Right now, I would say these 7 teams were the strongest this week in no particular order based on record, opponent so SOS, defense & eye test: Heat, Grizzlies, Warriors, Rockets, Bulls, Kings & Pelicans (good cases can be made for Knicks, Cavs & Mavs but all have bad defense so far). Don't know if that should translate to best teams, but this is how I would define POWER rankings.
It's really too bad Dwight soured in LA that much. Gasol would be great with no Love, Bosh, and or any other deal @ 4/5 on the table. Gasol promised Kobe that Houston was not a destination?
Gasol just doesn't like Houston. He didn't want to be here before we got dwight. Remember basketball reasons?
I feel like I'm in some bizarre dream where all these national NBA talking heads seem to think the Mavs will be something great this year, whereas I have them battling it out for 6-8 seed. What am I missing? I know Stein is full of it, but on PTI last week Wilbon said that Parsons is now finally on a serious title contender. WTF. He had previously said he could see Dallas winning the West. What in the hell is wrong with people?
CBS power rankings has us at #1. We are 4th in offense and 4th in defense. Awesome http://www.cbssports.com/nba/powerrankings
Yup, it also lists our ratings and we are 4th in both offense and defense. Granted it's against bad competition, but compare that to other top ranked teams and we look good.
Nvm Mavs ranked over us, but there are several teams with no losses so far, and Dallas moves up and still stays ahead of many of them even with a loss on their record. Doesn't really make sense.
It's incredibly frustrating isn't it? Here we are, behind a computer screen and we know more than these jackasses in the media.
All double digit wins. Big defensive improvement. It appears that the loss of Lin and Parsons atleast were greatly exaggerated and that our unknown bench might actually have some useful guys. I knew that since we started 12 the jump would only be to 8 or 9, but we would have been higher if there wasn't a preseason rank and he just started the ranks after some games were played. Awesome how Dallas jumped 3 spots lol.
I actually prefer it. It will make it far more embarrassing for Dallas when they inevitably fail to live up to these incredibly high expectations.
I hope we stay under the radar and teams/fans continue to underestimate us. Last year we had a target on our backs with Howard coming in. This year, nobody is giving us a chance since we lost Parsons and struck out on Bosh.
It's that bandwagon thing. The Rockets underperformed last year, so ESPN jumped off our bandwagon, and Harden and Howard fell five spots and three spots, respectively, in the top 10 Player Rankings, to #9 and #10. And the team practically falls off the national radar. Thankfully our players have enough clout to get us some national TV appearances (although looks like us Uverse sufferers can finally catch all the games soon). With Stein leading the way at ESPN, everyone seems to think Chandler Parsons is going to make the Mavs best in the West. They'll have good games and bad games, but like the Rockets now, the Mavs will be a semi-afterthought this time next year (except for Stein's more-tepid "well, they could still make a run" blather). Thankfully you get the occasional intelligent comment, such as when Reggie Miller said he liked the Ariza acquisition for Houston, that he's what we need.
[rquoter]SI 1. Golden State 2. San Antonio 3. Cleveland 4. Memphis 5. Chicago 6. Houston 7. LA Clippers 8. Dallas 9. Miami 10. Phoenix 11. Sacramento 12. New York 13. Portland 14. Washington 15. Toronto 16. Charlotte 17. Oklahoma City 18. New Orleans 19. Brooklyn 20. Denver 21. Atlanta 22. Minnesota 23. Milwaukee 24. Utah 25. Boston 26. Indiana 27. Detroit 28. Orlando 29. LA Lakers 30. Philadelphia[/rquoter] [rquoter]SB Nation 1. San Antonio 2. Golden State 3. Houston 4. Dallas 5. Miami 6. Memphis 7. LA Clippers 8. Cleveland 9. Chicago 10. Toronto 11. Phoenix 12. Washington 13. Portland 14. New York 15. Atlanta 16. Oklahoma City 17. New Orleans 18. Charlotte 19. Sacramento 20. Brooklyn 21. Denver 22. Utah 23. Indiana 24. Minnesota 25. Milwaukee 26. Boston 27. Orlando 28. Detroit 29. LA Lakers 30. Philadelphia[/rquoter]
