#1 - Oklahoma City Thunder
Record: 5-2
Last 10: 5-2
Change: N/A
The Thunder took a big risk in the opening days of trading this season by shipping Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka for Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, but it is certainly paying off so far. Though they don't hold the best record in the league (or even the West, for that matter), their first loss was a complete fluke to the Utah Jazz where they shot 29% for the game and they fell victim to one of the best defensive teams in the league in the Pacers for their second loss, though I *believe" Kevin Love played injured that game. The big 3 fad seems alive and well in the CSL.
#2- Chicago Bulls
Record: 7-1
Last 10: 7-1
Change: N/A
Though Marcos has done a fabulous job to start out the season acquiring the perfect complement to Joakim Noah in Pau Gasol, I have to note that their schedule so far has been a complete cakewalk to start the season. Milwaukee, Boston, Memphis, Orlando, Cleveland, Phoenix, Cleveland again, and Atlanta. Can you point out the playoff teams in that schedule to me? Atlanta. And MAYBE Phoenix as the 8th seed if they squeak in. It could not get any easier for this team. In reality, they could have just as easily gone 8-0 because they should be, and are, better than every team on that list. I would expect them to come down off their high ranking next time around after playing some real competition.
#3 - Charlotte Hornets
Record: 5-2
Last 10: 5-2
Change: N/A
It was a tough decision at #3 between the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets, but ultimately it had to go to the Hornets because earlier this year when they squared off, the Hornets edged out a 9 point victory against the Heat, and that's good enough for me. Even though the talent on this roster doesn't quite stack up to Oklahoma City's or Chicago's or Miami's, Jamal is making it work due to the notorious 10-10-10-10-10 strategy. Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson are quite the combo in a system like that, and it even made bad players like Gerald Henderson and a rookie Cody Zeller look good in it. Stick with what's working, I guess.
#4 - Miami Heat
Record: 5-2
Last 10: 5-2
Change: N/A
I'm not even gonna bother writing an explanation for this one, I'll just leave LeBron's statline here: 33.0 PPG, 4.6 APG, 7.6 RPG, .3 SPG, 1.0 BPG, 49% FG%. Yeah.
#5 - Dallas Mavericks
Record: 5-2
Last 10: 5-2
Change: N/A
The Mavericks announced the hiring of a new GM a few days ago, but as of yet, no peep from him or changes implemented from him. But somehow, Dirk has found the fountain of youth and is playing like it's 2011 again and Monta Ellis is playing so well he's in the MVP conversation (27/7/5). You can't expect them to sustain this kind of performance without any sort of leadership, but if they can do this without a GM present, you have to wonder what they'll be able to do once they get one.
#6 - Indiana Pacers
Record: 4-2
Last 10: 4-2
Change: N/A
The Pacers have been known for their all-around team performances and that's still the case here. Roy Hibbert and David West are both close to averaging double doubles, Paul George is the superstar we all know he can be, hell, even George Hill and Evan Turner are playing relatively well. Surprisingly though, they're #1 in points scored this season, which is a far cry from the low scoring grind it out play style of the Pacers of old.
#7 - Golden State Warriors
Record: 5-3
Last 10: 5-3
Change: N/A
The splash brothers are alive and well in Oakland. If you wanted to build a team around 3 point shooting, this is the team you would build (well, you’d need Kyle Korver too). Both Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry are shooting above 43% from deep, which sounds like something from NBA 2K14. That kind of shooting probably isn’t sustainable, but this kind of success is for them.
#8 - Atlanta Hawks
Record: 4-2
Last 10: 4-2
Change: N/A
Though the Hawks were the last team to lose a game, this is another case of the competition being very weak. They played Orlando, Philadelphia, and New Orleans to start out the season, then got a quality win against Toronto, but when they faced the big boys of the league in Oklahoma City and Chicago, they lost both games. I don’t know if this team is ready to compete yet, but Dapralbe certainly had this team clicking on all cylinders before these last 2 games.
#9 - Portland Trailblazers
Record: 4-3
Last 10: 4-3
Change: N/A
Though the Blazers struggled out of the gate with a 3 game losing streak to begin the season, they seem to have turned it around by following it up with a 4 game winning streak. LaMarcus Aldridge is doing the heavy lifting for this team as their leading scorer and he looks to be one of the best post players in the league now, while Damian Lillard is in the top 5 in assists per game.
#10 - San Antonio Spurs
Record: 4-2
Last 10: 4-2
Change: N/A
Does old man Timmy D have another championship run in him? Looks like it’s a possibility, but regardless, this is Tony Parker’s team now. 24 points per game and 6 assists per game puts him in elite point guard territory, but after Tiago Splitter went down with a torn ACL, the question now becomes - can this team survive without a real center? GM Cyristnyte needs to hit the trade market hard to find someone who can take Tiago’s role.
#11 - Toronto Raptors
Record: 4-3
Last 10: 4-3
Change: N/A
Well, after a blazing hot 4-0 start to the season that saw them leading the East at one point, something happened and the Raps find themselves at 7th in the East. I don’t know if blackice tried a new strategy or depth chart or what, but it ain’t working. They’ve gotta switch it back before they fall even further in the standings.
#12 - Washington Wizards
Record: 3-2
Last 10: 3-2
Change: N/A
It’s tough to get a read on how good this Washington team can be because they haven’t played any tough team as of yet and they’ve played the fewest amount of games in the entire league. All that said, this team is #6 in opponent’s PPG, #1 in opponents FG%, and both John Wall and Trevor Ariza are top 10 in steals per game. This team is seriously a defensive powerhouse, though their offense looks shaky at times. We’ll see how good this team really is in their upcoming 2 games against Miami and game against Atlanta.
#13 - Los Angeles Clippers
Record: 4-3
Last 10: 4-3
Change: N/A
It’s tough to predict how well this team will fare with the departure of Blake Griffin. He was clearly becoming one of the great post players in the league, but he was shipped out for Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried. They were playing well with Griffin dominating down low as their leading scorer (26.6 PPG) but now they’ll have to get the scoring from somewhere else. Only time will tell if moving Blake was the right move.
#14 - Detroit Pistons
Record: 4-3
Last 10: 4-3
Change: N/A
A frontcourt lineup of Josh Smith, Greg Monroe, and Andre Drummond is never something you want to have to try to score on, and as good as these Pistons are defensively, this team won’t succeed until they get a real scoring option. Andre Drummond isn’t there yet and Josh Smith certainly isn’t who you want to be your #1 scorer. With 97 points per game, this team is in the bottom 5 of points per game and if you can’t get buckets, you can’t win.
#15 - Phoenix Suns
Record: 4-4
Last 10: 4-4
Change: N/A
This team was built with perimeter defense as the first, second, and third priority, and while that’s good and fine, the Suns, like the Pistons above, are going to have problems scoring all year. Eric Bledsoe is their leading scorer and after him you have… Markieff Morris? They’ve gotta get scoring from somewhere, and as it seems they are locked into Bledsoe and Bradley for the foreseeable future, they need to look into getting themselves a scoring big man.
#16 - Brooklyn Nets
Record: 3-3
Last 10: 3-3
Change: N/A
The Nets are just kinda… mediocre. Their payroll is crazy high and despite all that, they’ll probably find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture at the end of this season or they’ll barely sneak in as 8th seed. I would put money on them going exactly 41-41. So far this season, they’ve traded wins and losses going L,W,L,W,L,W and I think it’ll look like that for most of the year.
#17 - New Orleans Pelicans
Record: 3-3
Last 10: 3-3
Change: N/A
This team has done pretty surprisingly well so far this season with wins against Charlotte and Phoenix, but there’s some things that have to be fixed on this roster before they find themselves anywhere near the top, namely Tyreke Evans’ 32% FG% and they still need to find a partner for Anthony Davis in the paint.
#18 - Los Angeles Lakers
Record: 3-3
Last 10: 3-3
Change: N/A
Well, they stayed afloat out West on the back of Kobe, but with him gone and replaced by some middling talent, they’ll fall to the bottom of the conference. They’ve only got 3 double figure scorers on this team: Carlos Boozer, Jordan Hill, and Danilo Gallinari, and Jordan Hill is the only one shooting above 42%. The battle of LA will be won by the Clips this year.
#19 - Houston Rockets
Record: 3-4
Last 10: 3-4
Change: N/A
This team has the talent to challenge anybody in the league but they sure haven’t played like it. I’ll give you that they’ve had a pretty tough schedule to open the season against Memphis, Dallas, OKC, Boston, Portland, LAC, and LAL, but they’ve only record wins against the 2 worst teams of that list, Memphis and Boston and got by the Clips. Not a good sign for a team looking to contend out West. Let’s see if they can turn it around.
#20 - Cleveland Cavaliers
Record: 4-4
Last 10: 4-4
Change: N/A
We haven’t heard much out of Cleveland this year, but they’ve done alright, I guess. They were one of the two teams to give the Hornets a loss, so they’ve got that going for them. This team is still young and I don’t expect them to get into the playoffs this year, but if they don’t, Luol Deng will probably be leaving for greener pastures.
#21 - Denver Nuggets
Record: 3-4
Last 10: 3-4
Change: N/A
The Nuggets have been mediocre to start the season to say the least, but you can bet on them finding themselves in the top half of this list next time around because they had Blake Griffin and Kobe Bryant handed to them on a silver platter. That’s an elite duo that rivals any in the league and no doubt this team will be turned around.
#22 - Utah Jazz
Record: 3-4
Last 10: 3-4
Change: N/A
The rest of the teams on the list are really on the same level of terrible-ness, so I could stop here, but I won’t. I guess the Jazz edge out these other 9 teams because they’ve beaten Oklahoma City, even if it won’t happen ever again. Kanter and Favors have just been weak this season, and that sucks for Stockton as Favors was just given a huge extension this past season, and Kanter and Hayward are due for big contracts this off-season as well. Decisions, decisions.
#23 - Philadelphia 76ers
Record: 3-4
Last 10: 3-4
Change: N/A
Thaddeus Young has been shockingly good for this team, but until Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel are good enough to carry this team, they’ll probably remain this low. Noel needs some serious weight training in the off-season, a center averaging 5 rebounds per game just isn’t acceptable.
#24 - Memphis Grizzlies
Record: 3-5
Last 10: 3-5
Change: N/A
Ya know, I really expected a team with Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, and Mike Conley to be higher on the list than this, but what do I know? This team has far more talent than the rest of the rebuilding team that surrounds them on this list, but it hasn’t translated to wins as of yet. They got a solid win against Golden State, but they’ve also lost by double figures in all but one of their losses. Yuck.
#25 - Minnesota Timberwolves
Record: 2-5
Last 10: 2-5
Change: N/A
This is another team that seems to have the talent to do some damage, but no real success as of yet. You can attribute their poor record to the injury bug with Russell Westbrook and Nikola Pekovic both going down for periods of time already this season, so it may be unfair to judge them until they’re able to play completely healthy for awhile, but oh well.
#26 - Boston Celtics
Record: 2-5
Last 10: 2-5
Change: N/A
Boston seems to have hope now. Goran Dragic has exploded since arriving in Boston, and in combination with Rondo, they form a formidable duo, not to mention the recent addition of Larry Sanders down low. But outside of those 3, there roster is pretty barren. Not a whole lot of talent to be found.
#27 - Sacramento Kings
Record: 2-6
Last 10: 2-6
Change: N/A
Not much to say with the Kings. DMC, Gay, and Thomas have been solid as usual, but their rookie, Ben McLemore hasn’t shown much promise and this team continues to look like a perennial bottomfeeder.
#28 - Milwaukee Bucks
Record: 2-6
Last 10: 2-6
Change: N/A
After trading Larry Sanders away, this team has fast tracked itself right into the top 3 of the lottery, and I’d expect Ersan Ilysasova and OJ Mayo to be gone by the deadline. Hopefully all that losing lands themself someone to pair with the Greak Freak.
#29 - New York Knicks
Record: 2-5
Last 10: 2-5
Change: N/A
I really, really wanted to put this team at #30… but since there’s a team without a win still, I couldn’t. But that doesn’t take away from how bad this team has been. Their first win was a 1 game OT victory against the Wizards and the 2nd came against the Utah Jazz. They’ve lost to the 76ers and the Bucks this season. You’d think just by having Carmelo and Tyson Chandler they’d be better than this, but I guess not. This is gonna be a rough year for the Knicks.
#30 - Orlando Magic
Record: 0-7
Last 10: 0-7
Change: N/A
It’s gonna take some magic for this team to get a win anytime soon. This team is BAD and there’s no way around that.
2020, 2023, 2027, 2035
