It’s crazy to think that we are in the third week of NBA competition and with a new week choc-full o’ games, this week’s NBA Power Rankings suggest that LeBron James’ 17th season is anything but the first year completely out of his prime.

The Los Angeles Lakers are off to a scorching-hot start, and presumptuously take their spot atop this week’s rankings. Sitting at 5-1, the LBJ-Anthony Davis duo is playing some of their best basketball you’ll ever see, and their supporting cast of Danny Green, Avery Bradley, Dwight Howard, and others is doing their part to fruition. What’s scarier? In LeBron’s words, “We’re a very good team, but we’re just scratching the surface.”

Some numbers worth the mention: LeBron is averaging 25.4 points per contest, 8 rebounds, 11.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Anthony Davis is averaging nearly 29 points per game, 11.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists, and 3 blocks a game. Not off to a bad start, I’d say.

The Lakers as a whole rank No. 1 across the entire league in defensive efficiency, and boast a 96.3 defensive rating, the highest in the entire NBA. They’re only behind to their buddies across the hallway in the Staples Center, the Los Angeles Clippers (in terms of DEF. ratings), even though the 5-1 Lakers have a better record.

Across the state of California is the team that likely occupies the 30th spot on the weekly rankings chart, the Golden State Warriors, and it’s worth adding that, my, how deeply the mighty have sunken.

That very, exact team that gave LeBron and, albeit, all NBA fans of the other 29 clubs for nearly a half-decade a fit got their lone win against another hobbled, young Pelicans team in the first week of the regular season, but it’s been loss after loss since then.

One of the only two All-stars, and the last main source of offense for the Warriors, Stephen Curry, is now confirmed to be out for 3+ months with a broken left hand. Draymond Green is now having ligament issues and, apparently, can’t grip a basketball. All is not well in the Chase Center, with the Warriors possessing the worst record in the league.

So where do the rest of the 28 other squads fit in this week’s power rankings, which always seem to fluctuate by the day? That’s to be determined in this week’s Sneaker Reporter NBA Power Rankings.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Los Angeles Lakers

Let’s go down the list, shall we?

The Lakers are just looking sharper and sharper as they get more experience playing with one another, and they’re not even entirely healthy. The Lakers are waiting to see how Kyle Kuzma gets re-established into this Lakers starting five, and they are still awaiting Rajon Rondo’s return into the rotation.

Year 17 LeBron looks like any other LeBron we’ve seen in the past and he’s racked up consecutive triple-doubles on the young season. His latest two came in a thrilling OT victory against the Mavericks where he humbled 2nd-year phenom Luka Doncic with a 39-point, 12-rebound, and 16-assist night. Two nights later, he put forth a 21-point, 13-assist and 11-rebound outing against the Spurs.

Frank Vogel is off to his best start as a head coach in the NBA, Anthony Davis is looking like an early-season MVP lock, and could easily be a defensive player of the year candidate (he’s the first player in the shot-clock era to hit the 40-20 mark in under 31 minutes of playing time, a feat accomplished in last Tuesday’s mauling of the Memphis Grizzlies).

The Lakers are 5-1 and possess the second-best record in the NBA, and it just looks like they are the more favored team to win the West just a couple of weeks in during this season.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Philadelphia 76ers

Joel Embiid’s suspension hasn’t looked like it’s altered the Sixers threatening perception, coming back from down as much as 21 points on Saturday night to defeat the Portland Trailblazers, thanks to a last-second Furkan Korkmaz contested three in the right corner to advance to 5-0, the only perfect record in the entire NBA.

The 76ers are right up there with the other elite teams in the league, only behind the Clippers and Lakers in overall team defensive rating. They’ve proven to still be extremely suffocating on the defensive end with their height and length, even without their 7-foot, shot-blocking, and trash-talking big man.

Saturday’s victory against Portland said a lot about Brett Brown’s team this year. Their depth at the guard spot is valuable and not a size-insufficient liability as Raul Neto and Furkan Korkmaz were able to go on runs late in the fourth. It’s easy to see that the one-time all-star Al Horford is a seamless fit with Philly, dropping a cool 25 points (and leading the Sixers in scoring) against Portland’s Hassan Whiteside.

Ben Simmons’ growing skillset, Tobias Harris’ consistency, mixed with the Sixers offense being just inside the top-10 (115 ppg. off a combined 46.4 shooting percentage from the field) spells trouble for the rest of the Eastern Conference.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers were atop of a bevy of sportswriters’ power rankings list, but it’s becoming apparent the rest of the league is starting to get it together, making the Clippers’ road to having the best record in the league a little more difficult than expected.

Kawhi Leonard had to take a load management night off on Friday night and saw his then offensively-deficient Clips get handled by the Utah Jazz during their road trip. They already suffered an unexplainable loss to the Phoenix Suns a week earlier with Kawhi in the starting five, other than a reason of “just one of those nights”. These losses will happen every now and then, but the Clippers are still a postseason favorite, so they’re more than likely just growing pains.

Not having Leonard in Doc Rivers’ lineup just made the Clippers look like a team that momentarily lost their identity, and their ability to score the ball. That won’t be a constant theme, however, and that was easily proven in the Clippers back-to-back wins on Saturday and Sunday night. Kawhi came back and posted 38 points and 12 rebounds on his old team, the San Antonio Spurs, handing his old coach Gregg Popovich his first loss of the year.

Last night, Kawhi put up yet another masterclass performance in the Clippers 105-94 win, and it wasn’t the Jazz coming out with a second-straight victory against their Western rivals. A 34-point, 6-rebound and 3-assist night sealed the Clippers’ 5th win of the season, and they’re also not even at full capacity. Paul George has yet to play a single game in a Clipper uniform so when he does, the Clippers will not stay out of the Power Rankings’ top two for much longer.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Miami Heat

With the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, the new-look Heat is a fascinating team to look out for as this season progresses. And what’s even more startling: it isn’t new signee Jimmy Butler doing most of the work.

Rookies Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn are helping the Heat rewrite the narrative of just the Bucks and Sixers sweeping up the division talks. And it looks like the offseason speakings of acquiring Chris Paul, or even thinking of needing him at this point compared to what the Heat have in their young backcourt, are as quiet as a collegiate library during finals week.

The unheralded duo has been a gleaming surprise, to say the least. They have combined for 194 points through Miami’s first five contests and sit at 5-1 thanks to their contributions. Tyler Herro’s offensive outbursts were expected with him being a first-rounder who’s averaged 15.7 ppg. off an impressive 43.2 shooting percentage. Just him dropping 29 points off the bench in Tuesday’s win against the Atlanta Hawks has been enough to get some early Rookie of the Year votes.

But Kendrick Nunn? Sheesh.

He was drafted in 2018 out of Illinois and played a year in the G League with the Santa Clara Warriors. Now, one year later, he’s leading all rookies in scoring with 18.7 ppg. off 48.4 percent from the field. Some scouts are saying now that they’re kicking themselves for not seeing into the Kendrick Nunn project earlier, and who could blame them.

The guard has passed the eye test with ease and has stormed on the national stage with confidence. He matched Herro’s near 30-point showing with one of his own, scoring 28 in the team’s fourth win.

The Heat are off to a fast start, the best they’ve had since the 2012-13 championship season. Jimmy Butler is back and balling out in the starting lineup, Goran Dragic is averaging 13.8 points per contest, and Bam Adebayo is looking like an early favorite to win Most Improved Player.

Oh yeah, and they just blew out the Houston Rockets by 29 last night.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo is picking up where he left off at the end of the 2018-19 season. And other than a free-throw percentage that clearly isn’t at a confident percentage (61 percent), his field goal percentage and three-point efficiency is already better than it was just a season ago, meaning that the guy who literally just scooped up the MVP trophy is only getting better.

That says a bunch about these 4-2 Bucks. With their only losses to Boston and Miami, the Bucks have looked increasingly dominant and after their 115-105 win against Toronto in their revenge game against Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam since last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, Giannis has put forth consecutive 25+ point games and double-doubles against Orlando and Toronto, which is light work for the MVP.

The Bucks still have the potential to have the best offense in the East, and in the NBA for that matter as the season goes on. They already lead the East in total offensive output, scoring out 119 points per contest. Though they’re in the middle of the pack at a 35.3 team three-point percentage, this is still a team that could very well continue with leading the NBA in 3 pointers made and a team beyond-arc percentage, like how they did a season ago. Khris Middleton, Kyle Korver, Brook Lopez, and others will help them improve that mark.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Toronto Raptors

The defending champions don’t look to be the helpless doormats many expected them to be at season’s beginning. Pascal Siakam is going to be an all-star if he keeps this offensive and defensive effort. His usage rate (31.5 percent) has shot up compared to last season already and will trend north as the season moves on.

He’s shooting more threes from just about everywhere around the perimeter at 5.5 3PA per game and though Siakam was accustomed to taking nearly 70 percent of his threes from the corner last season, he is taking less of those in 2019, opting to take his threes above the break in transition a lot more. And he’s making them, a lot more. Their last win came against the Pistons last week, and Siakam scored 19 of his 30 points against them in the third quarter, drilling three triples in Wednesday’s win.

As the Raptors sit at a respectable 4-2 after their 10-point loss to Milwaukee, Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet’s efficiency have been the second topic of discussion for the Raps, but so have their minutes per game, which is a concern with such a long season to go. Reminder: they don’t have the two-way talents of Kawhi Leonard to fall back on during those stretches anymore.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Denver Nuggets

Another postseason favorite here, but Denver hasn’t looked like they’ve shaken off some of the rust just quite yet in their shaky start, to put it nicely.

Just letting the Sacramento Kings hang around with them during their first road trip of the year in their 101-94 win should’ve told us something wasn’t going right with Mike Malone’s squad.

Nikola Jokic has had a long summer, complete with competing for the Serbian National Team but still looks unathletic, unmotivated and downright unfocused for what fans perceive as a sportsbook favorite to win the MVP this year. His productivity and usage certainly don’t say that on paper and on the floor, as Malone’s offense primarily runs through him. What’s worse, is that as Nikola is the source of energy for the team, he’s also looked like the reason everyone looks the same on the Nuggets – demure, dejected, and energy-sapped.

That broadcasted itself on the box score in last week’s embarrassing loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, a loss where the team surrendered 37 transition points.

This energy shift will occur of course, and it will have to immediately. The Nugs have both Philly and Miami coming up on their schedule, and the last thing Mike Malone needs is a slouchy start to start his 2019 campaign, especially in the West.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Utah Jazz

Donavan Mitchell had a fiery start to the year but Mike Conley didn’t, which wasn’t really the greatest gift to one of the most defensively efficient teams in all of basketball. However, in a short span of time, Conley has seemingly snapped out of that early-season funk and scored a season-high 29 points in an upset win over the Kawhi Leonard-less Los Angeles Clippers last Wednesday night.

Going into that game, the former Memphis Grizzlies guard had accumulated just 31 points on 9-45 shooting. Now that the 12-year guard out of Ohio State is starting to get a feel for his new position, the 4-3 Jazz can now get back to dominating on both ends of the floor.

The Utah Jazz rank numero uno in total defensive efficiency so far, and that mark will only get better considering Rudy Gobert, and the rest of the Jazz, continue to prevent opponents from getting to the rim as well as get shots up from the wing due to their already-steller perimeter defense.

Though the Jazz have suffered a couple of slip-ups, one to the Sacramento Kings on Friday for the Kings’ first win of the year and another to Kawhi Leonard dropping 34 on the Jazz, but Quin Snyder’s squad has an opportunity to get a couple more wins on the young season with Philadelphia and Milwaukee coming up next.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Boston Celtics

If one thing is for certain, its that the acquisition of Kemba Walker has helped this Celtics roster in a litany of ways that don’t have to do with his heavy supply of points scored.

Ironically, it’s been the work of Jayson Tatum, who finally looks to be aware of his vastly expanding offensive library. Tatum was demanded to display some late-game heroics against the New York Knicks, who seemed to be an unlikely competitor against the C’s on Friday night.

As former Celtic-turned-Spur-turned-Knick Marcus Morris drilled a deep three to tie the game at 102 apiece in the fourth quarter, Tatum had to reach into his bag of tricks and show rookie RJ Barrett the ropes of this NBA thing with a simple face-up, hesitation, rip through, one dribble pull up on the right-wing for the Celtics’ fourth-straight win.

The jumper Tatum hit seemed irregular ironically, according to his statistical inefficiency from inside the arc, just barely touching 35 percent. Not great, but those numbers will spike up with a couple of extra touches as the season progresses. Otherhandedly, Tatum is launching and connecting from deep, taking advantage of his matchups from deep by shooting an amazing 48.6 percent of his three balls.

Kemba Walker is averaging a career-high 26.2 points per game as a Celtic, something he wouldn’t have been able to say as a Charlotte Hornet while also scoring the most points through five games in franchise history. Gordon Hayward is suddenly starting to reappear in his all-star form, scoring 16.6 ppg off of 47 percent shooting, five points more than his 2018 season average.

And it’s not like Boston is playing some sub .500 teams here as they put up all these numbers. They just knocked off a championship favorite in Milwaukee last Wednesday and beat the defending champs just days before which is quite an impressive feat, regardless of them being in the middle of the league-wide pack when it comes to scoring. Boston has also impressed in securing the rock, being in one of the lowest percentages of teams committing turnovers.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Dallas Mavericks

The Mavs currently sit at 5-2 and after a dominant victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, look to improve on their already brag-worthy record as they face the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.

Though LeBron James had an answer for Luka Doncic’s “Razzmatazz Hop Skiddily Doo” on Friday night in the Lakers 119-110 win over the Mavericks, Luka Doncic has rightly subverted himself as a star in this league. Going toe-to-toe with your idol, answering skeptics’ critiques of your game and showing out on national television should not be easy, let alone possible in your early 20s but Luka did that, and more. Posting his tenth career triple-double is definitely a way to impress the King, and though in a loss, these young, two-loss Mavs are solid in every aspect of their team.

Bench depth at the guard spot with Seth Curry and Jalen Brunson, the further improvement of bigs Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleiber, the awaiting of Tim Hardaway Jr.’s full potential, and Kristaps Porzingis still getting reacquainted to an NBA schedule just say that Dallas has a lot in their favor, and future, right now.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. Phoenix Suns

I guess the Tankathon is…off?

As it stands right now, it’s rather believable to understand that the Phoenix Suns actually look like a good basketball team. DeAndre Ayton’s suspension will last until the end of December, but at the moment, that doesn’t really matter. They’re 4-2 in a tight Western Conference with wins over the likes of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors. They possess the NBA’s third-best net rating, just behind the Lakers and the Heat. Aron Baynes has filled in Ayton’s spot almost effortlessly, considering he almost had his first triple-double in his career against the Curry-less Warriors last Wednesday.

And on top of all that, the ball is moving, and Monty Williams’ scheme is acting as a reprieve for Devin Booker who, in year’s past, would have to carry the weight of the Phoenix’s offensive output like a cargo ship.

The Suns are assisting on nearly 70 percent of their buckets, which leads the league. That’s usually a stat reserved for the game’s best teams since Steve Kerr’s Warriors won multiple championships that way from leading the league in that statistic. Granted, that’s obviously not a prime Warriors team taking the floor inside Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Yet, Ricky Rubio has complimented Devin Booker tremendously, as Booker has averaged a little under 24 ppg. off 49 percent shooting while also shooting 47 percent from downtown.

Another startling stat: the “Valley Boyz” currently rank No. 7 in points per 100 possessions, and post the seventh-best defensive rating in the NBA. The longer this goes on (and it could go on longer), the harder it will be to call the Suns a lock as a lottery pick team.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

12. San Antonio Spurs

Gregg Popovich’s boys just know how to stay in the mix of the always saturated Western Conference, don’t they?

Dejounte Murray looks like he hasn’t missed a step coming off major ACL surgery, Derrick White looks like he wasn’t a fluke by being selected to play for Team USA at the FIBA World Cup, Bryn Forbes looks like a premier marksman as he shoots a solid 35 percent from beyond the three-point arc, DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge are the esteemed bucket getter we know them to be as per usual and aside from two losses against both of Los Angeles’s team, the 4-2 Spurs are practically undefeated.

Popovich isn’t nearly one to follow the trends and curves of the current models as we all know, so it’s understandable that the Spurs rank 29th in three-point attempts.

Considering the efficient shot selection that doesn’t follow the league-wide analytics, however, the Spurs don’t take many threes since they have guards that make their own shots off the dribble and slash to the cup (DeRozan, Forbes) and bigs that space the floor while providing offense down low. (Aldridge, Lyles) To put it lightly, it’s working so far, so why fix what isn’t broken?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Minnesota Timberwolves

Karl Anthony Towns has a pretty good start to his 2019 campaign, averaging 27 points as the go-to man for Ryan Saunders’ offense. Problem is, he’s gonna need some help if that’s going to be the case for the rest of the season.

The even bigger problem? He just so happened to get into a little scuffle during the team’s first road trip, and now they’ll have to find a way to gather some form of offense and an interior presence for at least one more game, since the 4-1 team handled his absence fairly well in Saturday’s overwhelming tail-whooping of the Washington Wizards.

In a 20-point scalping where the TWolves just had difficulty generating any offense all night, Towns’ main matchup Joel Embiid played KAT a tad bit too physically, resulting in Towns wanting to take Embiid’s head clean off. A massive skirmish inside the Wells Fargo Center resulted in both he and Embiid’s ejection and suspension, though the altercation commenced further on social media just hours after.

The Wolves are faced with an insurmountable situation with the Milwaukee Bucks playing them on Monday night, and though they display a top-10 defense that makes opponents turn the ball over an average of nearly eleven times a game, it’s pretty evident that Giannis Antetokounmpo might just have a field day inside the Timberwolves’ paint.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

14. Portland Trail Blazers

Granted, this Blazers team could’ve been higher up on this list with a 4-2 record, if it wasn’t for Furkan Korkmaz.

I mean, what a Furkan shot.

Anfernee Simons thought he drilled his first-ever game-winner in his second season as a pro as his corner three just slithered down the nylon with 2.2 ticks to take a 2-point lead, but it was Furkan Korkmaz who received the ball in the opposite right corner on the other side of the hardwood, drilling a three, and securing Philadelphia’s fifth-straight win, and their first without Joel Embiid. That shot lowered the Blazers to a perfect .500 record at 3-3.

A bigger spot of concern is that the injury bug seems to have taken a big chunk out of the Blazers’ infrastructure. Backup Small Forward Rodney Hood collided knees with a Sixer and has been pronounced day-to-day, Zach Collins is forced to begin his season on the injury report after opting to get surgery on a dislocated shoulder.

Which leaves Terry Stotts in a bit of a jam. From now until an unspecified time, he was forced to roll out a starting five of Anthony Tolliver, Mario Hezonja, and Rodney Hood with CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard, so it shouldn’t take long until Stotts and crew start looking for more bodies to use across his bench.

Because Damian Lillard, who is leading the Blazers in points and assists won’t be able to keep that up for the rest of the team’s 76 games.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

15. Indiana Pacers

Malcolm Brogdon has had some really eye-opening showings in his new home, now averaging a little over 22 points per game on 48 percent shooting, with 9.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds per contest to boot. He’s risen to the occasion in place of Victor Oladipo, who’s timetable for a return is not yet confirmed.

Yet, this team that could very well be one of the Eastern elites has also gotten stung by the injury bug as all-star big man Myles Turner went down with an apparent ankle injury before the franchise’s first win of the season in Brooklyn.

Before then, the Pacers started the season on a 0-3 note. Since then, things have gotten better due to Brogdon’s nightly input with three straight wins against Brooklyn, Cleveland, and Chicago.

Domatas Sabonis has been an interesting topic of debate this season, putting forth some impressive stats. At the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Arvydas Sabonis’s son posted a stat line of 29 points on 11/18 shooting, absolutely giving the work to the Nets’ interior D. He followed that up with 18 points and 17 rebounds against the Cleveland Cavaliers this past Friday, only being the second-highest scorer on this Indy squad.

The Pacers travel to play the Hornets on Tuesday night, and they’re hoping to make it four wins in a row.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

16. Houston Rockets

This is not the ideal start Houston sports fans had in mind for their new backcourt and a new era of Rockets basketball. This early resume has been riddled with perilous signs, and we’ve just reached November.

Sure, the Houston Rockets have the most efficient offense in basketball, averaging over 121 points per contest. James Harden leads the NBA in scoring and Russell Westbrook compliments Harden perfectly by being a dual on and off-ball threat. All of those factors are good factors, so just what’s going on with the Rockets, and why can’t they get it going this early in the season?

James Harden is laughably ice-cold from deep to start the season. ESPN showed a relatively shocking stat on Friday night after their squeak-by, 159-158 win over the Washington Wizards, which said that there have been six games where a single player has attempted at least 14 threes and only sunk fewer than two of them.

James Harden has had two of those six games, this year.

It’s James Harden, and we know he is going to get his numbers either way, this time more at the free-throw line. He averages more FTs attempted and made than anyone else in the league, which can be an infuriating stat to anyone considering how many calls he generates per contest (12 trips to the line a game).

Also, Houston’s defense has been terrible. They’ve played some pretty below-average teams and have barely won in each of them, just garnering wins against other teams like the Thunder, Pelicans, and quickly-slipping Brooklyn Nets. The cherry on top of this horrendous start for a team that is projected to potentially make it to the NBA Finals was a disappointing torching at the hands of the young Miami Heat on Sunday night.

It’s hard to see this Rockets team getting into the top 10 if this ugly streak of poor defense and inefficient offense from their 2017-18 MVP continue.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

    17. Brooklyn Nets

Brooklyn now sits at 2-4 on the season and although Kyrie Irving has settled into his new home quite comfortably, his supporting cast has struggled in multitudes. The Nets currently own the league’s 19th best defense and with some questionable wins against the Houston Rockets who, a night before, put up 159 points on the Wizards, haven’t really impressed with their other win coming against the Knicks during their first win of the season.

The Nets are starting to pile on losses now, with back-to-back marks in the loss column by way of the Detroit Pistons (who didn’t have Blake Griffin, Reggie Jackson or Derrick Rose) and the Indiana Pacers. Just when Kenny Atkinson’s team went up by as much as 14 inside the Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit, they blew it, since Andre Drummond decided to lead his Pistons in scoring with a double-double to add.

They turn the ball over in bunches as well, so they have their work cut out for them in an Eastern Conference that is possible to win in, but is unforgivingly exclusive if you don’t take advantage of the opportunity.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

18. Orlando Magic

Though their record doesn’t show it, the Orlando Magic have competed to the best of their ability in every contest this season. Nikola Vucevic is still in his all-star form from last season, averaging 16.8 ppg. off of 43 percent shooting and 9.8 rebounds a game.

In one of the more surprising moves made this season, the point guard’s coach in Steve Clifford displayed his confidence in third-year guard and the newest member of the Magic Markelle Fultz by supplanting him in his starting lineup. He’s been successful in defending the Pick and Roll with his 6’9 wingspan, and has excelled in collapsing defenses with his quick handle and slashing ability.

Unfortunately, his supporting cast has struggled out of the gate and hasn’t provided much offense for Fultz to facilitate to, as the team makes only nine threes a game – the 26th-highest mark in the league.

Lineup changes can be made, but they won’t matter until the shots start falling for Orlando. For a team that’s struggled to score at least 100 points in a single game this year, Orlando is gonna have to figure some things out before this streak, and perhaps the season, go down in flames.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

19. Atlanta Hawks

Losing Trae Young has been the biggest blow to this Hawks team, and for a prospective franchise that looks to promise success in their future, this 0-3 run without their ace at point guard just isn’t gonna cut it. They currently sit at 2-3, just in the pack of the East right now so all hope is not lost.

John Collins is making a case to be the 2019-20 Most Improved Player, and aside from the second-year Small Forward, this Hawks team has shown bunches upon bunches of flashes. In their primetime loss to the Miami Heat, DeAndre Bembry showed that a couple of years learning the system pays off since he was literally everywhere and anywhere on the floor. The combined defensive effort of Bembry and Collins suggest that these two can be elite defenders someday.

Their first-round pick out of Maryland, Bruno Fernando, also displayed some flashes of athleticism and dexterity with a creative dribble package at an alarming 6’10. He has a high motor and can occasionally get out of control, but can be an efficient playmaker if he lets the game slow down for him.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

20. Detroit Pistons

And yet another injury-prone team gets into the top 20. The Detroit Pistons are now down to bare bones in their guard rotation, as Reggie Jackson is to be sidelined for at least an entire month with a bad back. The second-year guard Bruce Brown will have to start in place of Jackson, Derrick Rose and Tim Frazier is now the next man up, which spells trouble for the Pistons as they’ll be with a one-dimensional guard who isn’t too adept at scoring the basketball.

If Brown shows he is capable enough to carry the load of a starting point guard, he’ll compliment double-double machine Andre Drummond and make the sting of an injury-riddled roster going on a long stretch to start the season a little less painful. Former Duke sharpshooter Luke Kennard has continued to perform well at the 2, and that’ll have to keep up if the Pistons want to stay in the playoff conversation for the season.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

21. Sacramento Kings

A tip-in by Harrison Barnes secured the Kings’ first win on the season against the Utah Jazz, and it was a good answer to the 113-81 beatdown they suffered to the Jazz this past week.

The Kings just won their second game of the season against the New York Knicks in a 21-point blowout that showed the vocally-growing De’Aaron Fox score 24 points. These two wins were needed since their already-impatient fanbase that fervently needed results in the win column after losses to the Charlotte Hornets and Denver Nuggets presented them with a 2-5 record.

There have been some bright spots with this Kings team, as Dewayne Dedmon has somehow reinvigorated his game from deep, and Richaun Holmes’ energy off of the bench and into the starting five has grown increasingly credible as he posted up 24 points and 13 rebounds against the likes of Paul Millsap, Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.

The Kings hope to carry the momentum from their win against the Knicks into the rest of their three-game Eastern road trip.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

22. Oklahoma City Thunder

The young Thunder have just rejected the theory of taking this season off to rebuild and retool, competing in just about every game they’ve played in. Points have been hard to come by, though Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has given the Thunder a bevy of life in each contest on the offensive end, posting OKC’s high point total in four of the six games they’ve played so far with him in the starting lineup.

Steven Adams has been out, but that hasn’t stopped Danilo Gallinari from getting a few extra minutes at the four and five spots, though at times the Thunder have looked pretty undersized at both positions. Billy Donavan has experimented with some lineups here and there, putting in guards like Hamidou Diallo and Abdul Nader with the likes of other big men in small lineups.

In their 115-104 victory over the Pelicans just last week, the 2-4 Thunder are also starting to see the worth of their first-round selection Darius Bazley, who’s shown that he’s unafraid to get involved in the offensive gameplan. As SGA continues to get the experience of a starting two-guard, who knows how high his ceiling can be, especially with none other than Chris Paul as a mentor and teammate.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

23. Chicago Bulls

The 2-5 Bulls have gotten off to a shaky start, and with stars like Otto Porter Jr. just now breaking out of a season-opening slump with a 22-point outing against the Pistons, Jim Boylan’s spreading of minutes has met criticism as Lauri Markkanen had to watch crunch time from the bench. Thaddeus Young saw more minutes down the stretch than your premier piece of offense for now and the future, which said all you needed to know about the illegitimate distribution of minutes.

Coby White and Zach Lavine have had decent starts to their seasons, but it has not been enough to get the Bulls over the hump at the moment.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

24. Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets got their lone win on the year opened the year on a high note, scoring 23 threes – a franchise record in a single game. Since then, the Hornets sit at 3-3, with wins coming against the struggling Kings and depleted Golden State Warriors. Their third-year guard out of Kansas Devonte Graham got a ridiculous 12 of his first 16 balls from deep to get into the bucket to begin the season and since then, its been everything but rosy for him and the Hornets.

Terry Rozier’s productivity has obviously doubled now that he is the head honcho at the guard position, and rookie PJ Washington has shown his ability on multiple occasions to both put the ball on the floor to get to the rim as well as score consistently from deep. But the team’s habit of staying in games late and losing them in crunch time is how their record isn’t what they desire it to be right now.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

25. New Orleans Pelicans

The Pelicans are a really youthful team with three starters missing chunks of time – first-overall pick Zion Williamson and Derrick Favors – so a 1-5 team should be lower on this list, but they aren’t.

Their lone win against the Denver Nuggets could be perceived as a fluky win since we’ll never see that same type of asinine effort from a Western contender going into the Smoothie King Center for a while. Jahlil Okafor has really reinvented his game in Alvin Gentry’s system and rookie Jaxson Hayes will see his usage increase since the former Big 12 Freshman of the Year has only produced positive results for the Pels this year.

The Pelicans saw Jrue Holiday come back from a sore left knee that game, and now look to the likes of Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball to carry half of the offensive workload until Holiday is able to shake off the cobwebs and return to his former self.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

26. Cleveland Cavaliers

The good news: Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson have been averaging a combined 17.9 ppg, and 13.4 rebounds per contest. They’ve been competing, and have already won two games against their rivals in the Central division.

The bad news: the rest of the Cavaliers, other than Collin Sexton, have yet to show up. Sexton is averaging 16.8 points per game on 42 percent shooting, but the 2-4 Cavaliers have the seventh-worst defensive rating in the NBA, and that’s a number that more than likely won’t get better as time progresses.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

27. Memphis Grizzlies

Ja Morant continues to impress and looks like another favorite to win ROY, leading all Grizzlies in scoring in both of their games last week, but continue to be the worst second-half team in the entire NBA. They play at a breakneck speed and a top-five pace in all of basketball, and second-year man Jaren Jackson Jr. is trying to do his due diligence, only averaging 13 points a game on 44 percent shooting, but these Grizzlies are very young and inexperienced, but have to keep up the pace in the third and fourth quarters if they want to get some wins in the column.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

28. Washington Wizards

The Wizards, too, are quite anemic at the guard spot with Isaiah Thomas now running at starting point guard for the hobbled Wizards, but IT looks as if he’s returned to his former self, putting up 16 points against the San Antonio Spurs and and 18 more points against the Rockets in their 159-158 loss. In another loss, he posted up 16 against the Timberwolves who spanked them inside the Verizon Center, 131-109. Also, as Bradley Beal has had multiple 30-point outings like he usually does to start every season, it would be smart of Scotty Brooks to use Davis Bertans more, who is literally 50 percent from deep to start the year.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

29. New York Knicks

The Knicks lone win came against the Chicago Bulls last Monday, as Bobby Portis went bezerk on his old squad, posting up 28 points and 11 rebounds inside the Garden to Knick faithful. RJ Barrett has been a pleasant surprise, not just with his slashing ability but his consistency in shooting the three ball. But the Knicks are falling flat in their expectations, and for reasons obvious to the naked eye. The 22nd most efficient defense in the league and a 1-5 start will do that to you.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

30. Golden State Warriors

It was all good just a year ago.

The Golden State Warriors could arguably have the worst starting five in all of the NBA right now. And how did they get here, you ask?

The Warriors losing Kevin Durant wasn’t the only final nail in the coffin for this team. With Klay being out for the season, they gave away Andre Iguodala in free agency, Shaun Livingston retired, Steph broke his hand just days into a season many expected him to carry into 2020, and Draymond Green is having trouble gripping a basketball due to a ligament issue in his left index finger. Also, D’Angelo Russell will be sidelined with an ankle injury.

When it rains, it thunderstorms. The San Francisco tankathon has now begun.