Three weeks down, yet still the No.1 team in the land reigns supreme in this week’s Power Rankings.
The Lakers may have had their seven-game win streak snapped by the 7-2 Toronto Raptors, who look like they haven’t missed a beat in defending their franchise-first title. Granted, their position could have greatly altered itself, with the Boston Celtics owning sole possession of the best record in the entire NBA and the strong (but expected) emergence from the MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks. But, thanks to an uncharacteristic 1-3 week by the Eastern Conference favorite Philadelphia 76ers, the Lakers remain atop their perch.
But below LeBron and Anthony Davis’s super squad lies the ever-fluctuating 29 spots, awash with skyrockets and pitfalls even in a three-week season. So, let’s not mince words and get right to it.
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1. Los Angeles Lakers (7-2, Last Week’s Rating: 1)
The Lakers looked like the most unstoppable force in not just a packed Western Conference, but the entire association in their seven-game winning streak. They were the 1st in defensive rating, and posed as the most arduous threat to visiting opposition at home. They still are the best team in basketball and last night’s streak-snapping loss to the Raptors (who didn’t have either Kyle Lowry or Serge Ibaka) may not have changed much of how teams should attack the duo of both LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Keep in mind that this was the Lakers’ first loss since opening night, so the ebb and flow of the regular season will presumably sort itself out.
The much-anticipated breakthrough of the returning Kyle Kuzma reached a Maximus last night, reassuring Lakers fans of his full recovery from a foot injury. With his second double-digit scoring performance in a row against Toronto, Lakers coach Frank Vogel will increasingly feel more secure confiding in Kuzma as LA’s third scoring option.
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2. Los Angeles Clippers (6-3, Last Week’s Rating: 3)
Kawhi Leonard’s name was dually drug through the mud and upheld by media experts and fans that debated the importance and necessity of Load Management that, when translated, is just a fancy term for the calculated rest for the two-time Finals MVP. Though NBA fans may have been robbed at an early-season preview of the 2020 NBA Finals between a healthy Clippers squad with Leonard suiting up against his old Eastern Conference rival in Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks last Wednesday night, the Clips still put up an impressive fight, only losing by five in a 129-124 loss.
Leonard would come back a night later, piling on bucket after bucket during the fourth quarter between the Clippers and Portland Trailblazers where he would score 18 of his night’s 27 points in the team’s sixth win. The Clippers have still only lost one game when Leonard has donned the Clipper blue, and with Paul George’s return upgraded to imminent this week, we’ll finally get a glimpse of this offensive and defensive Clipper machine, now fully operational.
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3. Boston Celtics (7-1, Last Week’s Rating: 9)
The Celtics possess the best record in the NBA right now, are No. 1 in total defensive rating, Jaylen Brown is back, Kemba Walker is already touching new statistical heights, Jayson Tatum looks like an All-Star lock, and Brad Stevens’ rotational pieces make the Celtics look just downright frightening to face.
So why aren’t they in the top two spots? Simple answer: Gordon Hayward is gonna be out for a presumed month.
Hayward’s process of returning to his All-Star form achieved in 2017, a process stemmed from that grueling, grotesque leg injury sustained in his first game as Celtic back in late 2017, looked to be nearing its completion. This season, Hayward was looked as good as he’s ever looked, (probably even better than that lone All-Star bid year), averaging a little over 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The continuation of those stats will have to be put on hold, as Hayward broke a bone in his left hand during last week’s game against the Spurs, forcing Brad Stevens to configure a solution for his minutes rotation between Marcus Smart and first-year Celtic Javonte Green, who scored six points in 13 minutes after Hayward’s exit.
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4. Milwaukee Bucks (7-3, Last Week’s Rating: 3)
The Bucks’ defense (ninth-best defensive rating) and three-point shooting (17th-best team, percentage-wise) have been good, not great, in accordance to the standard Mike Budenholzer expects them to play at but Giannis Antetounkounmpo has been exceptional, to describe it finitely.
Giannis is already up to the challenge of repeating as the league’s MVP, possessing the fourth-best scoring average in the league at 29.7 points per game, and is top three in defensive rebounds per game. His 37 point performance was just another outing shy of a triple-double last night against OKC, and his FG% from outside the paint has risen, as he is close to surpassing his career-high in three-point percentage just ten games into the 2019-20 season.
Their 2-1 road trip featured a five-point win inside the Staples Center against the Los Angeles Clippers (without Kawhi), a buzzer-beating loss at the hands of the Utah Jazz and a close victory against a young, undermanned-but-competitive team in the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Bucks return home to face Chicago and then travel to face Indiana this week.
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5. Denver Nuggets (7-2, Last Week’s Rating: 7)
Despite a rocky start to their season, where just about everyone, including their own head coach Mike Malone, was skeptical of their effort and nightly tenacity, the Denver Nuggets are finally getting it now, though they haven’t pleased in the average eye test.
They blew a 16-point lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves and let Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins go ballistic against them in a fourth quarter that didn’t see the Nuggets score for the quarter’s final 6 minutes and change. They still won in OT thanks to a silky-smooth, one-foot fadeaway jumper from their MVP candidate Nikola Jokic over the fingertips of Towns (his second in a row this week, the other against Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid just a night prior).
As a team, however, they aren’t that impressive in scoring the basketball. They are currently the fourth-worst scoring team in the league, only averaging 103.3 points per game, and are 26th in the league in total field goal percentage. They’re still 7-2 though (tied for the second-best record in the league) and their defense has played a major part in their improved record with wins over Miami, Philadelphia and Minnesota.
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6. Toronto Raptors (7-2, Last Week’s Ranking: 6)
These Raptors just don’t know what “lay low and rebuild” means, do they?
Despite Kawhi Leonard’s departure for sunnier skies as a Los Angeles native, the Toronto Raptors remain one of the most dangerous teams in the entire NBA.
Their only losses were on the road as visitors to the Bucks and Celtics, and though those losses were slightly expected, the perfect blend of Nick Nurse’s coaching, intermingling of venerable depth pieces who deliberately understand the offensive system, and the best defense in the league kept their losses respectably close, and their wins considerably awe-inspiring in their ability to stop whoever is playing against them in the halfcourt while scoring in bunches in transition.
Pascal Siakam continues to flirt with 30 and 10 averages through three weeks, and is, for now, in the MVP conversation. The team will be without Kyle Lowry for a while as he recovers from a fractured thumb and with one down on their Western Conference road trip, they’ll stick around in the city of angels to face the Clippers, then fly out to the Pacific Northwest to duel with the Portland Trailblazers and go south to play the Dallas Mavericks.
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7. Utah Jazz (6-3, Last Week’s Rating: 8)
After their loss to the Lakers to open up last week, the Utah Jazz have been injury-free, and have looked as dominant as any other powerhouse in the West. Bojan Bogdanovic’s unlucrative contract might have been an underpayment on the Serbian’s behalf, as he is currently averaging 21.8 points in his first eight games with the Jazz so far. Including his jubilation-inducing three in the corner to upset the Milwaukee Bucks this past Friday night, Bogdanovic has shot over 45.5 percent from downtown, which’s impact is pretty self-explanatory.
Donavan Mitchell and Mike Conley have been solid together but the team could stand to put up more points per contest (28th best scoring team in the league with 101 points per game), they are still the most defensive efficient team in basketball. They have the Warriors, Nets and Grizzlies coming up next on the schedule, and could certainly go 3-0 against those three struggling teams.
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8. Philadelphia 76ers (6-3, Last Week’s Rating: 2)
After starting the season 5-0, the Sixers are going through something easily described as an early-season scoring slouch, and to be fair, every favored team in the history of championship-favored teams goes on a cold streak every now and then. It’s easy to point at Joel Embiid’s suspension and Ben Simmons’ shoulder injury that forced him to miss the rest of their game against the Jazz as the major causes of the Sixers’ momentary descent, but their losses – three straight to Phoenix, Utah, and Denver to be exact – have been as a result of Philly relying on shooting the three-ball at an inefficient rate.
Evident in the loss to Denver, the Sixers didn’t utilize their size to their advantage, opting out of clearing a path in the lane with their slashers and instead taking unadvised shots from around the perimeter. Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid going for a combined 1-8 from the field against Denver also doesn’t help much. Philly probably won’t ever be this low in a Top-30, but in this league, never saying never is a must.
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9. Houston Rockets (6-3, Last Week’s Rating: 16)
The Rockets’ coaching situation is certainly up in the air as of right now, with media experts and fans alike still wondering just what kind of offensive system Mike D’Antoni is running. Whatever it is, two things have certainly softened the blow of a slow start to Houston’s 2019 campaign: James Harden regularly being James Harden, and Clint Capela’s improving health and conditioning.
An annoying sore shoulder bothered the 7-foot Swiss big man, thus slowing his ability to finish hard at the rim as he’s usually done throughout his career. While averaging 17.5 points, 18 rebounds and 5 blocks in nine contests, he’s returned to serve as Harden and Russell Westbrook’s premier pick and roll man that attracts the opposing wing defender’s attention and allow the Rockets to league the NBA in total three-pointers made per game.
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10. Miami Heat (6-3, Last Week’s Rating: 4)
Miami got off to a scorching-hot start to the season behind Jimmy Butler’s introduction into the starting five, Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn’s offensive output and Bam Adebayo’s Most Improve Player award campaign. But, they were humbled by the likes of the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers for back-to-back losses.
What’s dominated Heat headlines as of late have nothing to do with their on-court efforts.
It’s been a bizarre couple of days for the Heat, to put it as euphemistically as possible. The Dion Waiters fiasco involving a narcotics incident on the team plane that caused the shooting guard to suffer a panic attack is garnering all the media’s attention and fans’ concern for their franchise. Waiters, now suspended for 10 games, is being replaced by the tandem of Herro and Nunn, who share their minutes well and compliment each other flawlessly when they’re together on the floor.
With games against the Pistons, Cavaliers and Pelicans, the Heat can hopefully look past this off-setting week.
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11. Phoenix Suns (6-3, Last Week’s Rating: 11)
The Phoenix Suns are off to tying their best start by a first-year head coach in franchise history and with the way Monty William’s new system put in place this year, Devin Booker continues to rake in early all-star votes (since he’s remarkably never been to one), the Aron Baynes hype grows even more with the Big Bearded Aussie now expanding his game to beyond the three-point arc with confidence, Kelly Oubre Jr. has fit into this starting lineup as a hybrid 2 and 3 like a glove, and most of all, they’re three games over .500!
The Suns started their season at 2-7 last year, so just winning 6 games right now is perhaps the biggest step the franchise has taken in the last couple of years. With the small tweak of putting Ricky Rubio at point, Devin Booker has put on show after show, lighting up some of the most prolific defensive teams across the entire NBA.
If this continues like we said last week, it’s still gonna be really hard to see Suns acquiring a lottery pick in 2020.
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12. Dallas Mavericks (6-3, Last Week’s Rating: 10)
Luka Doncic has consistently played at an all-star level to open up the season. Kristaps Porzingis, frustratingly, has not.
He will come around, and at some point we’ll see the ubiquitously-dubbed “Unicorn” gallop past and over opposing defenders, shooting at high percentages from deep while keeping a sense of efficiency established inside the arc and steadfastness on the defensive glass.
Though Porzingis has shown some flashes of him being his former self, a player that was practically unguardable as a Knick until his ACL tear in early 2018, the Mavs center struggled in fending off the Knicks in a rare home loss to one of the worst teams in the NBA. Still encouraged by his 28-point outing, he’ll have a chance to improve that number and rub a win in the face of Knicks fans when he returns to the Garden for the first time since January of 2019, the exact month he requested an immediate trade and voiced his honest frustrations about the “directionless” franchise.
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13. San Antonio Spurs (5-4, Last Week’s Rating: 12)
There have been more inconsistent outings in LaMarcus Aldridge’s game than there have been stable stat lines, and for a middle-of-the-pack but fairly competitive team like the Spurs, that spells a lot of trouble in the foreseeable future if his erratic shooting percentages carry on into this week and later ahead.
The Spurs star big man, who is a practical regular at All-Star Weekend, has certainly not played up to that standard as of late. When the Spurs win, he’s phenomenal down low, averaging nearly 20 points while also defending at an efficient percentage. When the Spurs lose, however, is where he’s been held to single digits in the scoring column, including their most recent blowout by way of the visiting Celtics. As the lifeblood of their offense, Aldridge can definitely get some more help from the likes of other shot-creating scorers like DeMar DeRozan over the stretch of these next few games against Memphis, Minnesota, and Orlando.
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14. Indiana Pacers (6-4, Last Week’s Rating: 15)
Malcolm Brogdon’s first ten games with the Pacers have been exceptional, and he’s been holding down the fort of the Bankers Life Fieldhouse while his team continues to be marred with subsequent injuries and health pitfalls. Brogdon is averaging 20.8 ppg. and 8.9 assists per contest – the third-best scoring/assist ratio in the entire NBA behind Luka Doncic and LeBron James. The 6’5 guard, once believed to be one-dimensional coming out of Virginia as an All-ACC First Team selection in his final year of collegiate competition, has risen to the occasion and has greatly proven his worth.
Domatas Sabonis has been another floor spacer for this confident Pacers squad, averaging 19.6 points per game while grabbing 14.4 boards and dishing out an average of 5.6 assists per contest in the past five games. Indiana should be higher on the list, but with who they have coming in this week as well as where they have to travel (at home against the Thunder, away to Houston against the Rockets and back home to take on the Bucks), their position is likely to lower itself on next week’s power rankings list.
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15. Minnesota Timberwolves (5-4, Last Week’s Rating: 13)
As predicted in last week’s Power Rankings, the Wolves were no match for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks while Karl Anthony-Towns was absent due to a suspension, but somehow lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in KAT’s first game back. They beat the Warriors in overtime thanks to a 40-point night from Andrew Wiggins and just when you think this T’Wolves team can hang with the rest of em, they drop a big one late to the Denver Nuggets, via a fadeaway jumpshot by Denver’s 7-foot passing and scoring dynamo Nikola Jokic.
Wolves fans can only hope that thisis the Andrew Wiggins that was promised to them with that massive deal he signed just months prior to the 2018 season, because in recent years, he’s been everything but productive in the scoring column.
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16. Portland Trail Blazers (4-6, Last Week’s Ranking: 14)
Damian Lillard has been doing all he can to persuade the rest of the Western Conference that they have been put on notice by the most recent visitors in the Western Conference Finals. And it’s not like they aren’t threatening and in no way should this come off as mockery, but to put it nicely, the Blazers are in such a pickle right now, not even 60 clips from Lillard himself can get them out of it.
Their win against the Hawks was much needed on Sunday night as it snapped a four-game losing streak. Still, the Blazers need to figure something out and fast if they still want a playoff spot in such a saturated Western Conference ripe with competitive teams at every corner, regardless if they’ve only played 10 games. Luckily, they have a chance to get back into the positive with a slew of winnable games on the road against the Kings and Spurs, as well as a home game to the Kawhi-less Toronto Raptors.
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17. Brooklyn Nets (4-5, Last Week’s Ratings: 17)
This Nets team has shown gleaming flashes of potential from their starting lineup and bench, and it isn’t just the Kyrie Irving show, as you’ve been lead to believe. Yes, Irving leads the team in scoring and from a league standpoint is No. 3 in the entire NBA, but the dynamic defensive duo of Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan have been decent too, making the Nets the 20th best defense in the league when stopping easy looks inside the restricted arc.
The problem is, these Nets don’t quite have an offensive identity other than fire from deep or throw up crazily-contested looks at the rim, and Kyrie most certainly contributes to that. ESPN reported a stat that said during the Nets’ two wins this past week against the Pelicans and Trailblazers, Brooklyn took 143 shots that were either inside five feet or around the perimeter. Still, the Nets own the seventh-highest offensive rating in the NBA, thanks to the play of their new franchise cornerpiece and one-time champ.
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18. Oklahoma City Thunder (4-6, Last Week’s Record: 22)
And here’s yet another written-off franchise that supposedly had the looming dark “rebuild” cloud over their heads after their stars left, just like Toronto.
These young Thunder are actually really fun to watch, and this season has been one of, if not the most, developmental instruments for success in their young pieces’ future. In the past 10 contests, the Thunder have come inches of winning every single game. One made free-throw here, and another defensive stand there, and the Thunder could have been a couple of games over .500. They’ve literally lost five of their six games by five points or less.
And from now on, they are not to be taken lightly, not even in the slightest sense. They do have one of the more tedious schedules in the league, but if these Thunder can hang in there while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander does his thing in the scoring aspect of things, this blend of veteran pieces and draft capital could make the Thunder win a couple of close games against some good teams this year.
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19. Detroit Pistons (4-6, Last Week’s Rating: 20)
The Pistons were fortunate to go 2-2 in their last four games and while Andre Drummond has indeed picked up the slack whereas his complimenting rotation of guards has faltered. Still, the Pistons are getting Blake Griffin back either tonight or sometime this week, and with the improving health of Derrick Rose who could be back soon, Dwayne Casey’s squad could see a good amount of success in its short future.
Luke Kennard and Tony Snell have been bright spots for what’s been a murky start to the season. Also, they have a home game tonight against the Timberwolves and look to scoop up a quick win to get close to a .500 record, since they have to head down south to play the Pistons and Hornets this week.
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20. Orlando Magic (3-7, Last Week’s Rating: 22)
The Orlando Magic opened their season on a good note and made some changes to the starting lineup surrounding the starting of former first-overall pick Markelle Fultz. Yet, Nikola Vucevic’s Magic have had trouble getting out of the blocks in this 82-game race that is the 2019-20 season, dropping five of their last six games and having their lone win come against the Grizzlies at home. Jonathan Isaac has been a surprise and early vote-getter for the Most Improved Player award this season, currently leading the league in blocks per game with 3.2 swats.
The Magic have Philadelphia coming into town this week, and after that are the Spurs and Wizards. The Washington game is winnable; the first two…maybe not so much.
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21. Atlanta Hawks (3-6, Last Week’s Rating: 19)
The Hawks have had a rough go of things in the past couple of days. Losing John Collins, who was second in scoring behind sharpshooting protege’ Trae Young has hurt the Hawks in multitudes. However, Jabari Parker may have eased the pain of losing Collins for the next 23 games due to a league-wide suspension from a failed drug test, as the former Duke standout posted a season-high 27 points and 11 rebounds in Sunday’s loss to the Trail Blazers. He could compliment Trae Young almost seamlessly, as Parker has averaged over 23 points a game in his past three games.
With the Hawk’s organizational dysfunction and scheduled misfortune, their record is going to potentially get even worse with their road trip traveling through Denver, Phoenix, and Los Angeles to face both the Clippers and Lakers.
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22. Charlotte Hornets (4-6, Last Week’s Rating: 24)
Through three weeks, the Charlotte Hornets success hasn’t really displayed itself in the win column, but that hasn’t retracted from a foundation already having the groundwork laid out for. They are already the 11th best three-point shooting in the NBA and don’t look to regress from that statistic, especially with backup guard Devonte Graham being automatic from deep and just about everywhere else. The third-year Kansas man has exceeded expectations for this Charlotte Hornets basketball team, just averaging over a team-high 23 points per contest last week and scoring 35 in a comeback win against the Pacers.
The Hornets have Memphis, Detroit and a trip to New York to play the Knicks next up on the schedule.
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23. Cleveland Cavaliers (4-5, Last Week’s Rating: 26)
The Cavaliers’ young core of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton seem to mesh pretty well together, and so far it’s not looking like any shots are being taken away from either guard. A better stat: the Cavs have one of the lowest assist-turnover ratios in the entire league and in their last three games, the youthful duo has only combined for 10 turnovers. Kevin Love is up to his usual stretch-big ways but has taken a backseat in scoring to the duo of Sexton and Garland.
In consecutive double-digit victories against the Wizards and the Knicks, John Beilein has been able to get just enough from his starters and rotational pieces as the Cavs only sit within a single game out of a .500 record. They are a little lower on this list not because of their record, but for their three upcoming games against Philly (twice) and Miami.
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24. Chicago Bulls (3-7, Last Week’s Rating: 23)
It’s safe to say the Bulls are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the entire NBA, only making 31 percent of their shots from deep. That’s the 25th best mark in the league, evident in their 4-of-32 shooting night against Houston at home this past Sunday, a night that saw James Harden put up a cool 42 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists on 47 percent shooting. Jim Boylen may want his Bulls to keep shooting from deep, but with two good perimeter-defending teams that Chicago is to face in Milwaukee and Brooklyn, that mark may not increase that much.
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25. Sacramento Kings (3-6, Last Week’s Ranking: 21)
Just announced: the Sacramento Kings will be without De’Aaron Fox for an unspecified time, as the former Kentucky guard rolled his ankle in practice. That’s a huge blow to a team that looked to finally be shaking off their offseason rust, winning three of their last four games. Their defense has been the biggest adjustment made over the past two weeks, as Sacramento allowed an average of 100.7 ppg in those three wins, especially considering their 92-point allowance against the Knicks for the team’s second-straight win.
Not having Fox obviously hurts the Kings’ ability to run PnR, but also guard craftier ball handlers and score in transition. The Kings will have their work cut out for them in trying to stop the likes of Damian Lillard as they play the Blazers, LeBron as they play the Lakers and Kemba Waker as they play the Celtics.
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26. New Orleans Pelicans (2-7, Last Week’s Rating: 25)
Brandon Ingram is experiencing career highs in his first nine outings as a Pelican, and it looks as if Alvin Gentry is okay with letting his 7-foot “KD prototype” have the green light when he is in the presence of a mismatch. Ingram has averaged 25.9 ppg while shooting over 54 percent. Conversely, there isn’t much around Ingram to suggest that the Pelicans may be a team on the rise, considering that they rank 29th in total defensive efficiency. This week, their struggles may continue as they play the Rockets, Clippers, Heat, and Warriors.
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27. Memphis Grizzlies (2-7, Last Week’s Rating: 27)
It seems as if Ja Morat really is the future of this league at the point guard position. Though rested in Saturday’s loss to the Mavericks, Ja has a bunch of support around him to be the franchise centerpiece. He’s shown great strides in adapting his game to that of NBA speed, and logged a 30-point, nine assist night against the Nets in an overtime win. Still, with the Spurs and Jazz on the schedule, it isn’t gonna be easy for the young guard.
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28. Washington Wizards (2-6, Last Week’s Ranking: 28)
The Wizards are far away from being a proficient-enough team to garner some wins in the win column, and that showed during their primetime loss to the Cavs. The Wizards own the 28th worst defense in the league and were, of course, never expected to be good. But the role the Wizards have in developing Rui Hachimura and keeping Bradley Beal happy are paramount to the direction of the organization going forward.
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29. New York Knicks (2-8, Last Week’s Ranking: 29)
Well, the Knicks did beat the Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis-led Dallas Mavericks on Friday in Dallas, so there’s that at least. Since that, it’s been nothing but embarrassing outings by the Knicks, losing to the Cavaliers just two nights after. They also possess the league’s second-worst point differential and at the moment are probably preparing for Dave Fizdale’s firing.
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30. Golden State Warriors (2-8, Last Week’s Ranking: 30)
Steve Kerr gets Draymond Green back into the lineup, so there is finally some stability on a roster that’s seen about eight starting lineup changes in the past week. The Warriors schedule is daunting, as they have Utah coming in, and then they’ll have to go to LA to face the Lakers. On top of that, they’ll have to travel out East to play the Celtics and finish their road trip back in New Orleans.
