With Chris Sheridan, our founder, ranking teams on Sundays and mine running Wednesdays, we become the first dual-ranking (duel-ranking?) NBA site, at least done by guys who have been around long enough to have seen Dr. Naismith personally take the ball out of the peach basket at YMCA in Springfield, Mass.
I happen to know the old guy only went up that ladder once so they could take his picture, and then he told a kid do it.
Chris says they punched out the bottom the second week so they could turn to real issues, like Basketball Related Income.
As far as perspective, he’s East, I’m West and neither of us ever agrees with anyone, including each other.
These are fun to do because readers like them and I can cut up, er, analyze teams I wouldn’t get to otherwise.
My rankings are a compromise between what has happened and what I think will happen. If you disagree wildly, one of us has some crazed idea in his head, at the least. You are free to share your thoughts in the comments section.
Happily, the NBA has a tournament after harvesting your money, er, determining the playoff field, settling the matter of who’s best the only way it matters.
In the meantime, enjoy.
| RANK | TEAM | THE RUNDOWN | LAST |
| 1 | HEAT (5-1) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 5-1 No new big? No new point? No problem. With veterans all over league gasping, they’re still young, cohesive, tough on D, with two superstars. |
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| 1 | BULLS (5-1) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 5-1 Still the Heat with one fewer issues, more size but one less superstar, but made East Finals with no one guarding Bogans and Rip’s there now. |
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| 3 | THUNDER (5-0) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 5-2 Their time’s here? Not with only three scoring in double figures, with teams letting Westbrook shoot from outside. What if they start taking away Harden’s left hand? |
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| 4 | SPURS (3-1) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 3-2 Had Ginobili arrived younger, stayed healthier, he’d rank with Kobe, Bron, Wade, Rose. Unfortunately, Manu’s 34, out again with broken hand. |
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| 5 | MAGIC (4-2) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 4-2 Teams that hope to win back Dwight Howard’s heart can’t be starting 4-1, then losing to Pistons. |
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| 6 | BLAZERS (4-1) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 4-1 How to root? Roy was a prince, Oden’s a sweetheart, Nate’s great. Then there are Paul Allen & the Vulcans, on third GM in three years and he’s interim. |
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| 7 | NUGGETS (4-2) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 4-2 Don’t say Knick owner James Dolan hasn’t ever put together a promising young team…. aw, you guessed it. |
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| 8 | PACERS (4-1) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 4-1 Project centers never make it but Hibbert is. Psycho-T’s too small to play in NBA but lots of bigger guys will get claw marks before he’s through. |
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| 9 | HAWKS (4-2) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 4-2 Haven’t we seen this before? Same nucleus, highlight plays, ownership in flux, good start. If it lasts, Larry Drew is coach of century. |
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| 10 | LAKERS (3-2) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 3-2 Not over, after all. Brown isn’t disaster, after all. May even contend, after all. Still had better land Dwight or, more to the point, DWill, after all. |
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| 11 | CELTICS (3-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 3-3 It won’t be fun playing them in postseason. Between then and now, these grand, even-older men will take their lumps. |
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| 12 | CLIPPERS (2-2) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-2 Blake’s supporting cast better hit boards. If he doesn’t get rebound, opponents taking 64% of them, beating them by 10 a game. |
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| 13 | SIXERS (2-2) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-2 In good news, Spencer Hawes becoming solid center. In bad news, Elton’s down from last season’s 15-8 to 8-8. |
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| 14 | WOLVES (2-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-3 Meet the half of the 2011-12 rookie race no one imagined. Ricky Rubio bursts on the scene, suggesting laughingstock GM David Kahn was right all along. |
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| 15 | GRIZZLIES (2-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-3 Won first playoff series without Gay, playing defenders at 3. Now to see how Rudy, Zach Attack (20-12 last season) do together. |
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| 16 | CAVALIERS (3-2) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 3-2 No longer woebegone with Kyrie, young athletes. Couldn’t happen to better guy than Byron. Could happen to better guy than insufferable owner. |
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| 17 | ROCKETS (2-2) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-2 THIS WEEK: 4 games KEY GAME: vs. OKC Hanging in ‘til GM Morey thinks of something else. May have lucked out when Stern nixed trading Martin, Scola, Dragic, Knick No. 1 for Pau, who’s 31. |
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| 18 | BUCKS (2-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-3 Not that you see it much more than Halley’s Comet but they’re OK when Bogut’s healthy and Jennings shoots 40 percent. |
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| 19 | KNICKS (2-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-3 Remember Walsh’s first two seasons, creating cap room for three max slots–until Dolan traded four rotation guys and all their flexibility for Melo? |
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| 20 | MAVERICKS (1-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-4 Cuban pulled plug, letting Tyson, Caron, JJ go—but may have lost $100 mill going for it as everyone else left Mavs for dead after ‘06 Finals flop. |
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| 21 | JAZZ (3-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 3-3 You can see what GM O’Connor is going for. If Favors, Kanter make it alongside Jefferson, Millsap, they’ll be scary up front. |
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| 22 | WARRIORS (2-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-3 Lollygagging is over with Jackson. Still mostly David Lee and the Two Smurfs, one with problem ankles, the other likely ticketed to ride. |
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| 23 | SUNS (1-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 1-3 THIS WEEK: 4 games KEY GAME: vs. MIL Steve Nash in New York with D’Antoni? In Toronto, his native land? Heaven knows why he’s still with Suns who’ve long been over. |
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| 24 | HORNETS (2-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-3 If there’s any justice, rookie Coach Monty Williams, who got them into playoffs despite CP3 situation, would get to leave with him. |
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| 25 | KINGS (2-4) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-4 Like cast of “Lord of the Flies” last season, with even more firepower but not enough maturity. Who’d imagine DeMarcus is already upset? Oh, yeah, everyone. |
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| 26 | RAPTORS (2-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-3 Dwane Casey can coach defense, making him a good fit for team that hasn’t played any in living memory, assuming a good fit exists |
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| 27 | PISTONS (2-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 2-3 Rudderless in 2010-11 while being sold as Kuester warred with veterans. Now like a real team under Lawrence Frank, if one ticketed for lottery. |
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| 28 | WIZARDS (0-3) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 0-5 Wall won’t be next great point, or any kind, if he can’t hit the ocean from a boat. Try 6-33 on shots that weren’t at the rim in first five. |
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| 29 | BOBCATS (1-5) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 1-5 Here’s why MJ was such a labor hard-liner. He would really have missed spending a season watching these jayvees. | – |
| 30 | NETS (1-5) |
FIRST 10 DAYS: 1-5 THIS WEEK: 5 games KEY GAME: vs. MIA Dwight’s counting the seconds until he joins this dead-ass bunch? If Nets had cachet before the season, unfortunately for them, it started. |
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Boy do I miss you at the LA Times. First Hilburn, now you. I cancelled my subscription.
A Dwight Howard trade can chance the entire dynamic of this list. There is an interesting article on the fact that in the end, the Chicago Bulls would be the best choice for ALL parties involved: Howard, Magic, Chi
http://chasing23.com/dwight-howard-to-chicago-bulls-trade/
If so, I would put Chi number one.
I’m a little surprised “Spurs with no Ginobili” took 4th place if you’re taking into account what you think is going to happen in the future.
The Melo trade was one of the worst trades in league history. Before the trade, they were a team on the rise with cap space. They then traded Felton, Gallinari, Chandler, Mozgov and Randolph and three draft picks. Are you kidding me? Now they have no cap space, no draft picks, no depth.
I don’t know about that. It was stupid and all, but Otis Smith traded FOR Gilbert Arenas last year. Hard to top that in any context.
Also, the Lakers just traded Lamar Odom to the team that knocked them out of the playoffs for a cap exception.
Say what you want about Melo, but he can certainly outplay a cap exception.
I’m a Wizards fan and they are the worst team in the NBA without a question. It’s early, but John Wall has seemed to regress a little. He’s turning the ball over, can’t make a shot, and isn’t making smart decisions. Dre needs to go as well. Watch them tonight against Magic.
I’ve managed to avoid seeing the Bobcats or Nets this year, but I can’t imagine either being worse than what I’ve seen from the Wizards. (Damn League Pass trial has me watching terrible basketball in the middle of the night).
Mark,
Tell me why Donnie decided to clear out that cap space. Was it just to have it? Was it the end in and of itself? Or did it serve a purpose?
My recollection was that Donnie cleared out that cap space to bring in 2 max players. He thought it might be Wade and Lebron. It turned out to be Melo and Amar’e.
But he could have gotten Melo as a free agent without losing ANY trade chips if Dolan had let him wait a few months more for free agency. There was no reason to trade that much for a guy who wanted out and would leave for nothing as a free agent.
Was the 1st round loss to Boston really worth it? They’d have made the playoffs and lost without Melo just the same. What’s the point in trading midseason for a guy if it doesn’t make your team better immediately, and it makes you worse in the long run?
It was a stupid move, illustrative of how James Dolan perpetually undermines his team’s credibility.