One week in, the league’s best teams have been on display – but its worst are also playing games. Which 14 teams are the most powerless to make their mark this season?
The league’s elite dominate headlines and prime-time matchups, and understandably so. The Golden State Warriors, early speed bumps notwithstanding, are exciting to watch and filled with compelling storylines. The Cleveland Cavaliers have the league’s best player and a long-awaited title to defend.
On the opposite end, the league’s bottom feeders struggle to put wins on the board, often laboring outside of the national spotlight. Rather than facing opposing squads with a roster of stars, the league’s worst teams take on opponents with a mixture of aging veterans and unproven young guns.
While the league’s movers and shakers shape the standings, the league’s lowest rungs fight for the offseason. Which teams will put things together and make the playoffs? Which teams will pick in the top five? Those questions and more will be answered as the season moves on.
Which teams are making the least impact this season? That is, which teams are walking through the season without the ability to control their destinies, to exert their will on the opponent? In short, who are the league’s Powerless Teams?
14. Sacramento Kings – The joke of the NBA for the past half dozen seasons, the Kings are showing some spirit under new head coach Dave Joerger. Ben McLemore has shown signs of life, Rudy Gay is playing above the rim, and Boogie Cousins is dropping enormous stat lines. With the newest arena in the league generating plenty of good vibes, this team already has two wins and hung tough with the Spurs. Whether they can sustain anything long term is yet to be seen, but the Kings aren’t as powerless as they have been in recent years.
13. Miami Heat – Over the past two seasons, the Heat have lost LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, and Luol Deng – with no compensation in return. While their ceiling is severely capped, they seem to be committed to staying competitive. Dragic and Whiteside are developing real chemistry, and their athletic wing defenders funnel opposing scorers right into Whiteside’s waiting arms. This team will fight for a playoff spot, and has the defensive potential to get there, but close losses to the Hornets and Spurs may be indicative of a season-long trend of falling just short.
12. Denver Nuggets – Where does a team with a high floor and low ceiling end up? 12th in our Powerless Rankings. They survived a 50-point barrage from Anthony Davis to notch a win in their first game, then lost to a pair of teams that are favored to host a playoff series this year by a total of five points. Malone has a rotation in place that is putting forth elite effort at both ends, and he has Kenneth Faried engaged from the bench. If he can find late-game scoring, the Nuggets could be the upstart playoff team in the West, rather than everyone’s favorite preseason selection…
11. Minnesota Timberwolves – The positives are certainly present for the young Wolves. Karl-Anthony Towns has been tremendous on the court, Andrew Wiggins is scoring in bunches, and they have built large leads on the road against Western Conference foes. But in both of their games, they have given up huge leads, and their defense (with a small sample size) ranks 28th in the league. If Thibs can bring the defense into line, this team could climb out of the Powerless Rankings
10. Washington Wizards – Another 0-2 team, the Wizards likewise have dropped both on the road. John Wall is playing solid basketball, but his team is collapsing around him late in games. Offseason addition Ian Mahinmi has yet to play a minute, but it’s the backcourt rotation behind Wall and Bradley Beal that has been atrocious through two games. If Scott Brooks can shore up the bench, this team could still reach its lofty goals.
9. Milwaukee Bucks – With the loss of Khris Middleton for the vast majority of the season, it was unknown whether the Bucks would fold without their best two-way player or rise to the challenge. The jury is out two games in, as a struggling offense saw them barely clear the Brooklyn Nets in between losses to the Hornets and Pistons. If “Point Giannis” can get the team rolling, there is hope; if another player goes down, then this team may just sink to the bottom.
8. New Orleans Pelicans – One of the most difficult teams to assign on this list, the Pelicans stand at 0-3 for the season. There are teams below them in these rankings that have notched a win. But none of those teams have Anthony Davis, who put up a stat-line on Opening Night unseen in the league. Just counting rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, no player since Hakeem has matched Davis’ totals from his first game – and that’s not including the 50 points he dropped! Unfortunately, the Pelicans lost that game and the two since, and until Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans return, there is little hope of better.
7. Dallas Mavericks – Three games, three painful losses. After an overtime loss on the road in Indiana, the Mavericks dropped both games of a home-and-away with Houston by a total of 9 points. Harrison Barnes has surprisingly not been the problem, scoring 20 points per game and hitting huge shots when called upon. When Nowitzki is all healed up, this team could climb in the right direction, but for now, they hover in a powerless place.
6. Los Angeles Lakers – Is Nick Young the Lakers’ best player? That’s obviously absurd, but Swaggy P has looked rejuvenated and locked in through three games, even throwing in effort on defense. The rest of the young pieces have shown flashes over their 1-2 start, all against expected playoff teams. Their next three opponents are all expected to make the postseason as well, so it could be a while until this team can be properly evaluated against similar competition.
5. New York Knicks – Just as Derrick Rose said, the New York Knicks are just like the Golden State Warriors: they can get blown out on Opening Night. Also like the Warriors, they rebounded with a win. But the Knicks have not shown any ability to sustain success this year, and their role come the spring will be playing spoiler, not jockeying for playoff seeding. A Super Team they are not.
4. Brooklyn Nets – On the one hand, the Nets beat the Indiana Pacers. On the other, they dropped their three other games by a total of 37 points, including a blowout loss to the Bulls. Brook Lopez is toying with a three-point shot, their leading scorer is averaging 16.5 points per game, and nothing about this team stands out as excellent. If the team decides to trade Lopez, this team will plummet to the bottom.
3. Orlando Magic – What is going on with the Magic? The supposed shutdown defense Frank Vogel would instill is yet to come, as Orlando has given up over 100 points to all three of its opponents. Meanwhile, the offense has been DOA, the rotations are as jammed as expected, and the team’s media is hyping a game with Philadelphia as a chance for their first win. Orlando is no longer the happiest place on earth.
2. Phoenix Suns – Four losses to start the season won’t lift a team very high in the Powerless Rankings. If there is hope for the Suns, it’s the fact that T.J. Warren has looked great as a starter. The problem is the gaping maw that is the Suns’ bench. Losing to the Warriors, Clippers, and Thunder isn’t an embarrassment, but losing at home by 19 to the Kings doesn’t instill confidence in desert fans. Is head coach Earl Watson in over his head?
1. Philadelphia 76ers – The expected leaders in the Powerless Rankings, it will take something special to dethrone the 76ers this season. They did put up a fight in their season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder, as Joel Embiid debuted to raucous support and on-court success. But they were laid open by the Atlanta Hawks in their second game, and now are discussing their plan to rest star players in a rotation. With Ben Simmons out indefinitely, this team is biding its time before climbing back up the standing. Until the young pieces begin to take major steps forward, we have our clubhouse leader in the Powerless Rankings for months to come.
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