NBA Rankings: Three for Thought – 12 through 10
Here are my rankings so far:
30 – Phoenix Suns, 29 – Orlando Magic, 28 – Charlotte Bobcats, 27 – Utah Jazz, 26 – Milwaukee Bucks, 25 – Toronto Raptors, 24 – Boston Celtics, 23 – Philadelphia 76ers, 22 – Sacramento Kings, 21 – LA Lakers, 20 – Atlanta Hawks, 19 – Portland Trailblazers, 18 – New Orleans, 17 – Cleveland Cavaliers, 16 – Dallas Mavericks
15 – Washington Wizards
14 – Minnesota Timberwolves
13 – Detroit Pistons
The next three teams on the list are still non-factors when it comes to lifting an NBA Championship at the end of the coming season. These will be the teams fighting for favourite playoffs spots, some even with the chance of causing an upset to help some of the bigger teams along the way.
Time for another three!
12 – Denver Nuggets – 2012/13: 57-25 – 2013/14: 44-38
It pains me to put Denver in at number 12 but when you look at the franchise that took shape over the past 12 months resulting in an amazing 4th best regular season record in the NBA compared to the organisation leading up to the opener against Chicago next week; it simply isn’t as good.
While the season itself ended once again in post-season disappointment after being completely out-coached by Mark Jackson and the Warriors, it didn’t exactly warrant wholesale changes made over the summer.
First Masai Ujiri left to become GM of the Raptors, a prospect he felt too good to turn down. Then the Kroenkes decided not to meet the NBA coach of the year’s demands of being awarded a multi-year contract so the decade long relationship between George Karl and Denver ended. A relationship that saw the Melo era and subsequent rebuilding, it saw a Western Conference Finals appearance and a home record better than the Miami Heat even possessed in recent seasons.
But onwards and hopefully upwards. Out with George Karl, in with Brian Shaw.
Shaw had been touted to get a Head Coaching spot for a long time now, even earning Kobe Bryant’s endorsement for the Lakers job before they hired D’Antoni. Shaw brings a more traditional style of coaching to the team, Karl’s tactics accommodated up-tempo basketball crashing the boards trying to score most of the points but that isn’t likely to be the dominant identity of the team this year.
On the court a lot of faith has been handed to JaVale McGee, he’s already entering his seventh season in the NBA but is still seen as somewhat of a polished gem in the Centre position. Kosta Koufos leaving the team has handed the starting big man role to JaVale but he’ll need to display a more mature side to his game as well as prove he can be produce consistent numbers when asked to play more than just an impact bench role.
That was one of the criticisms of Karl’s reign in recent years, his reluctance to develop new players who didn’t have the last name Lawson.
Evan Fournier clearly showed his ability as an NBA player but wasn’t given extended minutes until the playoffs themselves, a little too late to embed a player seamlessly in the rotation at the most crucial part of the season.
Ty still runs this team though. His blistering pace, ability to share the ball and improved shooting stats year by year make him the future and face of the mile high franchise.
This season won’t be as good as the last though. The team needs time to adjust and adapt to its new identity, a new coach, new GM and new roster changes.
Wins will be harder to come by but Denver has certainly added more strength in depth this season.
Wilson Chandler will finally get a chance to play a full healthy season, JJ Hickson and Randy Foye have joined the team not to mention livewire Nate Robinson, who for $4m over two years was a phenomenal signing considering the strength this team now has at Point Guard.
Whatever conspires in Denver this year though they’ll make the playoffs. This year and the next. There’s no big summer heading for Colorado like other teams in 2014 as the rosters cap space is tied up for the next three years, it’s about getting it done with the group of guys in gym right now. A challenge this new look organisation will be looking forward to.
11 – Memphis Grizzlies – 2012/13: 56-26 – 2013/14: 46-36
The Memphis Grizzlies are a weird success story in a way. They have been shamefully bad when it comes to the draft market over the past decade yet have still constructed a team that have knocked on the door of the NBA Finals in recent seasons.
This summer saw the exit of Lionel Hollins, the coach who facilitated that success, with the unproven David Joerger.
Nevertheless the roster has stayed pretty much the same, the team traded away Darrell Arthur to sign Kosta Koufos, a good move considering how well Koufos played as a started last season and will hardly be expected to play nearly as minutes this year.
After the Heat saved themselves a weirdly high amount of money just by amnestying Mike Miller the Grizzlies signed his contract off waivers and picked up a key championship component over the last two seasons for just $1.4m.
Marc Gasol has grew into one of the top 10 players in the league with the development of his offensive game to compliment his already stellar defensive work which defined the ‘grindin’ attitude this Memphis team has loved to become known for.
One main concern for the Grizzlies however is the future of Z-Bo. Randolph has two years on his contract but this is the only season guaranteed, the next being a player option. Zach could choose to throw his name into the free agent and draft fuelled circus coming our way next summer and see who’s willing to pay him the most over the longest period of time.
Keeping the band together is a big concern and winning is the only real way of guaranteeing players will stick with you in a lower market environment.
This team however may struggle to win more games this year. The teams around them in West have gotten stronger and they no longer have one of the best play-calling coaches in the league. The roster itself may be similar if not improved with two great signings but they’ll struggle to notch up another impressive 56 game season.
Looking to the future the grizzlies only have three players signed on for 2015, and with Ed Davis and Quincy Poindexter eligible to renew between now and October 31st, don’t be surprised if Memphis head into their first game good news in the way of young player extensions.
10 – New York Knickerbockers – 2012/13: 54-28 – 2013/14: 47-32
I have no right to put the Knicks right on the fringes of the top 10 of a power ranking list when they are lucky enough to boast one of the top five players in the league however something about this coming season strikes me as a potential disaster for the franchise.
Stoudemire continues to drain a quarter of the team’s salary despite being one of the most unproductive players on the roster. Tyson Chandler is a pretty one dimensional player, although his defence is outstanding and with Melo shooting you don’t need a scoring Centre, still something about his play strikes you as uninspiring, combined with the neck injuries he seems to persistently keep getting, his best may not be up for offer this season.
Then comes the bizarre trade for Andrea Bargnani. The former number one draft pick may prove everyone wrong and start to show some of that potential heading into his 8th season.
He only played in 35 games last season averaging 12ppg, a far cry from the numbers he managed north of the border over two seasons ago, pretty much his only season warranting going so high in the draft.
But New York still saw enough to trade away Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, a first rounder AND two second round picks in the future (not guaranteed.) Although these were all very trade-able assets, it was a lot for a guy who hasn’t done the business yet in the NBA.
Not only that but if it doesn’t work out then Bargnani can jump ship next season
JR Smith rewarded New York (not the other way round) by signing on for three years, a bargain at $16m compared to some of the other contracts on the roster. Prigioni is returning for the vet minimum, as is both Metta World Peace and Kenyon Martin. A trio of experienced professional players any franchise would take on for such little money.
The future looks scary for New York, thankfully the attraction of the big apple is always going to lure talented players but there’s no longer and draft options coming soon and their star player could be tempted to jump ship.
Carmelo Anthony is currently one of the best players in the league, to help matters his defence is improving year by year. The personal pride he takes in man-to-man coverage is noticeable in recent seasons; no longer is he just a deadly jump-shooting threat.
Should things not go so well this season then the head office may not try so hard to hold on to Melo seeing as how they are over the tax, incurring massive financial penalties.
He recently told the press ‘I will test free agency’ so there we are, win games, stump up the cash or you might see Carmelo in purple and gold next season. If they somehow convince Amare to retire like some rumours are claiming then they’ll have the provisions to keep the stars in New York, maybe add another with the opportunity to make trades with their mid level players.
Mike Woodson has hit work cut out for him though; the team lacks a style of play good enough to make it deep into the play-offs. When teams like Indiana and Chicago get put up against you in a best of seven sadly you have to come up with other ways to utilise the attacking options of the team than just relying on Melo to pour in 30+ points. If Bargnani doesn’t work out then I don’t see them carrying that threat, with the addition of World Peace they’re going to be harder to beat on the defensive end and less susceptible to perimeter shooting however there still seems like an unfilled void that will plague the Knicks this season, likely enough to drop them to outside the top four Eastern Conference spots.