Official /r/nba Power Rankings #10 (3.6.2023)

24/30 rankers reporting this week. /R/NBA's Power Rankings are published every two weeks which is a bit different from most rankings. Other than that we rank the teams the same way as our competition. If write ups are left blank the team rep decided not to submit. We encourage any user to fill in the blanks in the comment section.

#	Team	Δ	Record	Comment
1	Bucks	--	46-18
2	Nuggets	+1	45-19	I could talk about the Nuggets as a whole and their continued success as they march towards the playoffs, but this week will be an ode to Big Honey. MVP race and brain dead "stat padding" takes aside, I hope every one of you gets the chance to watch a Nikola Jokic game live or in person, so that you can sit back and enjoy a truly unique form of basketball that we've never seen before. Jokic orchestrating the offense from above the free throw line has been near impossible to stop this season. He's deadly efficient from anywhere inside the arc, and the attention he demands with the ball in his hands opens up endless opportunities for his teammates cutting or spotting up on the perimeter. Jokic's biggest strength has always been improving his teammates, and with a healthy, competent supporting cast surrounding him this year, we're seeing yet another evolution from the 2x MVP.
3	Celtics	-1	45-20	The Celtics are in a free fall, and I think it's time to start panicking. After starting the season 21-5 they entered 2023 with a league-best record of 26-11. Fresh off the heels of a Christmas blowout win against the Bucks, seemingly everyone was marking the Celtics as a shoe-in for the East and the best team in the league. Since then, they've gone 19-10 with multiple blown leads and duds. They watched their lead over the 2 seed in the East shrink, until the Bucks bypassed them for 1st in the East and currently hold a 1.5 game lead on the now 2 seed Celtics. It's become more and more clear that the Celtics cannot succeed if they're running a lineup of Horford and R. Williams, and still intend to have Marcus Smart in at guard. Their most minutes played together lineup since January 1st is Horford, R. Williams, Tatum, Brown, and Smart. That is the lineup that's played the most minutes together over the past 3 months, and they have a Net Rating of -12.4. The only saving grace is that that exact same lineup, but exchanging Smart for White, shifts that net rating to a whomping 43.3. It is clear that if Marcus Smart is in, they cannot play Horford and R. Williams together. If they do, Smart must be subbed for Brogdon/White or else the Celtics will be trotting out a lineup that by Net Rating, is worse than the most minutes played lineup by the 14-42 Houston Rockets.
4	76ers	--	41-22	Night and day. That has been the Sixers lately. Their defense has absolutely cratered in the last week, ranking in the bottom 5. However, the offensive explosion coming from Harden and a rejuvenated starter Maxey has been nothing short of incredible. The Sixers still have the Pacers and Timberwolves before they end their 5-game road trip, but it is certainly positive to see that comeback win versus the Bucks.
5	Knicks	+5	39-27	Dancing. Walking. Re-arranging furniture. Babs is. Shopping. I let the bird out of the cage.
6	Suns	+1	36-29	Mikal Bridges is cooking in Brooklyn 🥲, but the Sun are shining bright in Phoenix. KDs presence has left room in the offense for Okogie to suddenly become an offensive force. If he's making shots, our opponents are in for a rough time. ^(\…ignore that game against Dallas)
7	Cavaliers	-2	40-26	Despite going only 2-3 in this stretch, the Cavaliers have advanced to the #1 net rating in the league on the season, and haven’t dropped below 4th in the league for the entirety of the season. The Cavs have look like world beaters on their win streaks, but our 3 biggest streaks of the year have been followed by horrible stretches: an 8 game win streak followed by 5 straight losses, a 5 game win streak followed by 3 straight losses, and a 7 game win streak followed by a 1-4 stretch. The Cavaliers making noise in the playoffs will likely depend on having the correct timing for their nuclear performances, but the inability to stay consistent may result in us having an incredibly disappointing 1st round series.
8	Kings	+1	37-26	Have you heard the tale of the Fox and the Ox? A duo so divine it'll knock you out your socks? The ox sets screens with strength and might while the fox splits D with speed to my delight. With the weight of the city all on their back, the duo is tough and always ready to attack. Boasting one of the best offenses you've seen, after every win they continue to light the fucking BEAM.
9	Grizzlies	-2	38-25	Hard to remember a worse week in Memphis Grizzlies lore. After blowing leads in Denver, losing Brandon Clarke to a season ending injury, Dillon Brooks reaching his technical foul limit, Ja making some really dumb decisions, and then having to read r/NBA make the same jokes for all eternity really makes for a miserable basketball experience. However I'm not here to complain about the players or the fans reactions to those players. I'm doing everything in my meaningless power to put any amount of heat on Taylor Jenkins seat. We're the 9th best offensive team in PPG, that plumets to 29th best in the 4th quarter. We're the 7th best team in defensive rating, which plumets to 22nd in the 4th quarter. This team executes at a high level in the beginning of the game where adjustments do not make a difference. As soon as a team begins to adjust, we lose our competitive advantage outside of youth and speed. Taylor Jenkins has absolutely no feel for the game, and that explains why our best players continue to sit for 6-7 minutes in the 4th quarter, and then are expected to hop off the bench and immediately go to work; and it's failed us time and time again. I don't know that there is a better replacement out there, but Jenkins has gone far enough without an appropriate share of the blame in this teams failings.
10	Warriors	+5	34-31	The Warriors excelled through the latest Curry injury period and left themselves in the driver seat for a top 6 seed. They however did not survive the annual schedule loss to the Lakers at Staples. Klay has been an absolute boss putting up 26/4.4/2.6 on 61 TS% since the new year. He has actually developed some unforeseen playmaking abilities as well. Kuminga took some massive strides on both end of the floor in the month of February and is looking like a must play unless Kerr decides to fall in love with Lamb, Ty Jerome or old man Iggy.
11	Mavericks	--	33-32	Dallas' headlines for this edition come from two brutal Sunday matinee games, choking away a 27 point lead vs the Lakers and losing a close game vs Phoenix, both at home. They did beat the Sixers, but the end of the 6 game homestand cannot end better than 3-3. The lone bright side for this is that Kyrie and Luka have gained chemistry, but now they need it to lead to wins.
12	TWolves	+1	34-32	What looked like a disaster out of the All Star break has been turned around. Wolves went 3-1 on their California road trip fueled by good play from their trade deadline acquisitions of Mike Conley, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The 2 guards have brought a grittiness and steady playmaking that has lifted the core stars of Ant, Jaden McDaniels, and Rudy Gobert.
13	Heat	-1	34-31	Hasn't been good for the Heat since the last time we did rankings. They've won 2 of their last 8 games and some of the losses were ugly. If we do make playoffs this year then I don't think we get out of the first round series. The main bit of good to come out of this period is that Kevin Love and Cody Zeller have been pretty serviceable. While Love struggles to put up a lot of points, he is providing spacing for Bam when they're on the court together. While the main thing going for Zeller is he's an experience vanilla big who is doing exactly what you'd hope from a guy who was a free agent until we signed him. While the big position got reinforced, we're still missing Kyle Lowry and it's been solely Gabe Vincent's spot. The Heat are royally fucked at PG with Lowry falling off the cliff (and supposedly being angry with the Heat) and Gabe Vincent not providing much as a starter. Although, Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler have done admirably all season with providing assists as well as points. Those two along with Bam are the only reason we're still in a position to fight for postseason basketball. It'll be interesting to see what the Heat do with Kyle Lowry and other albatross contracts this offseason, but until then we have to see how they finish out the season.
14	Clippers	-6	34-33	Westbrook has been a controversial pickup, but he already leads the team in assists. Moris hasn't really produced anything in many games, and theres a lot to learn lineup-wise. The players seem pretty optimistic about this team, so I will wait a few more games before I hang up this season's jersey for good.
15	Raptors	+5	32-33	Raptors have looked real good with Poeltl on the floor. The Raptors are +41 with him on the floor in the 8 games since they acquired him. The Raptors roster still has some serious issues but none of these will be fixed before the offseason.
16	Nets	-2	36-28	The Nets went on a bit of a skid after the trades, the team was figuring out its identity and learning to work together amidst a massive roster overhaul. With strong defensive players, it was a bit of shock to see them let up big scoring nights for teams like CHI, NY and ATL. After the ass-kicking by NY, the Nets seemed determined to not get embarrassed again. Since them, they've beaten Boston and Charlotte behind strong defensive performances. Mikal Bridges is blooming into a star and seems to be enjoying the green light he's been given. While they are no longer a contender, the Nets should be a playoff team and may very well avoid the play-in if they can continue to defend well. A contingent of fans seem to be hoping for a skid as we have our pick this year, but you can't convince players to tank. And these guys are all competitors who seem hungry to prove themselves.
17	Hawks	+2	32-32	The Hawks went from one of the worst coaches in basketball to a coach that is at worst just outside the top 5 coaches in the NBA, and that is good. The only problem is that they waited until there were only 20 games left in the season to do it. Really much isn't going to change over the final weeks of the season, but these games are important for Quin to not only implement his system and spend time around the team but also evaluate who he does and does not want around come next season. There may be small tweaks here or there, but this team will remain largely the same and end up in the play-in game.
18	Lakers	+5	31-34	The Los Ankleless Lakers are currently nursing ankle/foot injuries to LeBron, D'Lo and Bamba, it's so deflating because the team was due for a great run in this final stretch of games. There were a couple of big wins in Dallas where they came back from down 27 and one vs. a streaking Golden State team with Curry back. While LeBron is expected to miss three more weeks at the least, the team desperately needs D'Lo back to take up some playmaking/scoring duties. They're currently tied for the 10th spot but will need to continue to put together a string of wins to consolidate a play-in position, which seemed to be a certainty till the King went down, summing up the kind of season they've had. On the bright side, with Davis seemingly returning to peak form (knock on wood..) and the supporting cast chipping in, there is still hope for some post-season action.
19	Pelicans	-3	31-33
20	Wizards	-1	30-34	I had this very nice, well written summary for the past two weeks of Wizards basketball and then they have to ruin it by back-to-back avoidable losses. Bradley Beal managed to put on a historic stinker against the Raptors -- which means everyone will think he is bad again and that's just the reality of being a disappointed DC sports fan. With that being said, the Wizards season continues to be plagued by untimely injuries and questionable referee decisions -- including completely missing Giannis' foot out of bounds (probably the first time in his life where someone doesn't notice his feet size) and Bill Kennedy's attempted screw job against the Hawks and the successful screw job against Raptors. Physical games compounded by physical issues doesn't pair too well. The Wizards are far better than their record but haven't been able to do what has been needed to prove people otherwise. And that's just the reality of Wizards basketball.
21	Thunder	-4	30-34	Jalen Williams has exploded in the absence of Shai looks like a bonafide two way star. Shai picking up a hip injury and then missing games due to H&S Protocols cost OKC a couple games which makes OKC's play-in chances extremely dicey. Nonetheless, the West is so tight we still have a chance, but there's very little room for error. The next 2 weeks will probably determine the fate of OKC's season - for better or for worse.
22	Jazz	--	31-34	The Jazz seemingly forfeited their run at the play-in tournament this past week with a loss to the Spurs and two to OKC. The closeness of the West and a rejuvinated Lakers squad means the team will likely fade away now for the next 4 weeks and focus their efforts on getting minutes into their young guys. Expect to see a lot of Kessler propaganda and ROTY promotion down the stretch of the season, the rookie big blocking at least 7 shots in a game three times in his last twenty games with an six total games in that span recording at least 5 blocks. Markkanen MIP hype will still be building but that appears a likely conclusion at this stage.
23	Trail Blazers	-1	30-34
24	Bulls	+1	29-36	Lavine has been averaging 31 ppg on 71% TS since the All Star break, but the team has only gone 3-3. Ever since Pat Bev told him to stop passing and shoot more, he's been doing just that. The main issue with the team is the clear lack of 3pt shooters. Besides Lavine, Coby White is the only other player who is a solid volume 3 point shooter. Vucevic has been off as of late, and Patrick Williams doesn't shoot that many. This is going to be a rough team to watch the rest of the season.
25	Pacers	+1	29-36	Nothing really remains to be said; as Tyrese Haliburton goes, so do the Pacers. When Haliburton is in the lineup, Indiana is 27-23. Without, a paltry 2-13. Sunday night, the Pacers' All-star was at it again, scoring 29 points and drilling the game-winning 3. With just a few weeks left in the season, it's looking more and more like Indiana will be just competitive enough to reach the outskirts of the postseason, if not the play-in itself.
26	Magic	-2	27-38	Still technically in the hunt for a play-in spot, but alternating wins and losses isn't gonna cut it, especially against other teams also in the hunt for a play-in spot. With one of the hardest remaining schedules, that play-in shot is looking worse every day, but you can't deny the Magic have gotten stronger compared to last year, having already exceeded last season's win total. Even with a down February, Paolo was still able to win Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, becoming the first rookie in Magic history to win at least three since Shaq during his rookie season. Pretty good company if you ask me.
27	Hornets	--	20-46	The trade deadline business combined with LaMelo Ball's unfortunate season ending injury have created the conditions necessary for the Hornets to guarantee themselves a bottom 4 spot in the lottery. This season, despite possibly resulting in a #1 overall pick, has been a failure in almost every aspect. It wasn't a good offseason following another disappointing play-in blowlout defeat, but I'm not sure any of us expected for it to go like THIS. It's a long way back for the Hornets, even with some luck in the draft lottery. I don't have much else to say about this team. Mark Williams looking like a possible long-term starter at Center is probably the only positive we have to go on right now.
28	Spurs	+2	16-49	I'm just coming down from a weekend long bender in LA sitting on a runway rn so no rankings from your boy, but I'm proud of the org for starting a winning streak and immediately turning around and showing Houston how it's done in the b2b Toilet Bowl. The Spurs have the hardest ROS schedule in the league now (inb4 "yeah bc they can't play themselves" I get the concept) and will kick off the final stretch with DEN, OKC, ORL, DAL, MEM, ATL all at home over the next two weeks. The light is at the end of the tunnel Spurs fans.
30	Pistons	-2	15-49	If you see only one Pistons' highlight this year, make it this one. We are now being quite aggressive in the tankoff, regularly resting everyone and anyone. Might be resting Ivey tonight with a papercut or Bojan for burning his tongue on some Buddies pizza soon. Wiseman has been interesting on the court but showing that he, like many of our players, needs to learn to not be a turnstile on defense. Thanks to the Rockets' current hot streak and the Spurs showing signs of life we are the current worst team in the league, no matter what the Power Rankings show this week. Power Rankings are dumb anyways - right, commenters?
30	Rockets	-1	15-49