NBA Power Rankings, offseason edition: Who has gained on the Knicks, Spurs?

LAS VEGAS — Free agency is not over and some potential difference makers are still out there — hello, LeBron James — but we’ve seen enough to do our NBA Power Rankings for the summer. If I were doing this in tiers, right now the top four would be true title contenders, and four through 10 would be the second circle, “if everything goes right” tier that could be contenders, but for now let’s just rank the teams.

Last season 53-29
The defending champions have spent the summer trying to get the band back together for another run at it, and they’ve done well outside of losing Michell Robinson (replaced by Andre Drummond, a strong rebounder but not as good a defender). With all the changes with the other teams in the East, New York is still the team I trust the most, the team that will be in the mix at the end no matter what.

Last season 62-20
A lot of fans may roll their eyes at the Tobias Harris signing, but he is an upgrade at the four (and was the Pistons’ second-best player last season). They drafted some depth at the five (Jayden Quaintance, Tarris Reed), but those guys are more long-term projects. The key to the Spurs taking one last step next season is the development of Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper (all three are still 22 or younger).

Last season 64-18
The best thing the Thunder could do this summer to improve their title chances was to get Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell healthy, and that has happened. This offseason, OKC prioritized bringing back Isaiah Hartenstein (who is needed against Wembanyama) and drafted more size with Aday Mara (7’3″ out of Michigan). That said, the luxury tax aprons are coming for OKC, and it could not retain two helpful players, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins.

Last season 45-37
The biggest winners of the offseason, the 76ers traded out an older Paul George for Jaylen Brown at the peak of his career, forming a powerful perimeter trio with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. They added good depth with Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons as well, plus got lucky in the draft when Labaron Philon fell to them at 22 (he has the ball on a string and showed real potential at Summer League). Ultimate success in the playoffs will come down to Joel Embiid‘s knees, but this team is poised to make his path to that point as easy as possible.

Last season 54-28
Denver has not had a great offseason, but they have Nikola Jokic and will enter every season with a chance as long as he is in his prime. Tim Hardaway Jr. is gone (Miami), Marvin Bagley III takes over as Jokic’s backup (trying to solve the non-Jokic minutes issue). Denver isn’t done. Expect the Peyton Watson restricted free agent deal to be worked out, but they are looking for other moves.

Last season 60-22
The Pistons had a clear top priority this offseason: Get a secondary shot creator to play next to Cade Cunningham. They have struck out. And while the Pistons will eventually get a deal done with Jalen Duren, they have unnecessarily let some bad blood develop. I think the Pistons got a little worse around Cunningham: Tobias Harris and Isaiah Stewart are out, Isaiah Joe (a good signing) and Taurean Prince are in. As long as Cunningham plays like he did last season, this is a top 10 team, but they feel a little further away from a title than they did when the playoffs ended.

Last season 19-63
After a season near the bottom of these rankings (and the league standings), the Pacers return near the top because Tyrese Haliburton will be back and healthy, plus I love the trade deadline move to add Ivica Zubac to set picks and roll hard for Haliburton, and he improves their paint defense. Adding Kelly Oubre as a free agent brings depth.

Last season 52-30
This is a team that may be the frontrunner to land LeBron James, and they still have to re-sign James Harden (that will get done), but the only real move this offseason was losing Dean Wade (Philly) and drafting Meleek Thomas in the second round (he’s looked like a scorer at Summer League). This is going to be a very good regular-season team again, whether they can be more than that is the question.

Last season 53-29
The Lakers did what they had to do this summer (if for no other reason than to make sure Luka Doncic is happy): Start retooling the roster around Doncic’s skills. LeBron is gone, and that is no small loss, but the Lakers locked up Austin Reaves and got their center in Walker Kessler. They got solid role players around them (I like Sandro Mamukelashvili as an offensive fit; the Lakers have bet on Quentin Grimes making a leap), and this should be a good regular-season team, but I worry about the perimeter defense (still). More importantly, this team is locked into the Doncic/Reaves/Kessler core — they don’t have the flexibility to pivot out. This has to work or it gets messy.

Last season 49-33
Minnesota made a major pivot from a defensive team banking on Anthony Edwards providing enough offense to an offensive team hoping Rudy Gobert can provide enough defense. If LaMelo Ball stays healthy, this is going to be the most fun team to watch in the league, whether they are better or not remains to be seen, but credit Minnesota for not just running it back with a team they knew was not quite good enough.

Last season 56-26
This ranking may be too low for Boston, a team that shot its way to the No. 2 seed in the East a season ago without Jayson Tatum, and he is back. But Jaylen Brown is gone, Paul George is not as good (and a much bigger injury risk). Mitchell Robinson will be great for the Celtics in the limited minutes he plays, and Derrick White remains an analytics darling, but is this team really a threat in the East? I need to be convinced.

Last season 52-30
Houston may be better than this ranking, getting Fred VanVleet back to be the organizing force and glue this team clearly needed last season is huge. Re-signing Tari Eason and adding Marcus Smart fit with where this team is headed. The Rockets are essentially running it back and betting on better health, but that may be enough.

Last season 43-39
The Heat landed Giannis Antetokounmpo and they have him and Bam Adebayo, with Bobby Portis as a backup center. Any team with Antetokounmpo is poised to win a lot of regular-season games, and when they can get stops and run in transition, watch out. But in the halfcourt it’s not going to be pretty. This team lacks shooting and depth, it lost Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kel’el Ware. They did sign Tim Hardaway Jr. and kept Andrew Wiggins and Simone Fontecchio. Maybe this ranking is a little low, but I’m not sure how much I trust the Heat.

Last season 46-36
We’re assuming that Kawhi Leonard will eventually be a member of the Raptors and that the trade with the Clippers will go through (also, expect the Clippers to get hit hard with penalties from the Leonard/Aspiration investigation, but not Leonard himself). If Leonard stays as healthy and plays like he did last season — an All-NBA season — next to Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett, this ranking may well end up too low, and this could be a top-six team in the East. Toronto had a strong offseason and this was a good roll of the dice.

Last season 45-37
Orlando is in a tier of teams in the East that could be better than their ranking but need to prove it because I don’t fully trust the roster (Boston, Miami, Toronto, and Atlanta are in that boat as well). Orlando is running it back for another year with the Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero core, along with Desmond Bane (who was fantastic last season), and betting that new coach Sean Sweeney and better health will change things. Maybe, but I need to see it.

Last season 26- 56.
The biggest addition to the Mavericks will be getting Kyrie Irving back healthy to run the point, and that, combined with the development of Cooper Flagg in his second season, makes the Mavericks poised to make one of the biggest year-over-year improvements in the league. Morez Johnson, the No. 9 pick, looks like he can help in the rotation now and Santi Aldama is a quality pickup.

Last season 46-36
The Hawks went an impressive 20-6 after the Trae Young trade last season and then took the Knicks more games in the playoffs (six) than the Spurs did. Atlanta clearly is on the right path with this roster, but was the end of last season a mirage (there were a lot of tanking teams)? How real is it? Kingston Flemmings has impressed at the point in Summer League serving more as a floor general and facilitator than the scorer we saw at Houston, he looks like a winner. If he can be that guy at the NBA level, this ranking will be too low, given Jalen Johnson‘s All-NBA play.

Last season 17-65

Another team that may prove this ranking is way too low, but I need to see it to believe it. That said, a starting group with Trae Young at the point, AJ Dybantsa (who has impressed at Summer League) on the wing, and a front line of Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr is a good team that is going to take a big step forward and give Wizards fans a team they can really get behind. If it all clicks, this is a playoff team, but I need to see it.

19. Utah Jazz

Last season 22-60

Another team poised for a huge leap and one a starved fan base can really get behind — if it clicks, this is a playoff team. No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson has impressed with his play and maturity running the show, and he, with Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr., is going to win a lot more games. They are this low in the power rankings because I need to see it on more than just paper, but the potential is there.

Last season 45-37
Phoenix largely stood pat, bringing back Collin Gillespie, Jordan Goodwin and Mark Williams, while essentially swapping out Grayson Allen with Luke Kennard. This was a good team last season, but in a league with far less tanking this season (thanks to the new lottery odds), the Suns’ record may get a little worse just standing still.

Last season 42-40
Portland made a good low-risk, high-reward roll of the dice by giving up almost nothing for Ja Morant, but whether he can really lift them up remains to be seen. Also, as much as the owner-friendly contract he was handed is an abomination, Micah Nori is a good choice to be head coach. Portland gets Damian Lillard back and maybe is much better than this ranking, but they need a few things to go right in a deep West for that to happen.

Last season 31-51
Caleb Wilson showed the flashes that made him the No. 4 pick at Summer League, but he also showed why he’s a bit of a project — hiring Tiago Splitter as coach to guide him is a win. Adding Norman Powell and Nic Claxton to a lineup with Josh Giddey raises this team’s floor to a pretty good level, but for them to be more than that, we’ll need to see it.

23. LA Clippers

Last season 42-40
The Clippers moved on from the Kawhi Leonard era (and he was still a gamble worth taking, but that’s a different conversation). It was time, but this team is not better now than it was a year ago, it’s poised for a retooling. Still, with Brandon Ingram, Darius Garland and a young Keaton Wagler (whose game is better suited for the NBA than the glorified pickup of Summer League), the floor for this team is still pretty good. We’ll see how much Tyronn Lue can get out of them in a very deep West.

Last season 37-45
The Warriors were rumored in a lot of deals, but nothing much has come of it (unless there is a LeBron surprise out there). Yaxel Lendeborg looks ready to play meaningful minutes from Day 1, he has an NBA body and more importantly processes the game really well. They need his athleticism, because otherwise the Warriors are running it back and waiting for Jimmy Butler to get healthy midseason, making this team much more threatening.

Last season 25-57

I like what Memphis is building. Drafting Cameron Boozer — who was exactly as promised in Summer League, just fundamentally sound and plug-and-play as an NBA four — and playing him between Zach Edey and Cedric Coward, with Isaiah Stewart and Jerami Grant off the bench, gives the Grizzlies a quality front line to build on. There is still some building to do at the guard and wing spots, but Memphis is headed in the right direction.

Last season 26-56
Maybe the most perplexing offseason of any team — the Pelicans won 26 games and decided to run it back. They switched out Willie Green as coach with Jamahl Mosley (who was in Orlando last season), but aside from that, they changed almost nothing. Does Joe Dumars believe that a new coach will suddenly make this a winning team? Trey Murphy and Herb Jones are back despite countless teams around the league having interest in them.

Last season 44-38
Trading LaMelo Ball after the team’s best record in a decade may have caught fans off guard, but Charlotte is trying to build something long-term sustainable around Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller, and they rightfully believe this is a roster they can win more with long term. Naz Reid absolutely helps along those lines. That said, expect a short-term step back for this team.

Last season 20-62
Mikel Brown Jr. has had his moments and is averaging 18 points and four assists a game in Las Vegas, but he is also turning the ball over three times a game. Picking up Julius Randle this summer is a floor raiser move for the Nets, who will win more games with him, Brown and Egor Demin (who has put up points in Las Vegas but isn’t as efficient as one would hope).

Last season 22-60
Darius Acuff has had his moments, but has been up and down in Las Vegas as he has struggled to create space and knock down shots — in college he was a volume scorer but he was pretty efficient. He’s averaging 19 points a game in Vegas but shooting 36.5%. The Kings are going to give him a chance this season, and Acuff may turn out to be special, but there is going to be a learning curve.

Source link

NBA Power Rankings, offseason edition: Who has gained on the Knicks, Spurs?

19. Utah Jazz

23. LA Clippers

College football teams, ranked by academics: Who’s No. 1?

A look at the Brewers’ use of ABS challenges

You may also like