My Power Rankings

[Plainview1981]

My power rankings:

1.Portland
2.Golden State
3.Atlanta
4.Toronto
5.Memphis
6.Chicago
7.Houston
8.Washington
9.Cleveland
10.Dallas
11.LA Clippers
12.San Antonio Spurs
13.Oklahoma City Thunder
14.Phoenix Suns
15.Sacramento Kings
16.New Orleans
17.Milwaukee Bucks

18.Indiana Pacers
19.LA Lakers
21.Brooklyn Nets
22.Charlotte Hornets
23.Denver Nuggets
24.Orlando Magic
25.Boston Celtics
26.Utah Jazz
27.Philadelphia
28.Detroit Pistons
29.Minnesota Timberwolves
30.New York Knicks

The first 17 teams are teams I would consider to at least be really competitive.

 

I tried to take injuries and everything into account. Most people are probably still going to view Golden State as the best team and that is understandable. But that was a terrible loss that they had last night.

[Diesel]

Your top teams are interesting.

 

Off the top I would say,

 

I don't think Portland is that strong and I don't think Memphis is that weak.

And right now this may be true.. but Dallas is a team that has to be watched closely.  Rondo is fairly new there and Carlisle is one of the best in game managers.

I'm going to be watching very closely tomorrow because even though some of those games will suck, its a chance to really sit down and get up close with those teams.

[Plainview1981]

I think I might have gave the Spurs the short end of the deal. They've lost a lot of games lately, but they've been dealing with injuries to basically all of their best players and so I will move them up to 10th.

 

My power rankings:

1.Portland
2.Golden State
3.Atlanta
4.Toronto
5.Memphis
6.Chicago
7.Houston
8.Washington
9.Cleveland
10.San Antonio

11.Dallas
12.LA Clippers
13.Oklahoma City Thunder
14.Phoenix Suns
15.Sacramento Kings
16.New Orleans
17.Milwaukee Bucks

18.Indiana Pacers
19.LA Lakers
21.Brooklyn Nets
22.Charlotte Hornets
23.Denver Nuggets
24.Orlando Magic
25.Boston Celtics
26.Utah Jazz
27.Philadelphia
28.Detroit Pistons
29.Minnesota Timberwolves
30.New York Knicks

The first 17 teams are teams I would consider to at least be really competitive.

 

I tried to take injuries and everything into account. Most people are probably still going to view Golden State as the best team and that is understandable. But that was a terrible loss that they had last night.

[GameTime]

I love this new hotlanta. 

 

Merry Christmas.

[ATLien_]

What will be the cadence of these Hotlanta rankings? :)

[Plainview1981]

Your top teams are interesting.

 

Off the top I would say,

 

I don't think Portland is that strong and I don't think Memphis is that weak.

And right now this may be true.. but Dallas is a team that has to be watched closely.  Rondo is fairly new there and Carlisle is one of the best in game managers.

I'm going to be watching very closely tomorrow because even though some of those games will suck, its a chance to really sit down and get up close with those teams.

 

I'm not sold on Rondo's greatness. He is somewhat of a better version of Josh Smith to me. He can fill up a stat sheet, but it remains to be seen how much he will help Dallas in the long term, Dallas is going to have defensive problems since they start both Dirk and Parsons who are both terrible defenders. Really good teams will be able to score on Dallas and perhaps contain Rondo on the defensive end. Dirk wasn't really any better with Steve Nash than he was in the years following. So, who is Rondo really going to help. Parsons? Parsons is what he is... A 17 PPG scorer.

[Final_quest]

Wow! You know things are going well when Hotlanta thinks we are the 3rd best team in the league. I thought we could win a championship and he'd put us no higher than 5.

Merry Christmas Squawkers!

[Plainview1981]

Your top teams are interesting.

 

Off the top I would say,

 

I don't think Portland is that strong and I don't think Memphis is that weak.

And right now this may be true.. but Dallas is a team that has to be watched closely.  Rondo is fairly new there and Carlisle is one of the best in game managers.

I'm going to be watching very closely tomorrow because even though some of those games will suck, its a chance to really sit down and get up close with those teams.

 

 

Memphis is 13th in scoring, 14th in rebounding, 11th in assists and 4th in points given up. They're a really good team, but they have almost no depth. Marc Gasol is having a great year, but they can't afford any injuries at all. The pretty much have a 4 game losing streak now due to Zbo's injury.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Hotlanta1981

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I'm guessing Miami is 20th?

[Plainview1981]

I'm guessing Miami is 20th?

 

lol. Yeah

[Diesel]

I'm not sold on Rondo's greatness. He is somewhat of a better version of Josh Smith to me. He can fill up a stat sheet, but it remains to be seen how much he will help Dallas in the long term, Dallas is going to have defensive problems since they start both Dirk and Parsons who are both terrible defenders. Really good teams will be able to score on Dallas and perhaps contain Rondo on the defensive end. Dirk wasn't really any better with Steve Nash than he was in the years following. So, who is Rondo really going to help. Parsons? Parsons is what he is... A 17 PPG scorer.

 

This also is an interesting take.  My feelings on Rondo is that he is as good as advertised with Championship Experience.  Is he a stat sheet filler?  I dunno.  I agree that he is like Smoove in one way... he can be a serious headcase...but we haven't seen that side of him in a long time.   With Him, Ellis, and Tyson Chandler they have enough defense to cover for the lack of defense that Dirk and Chandler brings.  Also, they have good depth.  They still got guys like Aminu, old man Jefferson and Lewis on the bench.

[benhillboy]

I think San An healthy, OKC healthy, and Toronto could all beat us in a series. I can't count out the Champs who just waltzed to the title last year, OKC's duo usually is an automatic Con. Finals lock, and Toronto is just tough, man. All three teams have enough firepower but the difference from most teams is that they always respond to their coaches when they get in their ass about defending. That's the most impressive thing to me about Bud this year. If you don't defend, you sit, especially the guard positions where our backups are much better defenders.

Portland, Memphis, GS, and Chicago are our equals IMO. Toss up series. Portland is not up to the challenge to defend us for 48 minutes but they can score 120 on just about anyone. I don't believe in Memphis' shooting, as much as I love me some Steph we could turn them over a lot, and no one on Thibs' staff can mentor Rose on being a true PG so their offense lulls too much. Anything less than a highly competitve second round exit would be a failure to me, the optimist in me predicts great team health and a further run than that...

Edited December 25, 2014 by benhillboy

[Plainview1981]

This also is an interesting take.  My feelings on Rondo is that he is as good as advertised with Championship Experience.  Is he a stat sheet filler?  I dunno.  I agree that he is like Smoove in one way... he can be a serious headcase...but we haven't seen that side of him in a long time.   With Him, Ellis, and Tyson Chandler they have enough defense to cover for the lack of defense that Dirk and Chandler brings.  Also, they have good depth.  They still got guys like Aminu, old man Jefferson and Lewis on the bench.

 

Dallas hasn't been able to beat any of the top teams as of yet. It remains to be seen how much Rondo will improve that team... But I'm not seeing any evidence that proves they will be a contender. They just don't messure up as of right now. Dirk played his best ball after Nash was gone and so I'm not sure Rondo is going to do much to help an aging Dirk at this point. 

 

I'm just not sold on them yet.... Good team, but not a title contender.