Power Ranking by Insidehoops.com

[Playoffs03]

This ranking does not include the mutombo trade!

"Note to Diehard Fans: If you can't handle seeing your team ranked lower than you'd like them to be at this time, don't read these rankings until September or October. Almost every single fan of teams ranked between 4 and 29 thinks their team should be ranked higher.

1) Los Angeles Lakers - Shaq, Kobe, and a supporting cast who can shoot and defend is always trouble for the rest of the league in postseason.

2) Sacramento Kings - league's most talented team, almost upset the Lakers last year. Can it happen in the playoffs of 2003?

3) Dallas Mavericks - all offense, need to add defense.

4) New Jersey Nets - best in the East. Several players, including Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson, should improve this year.

5) San Antonio Spurs - why do we have the Nets ahead of them? Some key Nets have room for improvement. San Antonio, meanwhile, has a soon-to-retire David Robinson, old creaky Steve Smith, and their small forwards aren't impressive. Malik Rose is good. Tony Parker is the young budding star. As long as you have Duncan, the team's a winner. But we'd like to see them add someone. They basically just gave Antonio Daniels away.

6) Portland Trail Blazers - hit or miss, depending on the week and their mood. Still a loaded roster that improved last season as time went on, and it should continue into this season. It's tough to rank them this high, but it's also tough to put the teams below above them.

7) Boston Celtics - lost Kenny Anderson, which will hurt since he was a key contributor, but they hope his loss won't matter thanks to new low-post offense from Vin Baker. Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker now have nice experience winning games together.

8) New Orleans Hornets - always good, never great. Off to N'awlins. A healthy Jamal Mashburn should vault these guys higher. Courtney Alexander will add even more scoring punch. And Baron Davis keeps getting better.

9) Detroit Pistons - Adding Chauncey Billups seems perfect. Still need to take rebounding pressure off of Ben Wallace's shoulders. Will Rodney White have a bigger role this season? They had to work really hard to get their wins last year. Rodney White should have more of a role.

10) Minnesota Timberwolves - not over the hump in the West. Billups is gone, and Terrell Brandon may never be the same. Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak need more help.

11) Los Angeles Clippers - it's sad to see Darius Miles go, but Andre Miller is an incredible addition to this team. We will again point out that InsideHoops.com was hyping up how much fun the the Clippers were going to be BEFORE the start of the 2000-01 season, literally months before anyone else started doing the same. Anyone visiting us back then knows this. Therefore, we take full credit for the bandwagon, and all their wins. In fact, every time you see a good Clippers play, you should say to yourself "I give full credit for that play to InsideHoops.com, not the actual players."

12) Orlando Magic - still need big tough strong guys up front. If Grant Hill stays healthy and can still rock, he and McGrady could be unstoppable, and this team rises fast in these rankings. We'd really like to see this team add a Charles Oakley type of player. Not the old, whiney Oakley. A younger version.

13) Indiana Pacers - extremely young (not including Reggie Miller), very talented and extremely deep. The time to rise is now. If it doesn't happen, a new coaching philosophy (or a new coach) may be in order.

14) Philadelphia 76ers - tough to say where these guys stand now. Derrick Coleman and Dikembe Mutumbo are aging fast. Allen Iverson is awesome but his field goal percentage remains low. Instead of adding a shooter or offensive help, they added yet another defender in Greg Buckner. True, last season they had tons of injuries. But with their frontcourt guys getting older by the minute, and the possibility that Coleman will keep getting hurt, why should we expect they'll improve? Their grinding style will win games, but they may have even less offense this year than before.

15) Toronto Raptors - loss of Keon Clark hurts. With Vince Carter back, the team is basically back where they were a year ago, minus Keon Clark, and with Hakeem Olajuwon even older. Carter may have a chip on his shoulder, however, and if so, he's going to be just plain nasty to watch. And that would rock. But right now, we'd like to see them grab a somewhat useful free agent before bumping them higher.

16) Milwaukee Bucks - last season was ruined by injury. Now, Glenn Robinson is gone. Tim Thomas will be the main small forward, and Michael Redd should get some increased playing time. Marcus Haislip may have been a steal in the draft.

17) Atlanta Hawks - they got Glenn Robinson for very little. With starters Jason Terry, Glenn Robinson, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Theo Ratliff, on paper these guys should be able to compete with almost any East team. However, team chemistry does take a while to develop. Rookie point guard Dan Dickau is talented, but we'd definitely like to see this team add the best guard possible. Also, Inside Hoops (.com) declares Jason Terry one of the league's nicest guys, if that helps.

18) Seattle Sonics - at this time, Rashard Lewis is still not signed. While he's not a perfect player, over a full season his loss would definitely hurt. We'll adjust their ranking once we know what's up with Lewis' free agency.

19) Utah Jazz - slowly sinking. Must gather young talent. Stockton and Malone are 84 years old, Bryon Russell is gone, Donyell Marshall may not be back, and Andrei Kirilenko, the talented young guy, has a way to go. Sign a good free agent or something.

20) Miami Heat - Alonzo Mourning is healthy right now, though we need to know how he's doing around the start of the season. Now, even if Caron Butler was ready to explode, would Pat Riley let him? Or will Butler be forced to fit into an offense that does not maximize his skills?

22) Phoenix Suns - hoping that Amare Stoudemire is ready to contribute immediately. This team needs big inside guys who can defend, rebound, and perhaps even post up. It may be asking a lot for Amare to help with that so early, considering he's barely old enough to see PG-13 movies.

21) Houston Rockets - hold on another second. We have them down here because, before bumping them higher, we want Steve Francis' migraine headache problem to be solved, and for Yao Ming to actually make it to America and put on a Rockets jersey. After those things occur, we'll figure out where they should be ranked.

23) New York Knicks - hold on, Knicks fans, read before you react. If Antonio McDyess is as good as he used to be, this team will be better than this. But until we hear or see that McDyess can still rock, we have to keep the team down here. His jump may have mostly returned, but his quickness may not be what it used to be. More info is needed.

24) Washington Wizards - Michael Jordan's minutes and effectiveness may be limited. Can the rookies join Richard Hamilton and carry this team? We can't rank them higher until we know what's up with Mike. It would be cool to see Juan Dixon have an immediate impact.

25) Memphis Grizzlies - still growing. Keep adding talented young players. Jerry West runs this show now.

26) Chicago Bulls - on paper, this team has lots of potential. But right now, the only guy who currently rocks is Jalen Rose. Everyone else is young, or a rookie. So, while the team could be pretty competitive in the East, we need to keep them ranked down here for now.

27) Golden State Warriors - had a nice off-season, may start off slow, but should finally show flashes of potential provided Mike Dunleavy is the real deal. Also, Jason Richardson has potential to erupt. But we'll be responsible and wait for it to happen before bumping them higher.

28) Cleveland Cavaliers - could have gotten more for Andre Miller. Still, at least they've got a few young stars. Dajuan Wagner, Ricky Davis and Darius Miles are all exciting young players who should make this team fun to watch for a change. They'll lose, but some fun will be had. And, assuming you occasionally scroll down the InsideHoops.com front page, you've already heard Wagner welcome you to this website. Just in case you were lost in cyberspace or something.

29) Denver Nuggets - making all the right moves, gathering young talent and clearing incredible amounts of cap space. This team is in a great position to load up the roster with talent starting next year."

[Playoffs03]

There is no way we are 9th in the EAST and 17th overall.

i don't get it, how can these teams be better than us?

raptors: they lost keon clark and chris childs. add chris jefferies and lindsey hunter. a healthy vince doesn't put them in front of us!

pacers: they have a deep team but isiah thomas is not a good coach in my opinion. they shouldn't be ranked this high

magic: t-mac is the only guy on their team who is good. absolutely no inside presence. grant hill thinks he looks better in his suit than the magic uniform. if we are 17th, they should at best be 15th.

sixers: i am not gonna comment on that right now, since when insidehoops make this, mutombo is still with the sixers. but even then, i wouldn't rank them so much higher than us. but i will just leave this alone for now

bucks: their team is still very talented after trading us glenn robinson (i mean giving). i really question karl's ability to coach. their team's defense sucks, and their offense is one dimension. but i am interest to see how good/bad haslip really is. their ranking is about right.

[Guest]

They will get a playoff spot in the west and they are better than

us.Francis/Mobley/Griffin/Thomas/Ming Norris/Walt Williams/Glenn

Rice/Cato/Nachbar/Marice Taylor.That is too much talent to miss

the playoffs.

[Playoffs03]

i haven't finish reading it. i got so pissed off thats y i posted it immediately even though i am only half way through, anyways,u are right, they definitely underate houston. their team is very talented, francis should not be bother by his ear anymore, mo taylor coming back, yao ming the number 1 pick, eddie griffin the rising star, cat mobley, and kenny thomas - the guy who got in a fight with our mr nice guy (shareef, jackie chan - the movie). the rockets are definitely a great team and should be ahead of many EASTern conference team as well as teams like seattle and utah.

[Guest]

Remeber the year before last they won 45 games and now they

have added Ming/Nachbar/Kenny Thomas has improved/Marice

Taylor/Eddie Griffin/Glen Rice and lost what?Shannon Anderson

and Hakeem.

[Playoffs03]

opps i forgot about Nachbar. the rockets are really good, really deep and really dangerous. i don't think glen rice will do much. kelvin kato is a solid big man, backing up ming wouldn't be a problem and they can always put griffin at center if things don't go their way.