NBA Rankings: Three for Thought – 15 through 13
Tip-off is less than two weeks away, giving team’s time to disrespect each other and for important players to be injured before they even see any competitive action.
My list is now focusing purely on those teams good enough to make it to the postseason. The power struggle to dominate each conference hasn’t changed dramatically over the summer but there are plenty of chances for underdog teams to grab the final places in the East and West.
Here are the 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
Time for another three!
15 – Washington Wizards – 2012/13: 29-53 – 2013/14: 41-41
Washington can, will and should finish .500% or higher this year. John Wall is for real, a true potential all-star with the makings of being one of THE elite point guards in the NBA. One side of his game, which hasn’t flourished since joining the league, is his outside shooting, but that is often a trait a player can develop as he grows into the league.
The pure explosiveness on the drive and lay-up making ability towards the end of the season was something special to see, the cynical fan would say that he was playing for a contract when mid-season question marks lingered on his ability to become to the face of the Washington franchise. Whether that was why he ramped his game up or not is no longer important, he delivered. Four 40+ point games in his last 10 starts in 2012/13 gives the Wizards fan cause for some cautious optimism leading into a new NBA season for the first time in years.
A GM survey today released on the NBA website ranked Wall 4th in terms of on the ball speed. Despite this being a great compliment his lightning pace is deserving of the top spot if he can prove it all season long.
This isn’t a one man team either. Bradley Beal averaged nearly 14ppg last season finishing in third in the ROY voting to cap off a great first year for the former Florida Gator. His attacking freedom in the backcourt despite playing alongside Wall is an encouraging sign that the two work well together averaging 32ppg combined, if the team wants to become an eastern semi-final contender they’ll have to up that to 40.
Washington is also very unique in the sense that it’s prepared for massive short term improvements but also have the cap spaces and young players down the line to evolve if the current rebuilding process doesn’t take shape.
In this years draft the Wizards took Otto Porter out of Georgetown in the third pick. Porter was a proven point scorer and rebounder in the NCAA from the Hoya’s last season and if it wasn’t for the nationwide backing of ‘dunk city’ just months ago we might of seen more of him in the NCAA tournament but John Thompson III’s men were dumped out in the second round by Florida Gulf Coast. Whether he produces or not in his first year is yet to be seen but there are certainly enough recent rookie success stories around to help advise him how to adapt in the NBA.
Guys like Okafor, Nene and Harrington will give the team much needed experience (at a ridiculous price however), Eric Maynor will play some good relief minutes from the point and Jan Vesely has the makings of a very productive NBA forward, at just 23 this season could be a breakout year for the former Euroleague.
This year could be great for the Wizards. If healthy, they have a starting five that could beat the Knicks, they have a bench however that isn’t playoff calibre though, it’s hard to construct depth in talent on small contracts without the promise of postseason basketball so they’ll have to make do with the bench they have which is why I think they’ll go 41-41.
14 – Minnesota Timberwolves – 2012:13: 31-51 – 2013/14: 41-41
The Minnesota Timberwolves finishing 41-41 is more impressive than the Wizards managing to do which is why I put them 14th one spot ahead of Washington.
This season has so many off the court implications for the Timberwolves that maybe they’ll actually surprise a few people and put together the Rubio-Love connection we’ve all been waiting for on display finally!
The one guy to pick up all the slack when injuries derailed the team to a 31-51 finish last season was Nikola Pekovic.
He started in every single one of the 62 games he featured in averaging 17ppg and grabbing 9 boards, almost becoming the double-double replacement for K-love. His $12m a year over four year deal shows just how much faith the team has in not only his game but his future as a big man in the league. At 27 and having gained a lot of experience in the upper echelons of European ball he’s reaching peak maturity for a centre and for nobody else in the league to of tried to sign him and drive his price up is crazy, and fortunate for Minnesota.
The Kevin Love factor obviously doesn’t need too much explanation in relation to how this team win column only moves when he manages to play consistent games. The former UCLA man has only got two years left on his current deal before the third year and rumour is he is looking for a way out, one thing can change that though.
That one thing is a fit, healthy and offensively improved Ricky Rubio.
Rubio when fit gets close to 10 assists a game, which with two such productive big men on the court as Love and Pekovic is a great asset. Not only that but his lane driving ability has gave us brief glimpse of Parker-esque scoring ability, just without the consistency the French vet has shown for over 10 years now.
His knack for steals and timing to grab you a few rebounds each game goes along way to ensuring the team have possession of the ball.
A 41-41 season in the Western Conference in recent year for any team that isn’t one of the top four deserves to put in the rafters but you feel that this Minnesota team is left slightly in limbo by the strength of their roster. They have the talent to comfortably be a playoff team but haven’t proven themselves good enough to go deep in the postseason.
So maybe the new faces in Minneapolis will help change that this season. Bad boy Shabazz Muhammad hasn’t even played a game yet and has already fallen foul of David Stern. The number 14 pick in the draft was sent home from the rookie transition programme for having gals up in his room, a big no-no players were told before the event. This has further tainted a young player who was projected as a top 3 pick before his college career started only for him and UCLA to further degrade his image.
The fact remains that at only 20 he could still blossom into a fantastic pro basketballer and years from now the 14th pick could look like a steal, just right it seems about right.
Corey brewer got a pay-day in the form of $14m over three years for his fantastic bench play for the Nuggets last season. As a Denver fan it was frustrating not to hear Corey spoken about more in relation to the sixth man of the year award as he truly did play a great sixth man season, not like JR Smith who was essentially playing starters minutes but just happened to be sitting down at tip-off time.
The team also signed a good attacking wing option in Kevin Martin. However he has improvements to make on a dismal OKC season where Scoot Brookes clearly felt he had a chance to fill the void left by Harden in terms of point scoring, his performances didn’t warrant him being mentioned in the same breath as Harden but a fresh start in Minnesota could prove positive for him and his new team.
Minnesota could be dogged with a media circus this year if the Kevin Love saga takes a sour turn and trade rumours take a hold of the franchise. Either way if all the key components of this roster are healthy, you will win enough games to take you to the playoffs.
13 – Detroit Pistons – 2012:13: 29-53 – 2013/14: 42-40
The Pistons were pretty indicative of what the majority of the Eastern Conference had became in recent years, a flat, boring and uninspiring brand of basketball that garners you no attention or fans. Eastern conference ball was so bad that their 29-53 record put them closer to the playoffs than it did the bottom spot.
So what’s changed this year? Well nearly everything.
The head office decided to start actually stumping up the cash to make them a winning team for one. They get to spend the offseason teaching Brandon Knight how not to become a highlight reel Hall-of-Famer (for all the wrong reasons) and they have managed to keep a hold of the assets in the organisation that were worth much to begin with.
Andre Drummond has a lot writers and coaches singing his praises, touting him to be one of the next best big men in the league, thankfully the expectations of him progressing at the age of 20 won’t be as high as it would’ve had the franchise not moved to become a factor in the Eastern Conference.
The signing of Josh Smith has done just that. A steal in my opinion at $14m over four years the forward entering his 10th season gives you so much on the floor both offensively and defensively. His powerful attacking play and ability to get a shot off from most distances makes him tough to coach against and tough to limit him to 15 points in a game.
His most impressive progression throughout his career has been his ability to share the ball, getting close to five assists a game on a consistent basic coupled with his 18.5ppg average makes him directly responsibly for nearly a third of all points scored, that’s the kind of figure you want to build a squad around.
To compliment his arrival the Pistons signed Brandon Jennings. Jennings could be a case of ‘one mans junk is another mans treasure.’ His relentless and careless offence hurt Milwaukee but surrounded by players like Smith, Munroe, Billups and Drummond he’ll have to pick and choose his shots more carefully and there is no doubt he can score the ball.
Future coach and a Piston HOF inductee Chauncey Billups has linked back up with the team he famously helped win a Larry O’Brien Championship for. Sadly his physical ability to meet the demands of the NBA has dipped noticeably in recent years but whether he plays much or not you just know his influence will be felt from the locker room to the court.
Not only do things shape up in the Motor City this year but next year they’ll still possess all of these positive assets whilst managing to $15m of their salary cap with the potential exit of Stuckey and Villanueva. Now these guys are great role players when playing well and will certainly contribute this season, but they are grossly overpaid and freeing up this much space will allow the team to make another big splash free agent signing next season.
If they can put themselves in a position to be appealing to an elite player once again then don’t be surprised if you see an all-star Point/Shooting Guard roll up to make this team a Top East Conference team in 2014/15 but lets focus on the short term future for this team, which is good enough to tip them off .500% and give the Michigan faithful something meaningful to watch.