Barstool's #BasketballBoys Official NBA Power Rankings: How Are Some Of These Teams In The Top-10?
We’re going to introduce a new weekly blog here on Barstool Sports. It will feature Greenie and I arguing about power rankings. I’m hoping to open it up having Stoolies involved too in a voting fashion. But, this blog will come out once a week – likely every Monday recapping the week and where we think teams are sitting within the NBA as a whole. I mean, what else do a Knicks and Celtics fan have in common besides not winning the title this year and a love for the NBA?
Reags
1. Golden State Warriors (1)
2. Toronto Raptors (2)
3. New Orleans Pelicans (8)
4. Milwaukee Bucks (7)
5. Denver Nuggets (3)
6. Utah Jazz (6)
7. Boston Celtics (4)
8. Indiana Pacers (10)
9. Los Angeles Clippers (14)
10. Portland Trail Blazers (9)
11. Detroit Pistons (13)
12. Philadelphia 76ers (12)
13. Los Angeles Lakers (11)
14. Houston Rockets (5)
15. Charlotte Hornets (15)
16. San Antonio Spurs (17)
17. Miami Heat (19)
18. Oklahoma City Thunder (16)
19. Minnesota Timberwolves (20)
20. Memphis Grizzlies (22)
21. Brooklyn Nets (24)
22. Dallas Mavericks (23)
23. Sacramento Kings (28)
24. Washington Wizards (18)
25. Atlanta Hawks (26)
26. Orlando Magic (27)
27. New York Knicks (25)
28. Chicago Bulls (31)
29. Phoenix Suns (21)
30. Cleveland Cavs (29)
Greenie
1. Golden State Warriors (1)
2. Toronto Raptors (2)
3. Milwaukee Bucks (6)
4. New Orleans Pelicans (9)
5. Denver Nuggets (7)
6. Boston Celtics (3)
7. Utah Jazz (4)
8. Indiana Pacers (13)
9. Los Angeles Clippers (21)
10. Portland Trail Blazers (10)
11. Houston Rockets (5)
12. Philadelphia 76ers (8)
13. Charlotte Hornets (15)
14. San Antonio Spurs (16)
15. Detroit Pistons (14)
16. Los Angeles Lakers (12)
17. Oklahoma City Thunder (11)
18. Miami Heat (17)
19. Memphis Grizzlies (23)
20. Dallas Mavericks (19)
21. Washington Wizards (18)
22. Brooklyn Nets (22)
23. New York Knicks (27)
24. Minnesota Timberwolves (20)
25. Sacramento Kings (31)
26. Atlanta Hawks (26)
27. Orlando Magic (28)
28. Phoenix Suns (25)
29. Chicago Bulls (29)
30. Cleveland Cavs (24)
Biggest differences: Detroit Pistons (Reags: 11, Greenie: 15), New York Knicks (Greenie: 23, Reags: 27)
Reags: A lot of weird teams when you look at the power rankings. I mean who could predict the Clippers would look this good? What about the Pistons? Those are the two teams that everyone will likely look to and I’ll say it does make some sense. Go look at the Clippers for instance. Last season they were in the playoff picture until the last two weeks. They adjusted offensively, bringing in Marcin Gortat. More importantly Gallo is healthy. Then Detroit made the trade for Blake Griffin last year and we rarely got to see the Pistons at full strength. This year we’ve seen them do that. Then there’s the Pelicans with Anthony Davis. The guy is really making a push to finally win MVP and continue to be a top-5 player in the league. We’ll still have to see what happens with the likes of the Thunder, Lakers, Sixers and Rockets. I fully expect to see those guys in the top-10 once we see them at full strength and really figure out how to play with new additions. But, for now, this is where we’re at. It’s been a wildly entertaining couple of first weeks.
Greenie: You have to give respect to the undefeated, so that’s why I have TOR and MIL so high. The Raptors have proven to be the best team in the East so far this season, and the Bucks aren’t that far behind. From there I wanted to give some credit to two other surprise starts in DEN/NO, two teams that have been incredible on the offensive end, and two teams I think have obviously had the most impressive starts in the West from a team not named GS. It’s no surprise that the teams at the top are getting some MVP type play from their best players, and we are seeing no signs of that slowing down any time soon. Because I want to be honest, I had to drop the Celts a little bit if only because their offense has been so poor. Defensively they are beasts, and it looks like maybe they are turning it around, but they are easily the third best team in the East so far. Obviously the Rockets had a big slide for me, mostly because they’ve looked pretty terrible to start and are already talking about changing things up defensively. I’m also not really sold on PHI/DET yet, mostly because they haven’t really beaten anyone good, and PHI is very, very close to being winless so far this year. While I still don’t know if they are good or not, I wanted to give CHA some credit since they have been incredibly fun to watch, especially Contract Year Kemba, and I probably should have MIN lower, but I’m not ready to put them at the bottom of the barrel just yet. Same goes for WSH, they are very close to an even bigger slide for me, they have real problems.