Placed near the bottom of the rankings a few weeks ago, the Pistons are now rapidly rising up to the ladder.
Previous Powerless Rankings:
January 5th | December 23rd | December 1st | November 17th |
There have been some movers in the past couple of weeks, particularly in the Eastern Conference. The bottom playoff seeds in the East are struggling to hold their ground, while the likes of the Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets are rapidly approaching. A month ago, both these teams were virtually dead. Now, the Pistons are cruising without Josh Smith, and the Hornets are finally playing defense. With the East being the East, they are both very much in the playoff race.
Call me crazy, but it’s a bit entertaining watching the Eastern Conference playoff race unfold. The records are terrible, yet there are four teams below the playoff line in the East that can count themselves still in the playoff mix, with the 12th place Orlando Magic only three and a half games back of the eighth place Brooklyn Nets. And yes, the basketball can be brutal, as evident by Charlotte’s 80-71 overtime win over the Indiana Pacers, but the Eastern Conference should be intriguing until the end of the season, while in the West, there are only two teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans, who are keeping pace with the Phoenix Suns, who are in eighth.
With that said, here are the best of the worst.
1. | New York Knicks | (6-36) Previous Ranking: 1 (-)
The Knicks just snapped a 16 game losing streak with a home victory over the Pelicans. By doing so, they came well short of the Cavaliers historic losing streak of a few years ago, but are still 30 games under .500.
2. | Minnesota Timberwolves | (7-33) Previous Ranking: 2 (-)
The Timberwolves managed to snap their long losing streak thanks to 52 points from the one and only Mo Williams. Then, the other night, Andrew Wiggins dropped 31 points in a win over the struggling Denver Nuggets. Those are the positives — the negatives are that this team can’t defend, and desperately need Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin, and Nikola Pekovic back.
3. | Philadelphia 76ers | (8-33) Previous Ranking: 3 (-)
I want to place them higher, because they have strung together a few wins over the past couple of weeks. Sadly, they still aren’t good enough to move up just yet, but it can be firmly said that they are not the worst team in the NBA, and have put that horrible start to the season behind them.
4. | Los Angeles Lakers | (12-29) Previous Ranking: 4 (-)
They continue to be interesting thanks solely to Nick Young. There’s nothing entertaining watching Kobe’s decline, and they don’t have a ton of exciting players unless Carlos Boozer mid-range jump shots are your thing. If only Julius Randle was playing.
5. | Boston Celtics | (13-26) Previous Ranking: 6 (-1)
Boston finally pulled the trigger on trading key players away for assets. Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green are gone, and more trades could happen before the deadline. For now though, it’s all about seeing who develops, and which players are part of the long-term plans.
6. | Orlando Magic | (15-29) Previous Ranking: 5 (+1)
Don’t be fooled by this slight rise up the chart, the Magic are struggling, having gone 2-8 in the last 10. Nikola Vucevic has been great, but there are continuing debates as to how much blame Jacque Vaughn should be receiving for their struggles of late.
7. | Indiana Pacers | (15-28) Previous Ranking: 11 (-4)
Two weeks ago, they were in 9th place and only a game or so behind Brooklyn. Since, they are 3-7 in their last ten games, and have lost five straight. The 71 points they put up against Charlotte with an overtime illustrates just how much they struggle to score.
8. | Utah Jazz| (14-27) Previous Ranking: 8 (-)
The Jazz are looking to develop their young players, and no one on the roster has shown more improvement than Rudy Gobert. As Daniel Coughlin wrote about Gobert last week, the Frenchman is turning into one of the best defensive bigs at protecting the rim.
9. | Sacramento Kings | (16-25) Previous Ranking: 10 (-1)
They just went 2-4 in a six game home stand, which included losses to the struggling Heat and Nuggets. At this point, their playoff chances are all but over.
10. | Denver Nuggets | (18-23) Previous Ranking: 12 (-2)
Two bad losses in a row for Denver. First, they lost by eight to the 15th place Minnesota Timberwolves, and then last night, lost by 43 points to the Golden State Warriors, which was the widest margin to any game this season. The question now is whether the Nuggets front office decides it’s time to blow it up before the trade deadline.
11. | Brooklyn Nets | (17-24) Previous Ranking: 14 (-3)
Since the last edition of the Powerless Rankings on January 5th, the Nets have one just once. They almost traded Brook Lopez, and likely will if they can find teams willing to take part in a trade. At this point, it seems a matter of when a trade will happen, not if.
12. | Detroit Pistons | (16-26) Previous Ranking: 9 (+3)
Despite last night’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Detroit remains right in the playoff hunt, which is remarkable given where this team was just a month ago. Credit to Brandon Jennings, who is averaging 21.1 points and 6.3 assists in the month of January.
13. | Charlotte Hornets | (17-25) Previous Ranking: 7 (+6)
A huge jump upwards for the Hornets, who are now just a half game out of the playoffs, despite missing Al Jefferson for nine straight games, and Kemba Walker for the last two. They’ve won seven of their last eight games, and Bismack Biyombo has emerged as a more than reliable front court player in Jefferson’s absence.
14. | Miami Heat | (18-22) Previous Ranking: 13 (+1)
The Heat are holding on, but just barely. They sit in seventh, just two games above Charlotte in ninth, but should be in the mix until they end. Unlike Brooklyn, they aren’t looking to blow up the roster, and will likely be a buyer come the trade deadline.
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