggets didn’t make a big move at the deadline — it wasn’t for a lack of trying as they reportedly went all-in for Paul George on the day of the trade deadline — but they have decided to turn the team over to the younger players for the remainder of the season. The young guys have not let the team down so far. Denver has done just enough to keep their lead for the eighth spot out West.
The deal with Portland to bring in Mason Plumlee has opened the floor even more for Jokic and it’s blessed us, viewers, to even more of his passing and playmaking magic. Whereas Murray is doing all he can to show the world that he is definitively better than Buddy Hield. He’s played both on and off the ball for Denver and has shown that something of his hot shooting from his one year at Kentucky was no fluke. Murray’s bow-and-arrow 3-point celebration is also the best one in the league. Just for sheer entertainment, Murray should get the green light from Mike Malone to launch as many 3-pointers as he wants. Would there ever come a point where he’s too tired to pull off the bow-and-arrow celebration? Would excessive bow-and-arrow lead to a dip in shooting percentage by Murray? Would he retire it eventually if he made or missed too many threes? These are the questions that Denver should be focused on in the second half of the year.
Making the playoffs is good for business, but do you really want Jokic and Murray’s first time in the postseason ending in embarrassing sweep fashion. He already admitted he was tired heading into All-Star weekend, maybe a longer summer is better for him than selling some extra tickets and memorabilia.
The Thunder’s story (West)brook year is starting to lose its shine. After watching Russell Westbrook storm out of the gates on what looked to be a season full of revenge and historic stats, things have slowed down and Oklahoma City is in a battle to stay out of the seventh seed. Westbrook’s triple-double average is one of the most mind-blowing stats of the decade, but if it isn’t bringing the Thunder team success then it is almost as if it was all for nothing.
Against the Trail Blazers, the All-NBA point guard scored a career-high 58 points, but his team lost. For the season, the Thunder have lost the last four games in which Westbrook has scored 45 or more points (tying him with Nate Archibald and Wilt Chamberlain for second most consecutive losses when scoring that many points). Chamberlain and Walt Bellamy are tied atop that list with seven such games each.
For Oklahoma City, it’s actually the triple-doubles that are more impactful than the volume of points. The Thunder have an 11-23 record in games that Westbrook doesn’t post a triple-double and 26-4 when he does. Injuries to Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo had forced Russ to try and take on a bigger role in the team’s offense. However, when Russ goes into hero ball mode too early it hinders the Thunder’s chances to win. With 18 games left on the schedule, it’ll be interesting to see if Westbrook goes back to attempting to rack up his assists early in the game.
The Grizzlies have evened out as of late. David Fizdale is now getting some late pressure for Coach of the Year from the coach of the next team on this list. If Memphis is able to pass over the Clippers before the season ends then it should be a safe bet that Fizdale will end up with the award at the end of the season. Star center Marc Gasol had an interesting response when being questioned about his involvement with roster composition and team decisions.
One issue facing the Grizzlies: Fizdale insists that Mike and Marc be involved in some decisions; Marc's made it clear he doesn't want to. pic.twitter.com/sWLUam5ACu
— Peter Edmiston (@peteredmiston) March 8, 2017
Moments like these really endure a player like Gasol to both the media and the fans, because at the end of the day their job as players is to do all they can to help the team win games. With Gasol in town, Memphis has done a lot of that and is doing more this season. As long as Mike Conley can remain healthy this group of Grizzlies will be a team that some of the top teams try and evade in an early playoff series.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL. WAITERS ISLAND IS BACK. GET YOUR CONDOS AND HOUSES BACK BEFORE ALL OF THE SPACE RUNS OUT. I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL. WAITERS ISLAND HAS RESURFACED IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. Overconfident and braggadocious Dion Waiters is everything that the NBA never knew it needed. Waiters’ play over the last month-plus has tied directly into the major turnaround that the team has experienced. Erik Spoelstra is proving to the world, one win at a time, just how great of a coach he truly is. If the Heat are able to backslide into a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference he’ll have that Coach of the Year trophy faster than you can say “DOS MINUTES!”
If you’re not yet a believer in Miami let this stat sink in, the Heat have won 20 of their last 24 games. 20 out of 24. Not many teams in NBA history have gone on such a lengthy run of winning. Yet, here is a team with Waiters as its best player winning game-after-game and creeping up higher and higher in the standings with every passing week. This is not a mirage, the new and improved Heat are a real thing and the quicker you accept that the quicker you can join in on the fun.
Since Chris Paul’s return, it almost looked as if the team hadn’t missed a step. Blake Griffin is showing no ill effects from his own injury and with DeAndre Jordan playing at an All-Star level the Clippers have rounded back into contender form pretty quickly. The true test for this team will come in the postseason. The core group has been together long enough where they know that the success of their time together will be judged by what they do in the playoffs and not what they do in the regular season.
With the Warriors — and Kevin Durant himself — still being mum on when we can expect to see him back on the court, the Western Conference might’ve opened up (even if it’s just a tiny crevice, hope is hope). The window is closing every day on this group as all three of Paul, Griffin and J.J. Redick will be free agents this offseason. If this is going to be their final run at something big, you know like getting out of the second round, they need to make sure that they are as healthy as possible entering the postseason. With Griffin and Paul already missing significant chunks of time in the regular season, the entire organization must be crossing their fingers that the team will remain healthy for the rest of the year. Doc Rivers seat is starting to get a little warm and just how hot it gets will be determined by how this team does in the playoffs and what players they are able to bring back this summer.
Kyle Lowry is out for the rest of the regular season so we won’t be able to see the two best friends that the NBA has ever had until the playoffs come around. With Lowry out, the Raptors must try to work in their new additions without their All-Star point guard. Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker are not necessarily going to require Lowry (or DeMar DeRozan) to have the ball less or give up shots for them, but that chance to get timing down or understand tendencies or what a player likes, etc., are things that Lowry is going to miss out on should not go unmentioned.
Lowry is likely going to have to use the Raptors first round matchup to try and make up for missed time. Right now, that would pit them against the Hawks. While Atlanta isn’t likely to make much noise in the postseason if Toronto isn’t putting it’s best foot forward every game they could end up being eliminated at a much earlier time than expected. These moves were made in hope of getting a leg up on LeBron James and the Cavaliers, however, since the trade deadline teams like the Celtics and Wizards have leaped ahead of the Raptors in the standings. Were these deals too little too late? We won’t know for sure until Lowry is back on the court.
The Wizards have finally become the team everyone thought they would be, as we hit the conclusion of the 2016-17 regular season. Scott Brooks actually knowing and understanding basketball — we all still remember that white board gif of Randy Whittman — has helped this team to take the leap finally. Brooks’ offensive style and philosophy were credited with getting Russell Westbrook to the player he is now and we are seeing a similar breakout from John Wall in year one under Brooks. Bradley Beal staying healthy also can’t be overlooked as well as Otto Porter stealing the talents of Ray Allen Space Jam style.
One of the biggest changes for Washington has been the acquisition of Bojan Bogdanovic from Brooklyn. With the Nets, Bogdanovic was looking like a lost cause, but since he’s been in Washington this guy has looked like the Sixth Man of the Year. In his first four games with his new team, he made 17 3-pointers while shooting in the mid-60’s from beyond the arc. Washington has unleashed a new end of the game lineup of Wall, Beal, Porter, Bogdanovic, and Markieff Morris. It has been one of the most interesting things of the second half of the season and has been pretty successful on the court as well. The Wizards look like the biggest threat to Cleveland in the East as of now.
It looks like the Jazz have secured a first-round matchup against the Clippers in the playoffs. That got more interesting after the physicality was ramped up between the two in their latest meeting. A lot of the friction was sparked by Rudy Gobert (he elbowed JJ Redick in the mouth and got into a shoving and talking match with Chris Paul). When the league is getting criticized for being soft and superstars teaming up rather than play against each other a good hardnosed postseason series is just what the NBA needs.
The Jazz are not only deep, but they play hard and smart on both ends of the floor. Gordon Hayward has quietly become one of the better wings in all of basketball. With the rise of Gobert and Hayward, the Jazz are a team that will put up a fight against anyone. The Spurs and Warriors are definitely hoping that this team will stumble in some way before they would face in the playoffs. Utah’s core players might not have many championships or even playoff experience yet with the additions of players like Boris Diaw, George Hill and Joe Johnson they now have some reliable veterans to help coach the younger guys through playing on the bigger stage.
Despite Danny Ainge not cashing in on any of the assets he has compiled lately, the Celtics have risen to the top of the Eastern Conference standings anyway. Only a few games behind Cleveland, thanks to the superb play of Isaiah Thomas, this team looks like a true threat despite them not having a collection of superstars like the Warriors or Cavaliers. Thomas’ play has carried them especially when it has mattered most. His excellence and consistency in the fourth quarter have been crucial to many of Boston’s victories this year.
Their ability as an elite defensive team was on full display in their recent win over Golden State at Oracle Arena. Neither Klay Thompson or Steph Curry had any air space or room to get anything done. With players like Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart on the roster they have some of the best perimeter defenders on the same team. Maybe Ainge thought it was more important to keep those three defenders around tan make a big move to get another star like Jimmy Butler or Paul George to team up with Thomas and Al Horford. We won’t know if he was right or not until the postseason. As it stands now the Celtics and Cavaliers are on a collision course with each other. A tough seven-game series in the Eastern Conference Finals would be big for Boston and possibly get the media and fans off of Ainge’s back for awhile about making a deal.
As the old saying goes, one central division team’s bought-out contract is another central division team’s treasure. The move to bring in Andrew Bogut didn’t work for Cleveland after the center suffered a season-ending injury just minutes into his debut with the team. Insert Larry Sanders. The former Milwaukee Buck walked away from the game right on the cusp of his prime and is now ready — mentally and physically — to return to the court. If Sanders can get into playing shape in time for the playoffs this move could really sure up Cleveland’s front court that has been particularly thin this season. While Kevin Love was sidelined a bulk of the minutes were being split between Channing Frye and Tristan Thompson. Bringing in a player like Sanders gives them another player like Thompson that can be effective around the rim on both ends of the floor.
Speaking of Love, he and J.R. Smith have both returned to action for the Cavaliers. Being able to get them back into the rotation and playing their normal minutes ahead of the playoffs is a big plus for Cleveland. The Eastern Conference no longer looks like the cake walk that it has been for the Cavaliers the past two years. Both Washington and Boston have put up legitimate fights against LeBron James and co., this year and the Toronto Raptors remain lurking in the shadows as another team that could trip up Cleveland, especially with the new additions they made to their roster at the deadline.
Mike D’Antoni turning James Harden into Steve Nash 2.0 is the greatest transition in NBA history since Shaquille O’Neal went from svelte to big. Harden is producing at a level many never thought he would be able to attain and in connection, the Rockets are winning games at a rate that nobody expected. Harden is leading the NBA in assists and is still scoring at a high rate. Houston has gone all-in on D’Antoni’s methods and principles and at the trade deadline they brought in Lou Williams from the Lakers to bolster an already impressive bench that was headlined by Eric Gordon. The Rockets hope that they can rain down enough 3-pointers to get past teams like San Antonio and Golden State in the West. So far this season they have been living by the 3-pointer and life has treated them very well.
Harden is a very qualified MVP candidate and would get my vote to bring home the award if I had one. After a season that completely blew up in their faces Houston has had a much better season in 2016-17. That all begins with Harden. He’s become more of a leader and has been better at getting the rest of the team around him better too. With Houston looking locked into the No. 3 in the Western Conference it will be interesting to see what the Spurs and Warriors do to close out the season. Would either of the two juggernauts try to avoid a second round matchup with the Rockets or would they rather play Houston than Utah in round two? Only time will tell, but whichever team they end up squaring off against will have to be prepared to defend Harden at the rim and the rest of the team around the perimeter.
Since Kevin Durant’s injury, this team has not just looked like a shell of themselves, they’ve looked plain out bad. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson couldn’t have picked worse times to go on shooting slumps (though their tight win over Philadelphia on Tuesday might’ve been the game they needed to break them). With Durant out the biggest hole, it’s caused is with their defense. They hovered between one and two for most of the season with Durant playing, but have since dropped down to 11th since Durant was sidelined. Draymond Green did all he could against the Sixers to bring home a win defensively, but the rest of the lineup looks out of sorts with Durant not playing.
There also seems to be some brewing tension in the locker room that we haven’t seen from this franchise in the past two seasons. Was Luke Walton really that important to the Warriors chemistry? The Lakers aren’t doing so hot right now so I think it would be incorrect to give Walton a majority of the credit for what went right during his time at Golden State. However, we weren’t hearing anything like Andre Iguodala’s “massa” post game comments when Walton was around. Yet, even though this team has shown that it has some flaws (mainly issues with depth) they are just a healthy Durant and a hot-shooting Curry or Thompson away from making a run at another NBA title. They have a relatively easy schedule for their final 15 games so it looks like they’ll be able to hold on to the top spot in the West even with the Spurs right at their heels. Much like San Antonio, the philosophy for this team to close out the season will be health over wins. If they slip to the second seed in the process so be it. When they are fully healthy and in sync, they have proven to be the best team in the league.
Once again Gregg Popovich has pulled a fast one on us all. He let the whole world get caught up in the Warriors and Cavaliers guaranteed rematch hoopla. Then said nothing as they fawned over Russell Westbrook triple-doubles. He remained quiet as the “Seven Second or Less” Suns were brought back to life in Houston by Mike D’Antoni. All the while he was turning David Lee into a quality rotation player, making Dewayne Dedmon into a starting center, getting Pau Gasol to shoot threes, letting Patty Mills be Patty Mills, and ultimately watching Kawhi Leonard become the best two-way player since peak Kobe Bryant. Yet it went largely unnoticed or unmentioned by the media until just recently when the Spurs beat the Warriors by 20-plus for the second time this season and usurped them in the standings. Since that game, Golden State has reclaimed the top spot, but San Antonio now holds the tiebreaker between the two teams. If the Spurs end the year with the best record in the league then all that stuff I said before about Harden being the MVP is null and void.
Next: NBA Award Watch: Nikola Jokic is moving mountains
If San Antonio gets the top seed in the Western Conference the NBA should hand Kawhi Leonard the MVP trophy that very day. No one ever expected another team to end the season with a better record than the Warriors –they were talking about whether or not Golden State would beat the 73-9 record they set a year ago for goodness sakes. San Antonio could steal the Warriors and Cavaliers thunder this year, and it would be such a Popovich thing to do too. With LaMarcus Aldridge cleared to play again this team is right on level with Cleveland and Golden State as one of the best teams in the league.